The area? Bhote Kosi.

Bhote Kosi which cuts through the Himalayas and is known as one of the top ten rivers for white water rafting. Megh Ale of the Nepal River Conservation Trust is quoted in the article as saying, ”Bhote Kosi is a world-class river, important for the local people here and for tourism. If the power house is built at Jambu, it will significantly decrease water volume along the rafting route, and tourism will lose its most important attraction.”

Read the full article as it appeared in the Nepali Times.

Responsiblities include:

• Managing All Trip Planning and Coordination
• Managing and Improving Operational and Office Systems and Structures
• Interacting with Travelers, Operators and Guides
• Managing the flow of information to the President

Email a single document to josh@wildplanetadventures.com with your resume and cover letter in one file together, indicating “Operations Manager-through ATTA” in the subject line and indicate your travel experience and salary expectations in your cover letter. Be sure to put all relevant information in this document, not in the body of an email.

For more information – check out the complete job description on the ATTA’s Adventure Career Center.

Wild Planet Adventures is a leader in wildlife eco-tourism since 1991. Named one of the “Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth” by National Geographic Adventure Magazine, Wild Planet Adventures offers non-commercial wildlife tours and safaris with exclusive wildlife activities, expert naturalist and biologist guides, and remote, value-packed itineraries that emphasize our strong wildlife emphasis.

These firedancers belong to a Papua New Guinean tribe known as the Baining. They live on the northeastern tip of the island of New Britain which is found off the west coast of Papua New Guinea. Photo used under Creative Commons from tarotastic

Papua New Guinea is said to be one of the most culturally diverse areas in the world with over 850 indigenous languages on this tiny stretch of land and also one of the least explored. If you win Eagle Creek’s Grand Prize , however, you can count yourself as one who has explored all that it has to offer.

Fill out this short form  and wait to hear if your name is drawn at the end of September. Eagle Creek is offering two roundtrip tickets to Papua New Guinea  as well as an all-inclusive 6 day/5 night stay at the Walindi Plantation Resort.

Enter by July 31st to guarantee your entry.

Eagle Creek began in 1975 and has always consisted of a tribe of travelers who believe travel has the ability to change people for the good, to bridge gaps and to create inspiration unlike anything else. Their goal is to make intuitive products that help travelers arrive at their destination confidant and ready for fluid movement; and that all of this could be fun.

Active in her community, Anna participates with the Cool Cities Campaign in Saratoga Springs and helped to design sustainable transportation initiatives for the city. She loves to hike and has recently started to rock climb with Skidmore’s Outing Club.

Anna will support Off the Radar with its social media presence and the development of a marketing strategy aimed at acquiring college student subscribers this Summer.

They are seeking a blogger located in Brazil who will be assigned 5 blogs per year, and additional special projects. The blogs will be assigned every couple of months, with two weeks lead time.  Formats include written (250 words + 2 images) or videos. In addition, the blogger may be asked to find local facilities, moderators and/or participants for focus groups and studies.

Check out the current CultureBlog, archives, the video reel and case studies to get an idea of the larger projects ModelPeople Inc works on and the types of clients they work with. Its important that our bloggers understand the clients that we are trying to appeal to with the blog.  If you are interested, please send a mail to Dina.

The benefits to a destination from volunteer tourism have been hotly contested for some time. Bloggers were recently debating the topic again after the Human Research Science Council published a report about how short term volunteer projects do more harm than good.  However, we believe there is still an important place for volunteer tourism, if carefully planned, monitored and managed.   If this is accomplished, it can promote meaningful cross-cultural exchange and bring economic benefits to both tour operators and local people.  On our trip for example,  we learned from a representative of a prestigious international adventure tour operator that incorporating a meal with local Egyptians into an existing adventure itinerary had resulted in word of mouth marketing valued at $5 million additional revenues to the company.

A few of the organizations we visited, which offer some potential for volunteer tourism, are profiled below:

El Nafeza is a paper-making center in Cairo, where it is possible for small groups of visitors to learn the paper-making process and meet and interact with the women who work there. The paper is made using an environmentally friendly process: agricultural byproducts including rice hay and natural fibers are recycled into the paper; all colors and patterns are hand mixed, matched and printed. Although not an official offering for tour operators, interested visitors can contact the Center to arrange a visit: elnafeza@gmail.com.

The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women is an organization that arranges micro-finance loans for small businesses.   It was the first NGO in Egypt to identify women as “head of household” and establish a micro lending program using a group lending methodology for this target group.   Nermean Foad, a representative from the association, said they would welcome skilled business volunteers who might support their internal operations; additionally there is the potential that interested volunteers might work with the individual micro-finance recipients: adew@link.net.

At the Spirit of Youth Association for Environmental Service/Recycling School for Boys in Mokattam, we learned about the Zaballeen community, whose people collect approximately 4000 tons of trash each day from Cairo’s  nearly 8 million people. The Zaballeen earn some money from the city, and some from recycling projects with corporate sponsors, such as Proctor&Gamble.  We met with Ezzat Naem who grew up in “Garbage City” and now leads a school funded by revenues from trash and recycling collection. Scroll to the second article here, “Garbage City Teaches Recycling” for the full history.  As explained on the group’s Facebook page, the boys at The Recycling School learn how to sort and safely recycle plastic shampoo bottles. They receive a small income every month from sending these back to the shampoo factories. Through the process, children are taught the principles of recycling and the importance of safety precautions such as suitable clothing, gloves, and masks.  They also learn about hazardous waste materials, such as those from hospitals; they are encouraged to share this information with their families so that the entire community can learn.  A documentary was made about this community, it’s called Garbage Dreams.   Although no formal program for volunteer tourists is in place, interested visitors can contact the community and inquire about volunteering with the kids or on other projects at the school: spirit.oftheyouth@yahoo.com.

Further south, our team met with Ossama Meguid, Director of the Nubia Museum,  and visited the Gharb Sehel village.   The village and the museum are located in a region known to ancient Egyptians as the Kingdom of Kush; it encompasses southern Egypt and northern Sudan.  Many Nubians migrated to the city of Aswan after Lake Nasser swamped much of their traditional homeland when the Aswan Dam was constructed in the 1960s.  Here, we toured the Museum and learned the role it is playing in developing community-based and volunteer tourism to the region.

Mr. Meguid has written extensively on the subject of tourism in the region; to read more click here, where we have re-posted his article: “Community Based Eco-Tourism Concept, Characteristics and Restrictions Gharb-Sehel Village, Aswan, Pilot Project.”

As Meguid notes, “Nubian villages surrounding the Aswan City urban area such as Gharb Sehel are a regular stop for foreign tour groups, on half- or full-day boat and bus tours of the Pharaonic, Christian, Islamic, and modern landmarks of Aswan. The Gharb Sehel village represents the look and feel of a village of Old Nubia when compared to the government-built concrete homes in New Nubia.”  Although tourism is necessary in this region, Mr. Meguid argues eloquently for careful resource management and small group visitation.   An article from the Somali press about the region is available here.

Volunteer Tourism in Egypt is still in its nascent stages; good people to start with if you are researching a trip to Egypt that stretches beyond Pharonic bounds include Gateway to Egypt, Wild Guanabana,  and Ashoka foundation.

Also, check out this great resource, Friends of Egyptian Volunteer Tourism, where you can find various initiatives throughout Egypt, put together by NGOs and Tour Operators.

- Christina Heyniger

Long before COP16 discussions began, conversations and policy suggestions have been under intense scrutiny thanks in part to the interest expressed by SECTUR, Mexico’s Tourism Ministry.   Along with President Calderon, Shannon Stowell, President of the ATTA also spoke about the pivotal role adventure tourism plays in climate change issues – business relies heavily on the local environment – the entrepreneurial businesses that make up this sector have a huge stake in its preservation and longevity.

Xola had the benefit of working closely with SECTUR in Mexico last year conducting assessments of current resources and product offerings and identifying the top regions in which it would be viable to pursue further product development – Chiapas, Veracruz, and Oaxaca (download the case study here). As Xola conducted assessments, local tour operators such as Argovia Finca Resort and Mexico Verde were discovered and published in a special edition of Off the Radar highlighting local operators throughout these three states.

Xola team member Henrietta deVeer also explored many of the issues related to adventure tourism and climate change in a research report, “Brazil, Russia, India, China and Mexico: Balancing Adventure Travel Potential with Climate Change and Water Scarcity” downloadable here.

Mexico has been wholeheartedly pursuing the goal President Calderon espoused this week, recently winning the bid to host the 2011 Adventure Travel World Summit in Chiapas. As they continue to take steps to minimize environmental impact and maximize the life and responsible enjoyment of their natural resources and rich cultural traditions, we hope to see Mexico pave the way for other destinations to follow suit.

Inle Lake, Burma; Photo by Christina Heyniger

There are only 12 days left to enter the Geotourism Challenge 2010 put together by Ashoka’s Changemakers, National Geographic, and the Inter-American Development Bank. December 1, 2010 is the deadline to enter an idea or nominate an existing model. Three entries will be selected and awarded a US$5,000 top prize.

The idea behind this year’s theme, Places on the Edge: Saving Coastal and Freshwater Destinations, is to identify solutions that incorporate innovation, social impact, and sustainability. Ideas and models that demonstrate the ability to be replicated, their scalability, and long-term planning consideration will be given more weight.

Smart development is urgent among coastal destinations, especially as issues of global warming, rapid population growth, and mass tourism harm the sensitive environment and slowly change the culture of the locals.

The Geotourism Challenge urges entries to focus on:

• Educating tourists & local residents
• Mitigating and preventing pollution
• Conservation of wildlife, coral reefs, and fisheries
• Promote sustainable structure construction built to withstand natural disasters

Read about the rest of the competition guidelines here.

Read through some of the nominations to get an idea of what is being submitted and then submit your own innovative idea!

Mountain Lodges of Peru is looking for an intern to work with the NGO Yanapana Peru.  Created in 2006 (sponsored by MLP),  Yanapana Peru has set two important goals for its first stage of development: 1) to elevate the level of education for more than 150 families in the area; 2) to give an incentive to the local population to take an active role in the development of tourism in the area.

The intern will work with communities in the Salcantay Region.  Accomodations and a monthly stipend are provided.  English, German and Spanish are desirable.  The intern will work regular office hours and be required to go into the field for 3-7 days. The intern will have a high degree of social awareness and social responsibility.

If you’re interested, contact Nadia LeBon at info@wanderlustconsulting.com

You will literally have the chance to kick up some dust as a Volunteer Ecolodge Manager in Wadi Araba, Jordan. Located in the Dana Biosphere Reserve, the Feynan Ecolodge generates all of its electricity from solar/photovoltaic (PV) panels, invests in pivotal conservation and preservation projects, provides socio-economic benefits to local Bedouin communities, recycles, and has an entirely local staff working on site.

As a Volunteer Manager, you would provide expertise in several areas of hotel operation and management to the Feynan’s Bedouin Manager and staff. In addition, the Volunteer Manager would aid in increasing the capacity of staff service by providing guidelines for best practices in administration, staff management, accountability, food and beverage service, and housekeeping. Its secondary purpose is to teach English to the local Bedouin community living around Feynan Ecolodge

An ideal candidate would have:

• Hotel, lodges or ecolodge management experience
• Senior middle management experience in the hotel industry
• Business management experience in other sectors with a passion for travel, adventure and nature
• English fluency is essential

Duration: Full time, 4-8 months, flexible

Remuneration:  All lodging, expenses, allowance

This is an amazing opportunity to learn about conservation, socio-economic initiatives, Bedouin culture and nature in a real, tangible way. Members of this community also have the incredible chance to benefit from your experience and expertise.

Contact Nabil Tarazi, nabil.tarazi@ecohotelsjordan.com for more information or to submit your resume for consideration.