land, there are varieties of monitor lizards, birds of para- dise, and cassowaries (an ostrich-like bird) that occur nowhere else on earth. Alfred Wallace, a contemporary of Charles Darwin and co-founder of evolutionary theory, spent years tromping around the Raja Empat.


Taipei, Singapore, Jakarta,Ujung Pandang, and finally the oil boomtown of Sorong,we step into a 13-metre dive boat for the ride to the base camp of Irian Diving, the area’s only tour operator. Max Ammer, once the owner of a Harley Davidson shop in the Netherlands, is the outfit’s garrulous owner and our resident Papua expert. Max brims with entrepreneurial ideas for local people to jump-start grassroots conservation projects. One of his ideas is locally guided kayaking trips,and when I raved on my first visit about the area’s kayaking potential, he asked us to introduce a local islander to sea kayaking. James is a new employee of Irian Diving. A shy 20-year-


O


old Papuan from the nearby island of Batanta, he’s typical of the local youth whose alternative career might be the business of bomb fishing. Max thinks James’ youth is an asset, especially his resiliency and willingness to learn. But we are starting from scratch. James speaks no English and, at present, guided sea kayak trips are more of a dream than reality.


local Papuan like James is doing with us orang putih (white men). As the fishermen begin to curiously inspect our fold-


W


How eco is your tour? The United Nations designated 2002 as the


International Year of Ecotourism and now, more attention than ever is being focused on this rap- idly growing sector of the tourism industry. Since the term was first coined by Héctor Ceballos- Lascuràin in 1983 to describe nature-based trav- el, ecotourism has blossomed into a varied, mul- timillion-dollar enterprise. The World Tourism Organization estimates that it is growing at five percent annually.


Saavy marketers have been quick to use the ecotourism label, and a plethora of so called eco-resorts and eco-friendly tours have sprung up over the past two decades, causing some confusion about what the term ecotourism actu- ally means. In response, there is a concerted international effort to link ecotourism with sus- tainable development initiatives to distinguish it from pure adventure or nature-based tours.


e begin our journey on the island of Fam. Some local fishermen come ashore wondering what a


ur adventure begins in Denver, Colorado. After three tedious days of airplanes and hotels. Travelling via


up sea kayaks and assorted gadgetry, James points to one of our nautical charts and confidently traces our route to our final destination, the remote island of Wayag, 35 nautical miles to the north.There is obviously something about our plan that inspires a sense of pride for him. He grew up on the water and paddled a dugout canoe around the waters of Batanta Island from an early age,but few locals venture onto the open sea and none go as far as Wayag. It’s as much an adventure for him as it is for us.


The plan is to head north, hopping from island to island. From Kawe, we will launch into the wide-open Philippine Sea…


The plan is to head north, hoping island to island, first to the massive island of Waigeo, then across much more exposed water to Kawe. From there,we will launch into the wide-open Philippine Sea, directly toward the uninhab- ited Wayag group, where we’ll rendezvous with Max and the Irian Diving crew. At Fam lagoon we demonstrate rescue techniques,


throwing in some comical sign language and facial expres- sions for added effect. I have James practice rotating his upper body, arms outstretched in exaggerated motion while he grins and nods his head to show that he under- stands how to use his torso rather than his arms to pad- dle.Once back on the water,he returns to arm paddling and I wonder if he was just pretending to understand. Over the next several days,we face unusually rough conditions. In the evenings, I use a combination of arrows


Ecotourism is defined by the International Ecotourism Society as “responsible travel to nat- ural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people.” To this end, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has identified the following essential ele- ments of ecotourism:


• Contributes to conservation of biodiversity • Sustains the well being of local people • Includes an interpretation/learning experi- ence


• Involves responsible action on the part of tourists and the tourism industry


• Is delivered primarily to small groups by small-scale businesses


• Requires the lowest possible consumption of nonrenewable resources


• Stresses local participation, ownership and business opportunities, particularly for rural people


Although there is no way to guarantee that a tour qualifies as ecotourism, you can use the UNEP guidelines when asking questions of a tour operator or assessing promotional materi- als.


For more information: UNEP www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism


Tour Operators Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development www.toinitiative.org


Global Development Research Centre www.gdrc.org/uem/eco-tour/eco-tour.html


International Ecotourism Society www.ecotourism.org


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