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TIME Traveler
Get away with TIME's special travel issue
[10/17/2002] |
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| COURTESY OF DAINTREE ECO LODGE & SPA |
| Getting Back to Nature: Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa, nestled deep in the rainforest |
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australia
How Green Was My Valet
To commune with nature without breaking a sweat, head Down Under where ecotourism has a softer side
By Nicole Taylor
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Posted Monday, October 20, 2003; 21:00 HKT
When Clare McFarlane, managing director of Gold Coast-based Aries Tours, suggested that free-spending, luxury-loving Japanese tourists could be lured to visit a remote cave in Queensland that was infested with worms that glow in the dark, other tour agents snickered and jokingly dubbed her "the cavewoman." Ten years later, the laughter has died down. McFarlane's five-hour excursion to the glowworm cave has become a favorite of Asian tour groups, drawing 50,000 visitors a year from Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan to Springbrook National Park, about 50 kilometers southwest from Surfers' Paradise. McFarlane forgives her peers for doubting her back in the early 1990s. "At that stage," she says, "they were only interested in theme parks."
McFarlane, it turned out, was way ahead of her time. The glowworm gambit was a forerunner of the ecotourism movement, the travel-industry trend emphasizing ecologically sustainable trips that focus on natural areas and foster environmental and cultural understanding. With its daunting expanses of wilderness and exotic wildlife (cave-dwelling glowworms included), Australia has become a world leader in ecotourism. But though many ecotour packages resemble death marches, McFarlane, who is also president of the trade group Eco-tourism Australia, recognized early on that most of her clients "don't want to hike up to the top of Mount Warning on a six-hour trek." So for more sedentary travelers, a less aerobic form of ecotourism—called "soft ecotourism"—has been developed.
You can experience these politically correct pleasures at resorts such as the stunning Longitude 131°, opened in June last year 20 kilometers from Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) in Australia's famed Red Center. This boutique encampment in the heart of the outback imbues environmentally sound desert accommodation with understated luxury. Longitude 131°'s 15 spacious tent-style bungalows blend harmoniously with their dramatic desert setting. Floor-to-ceiling windows, facing southeast to dodge direct, searing sunlight, frame spectacular views of endless dunes and the majestic Uluru. Next to each bed is a remote control switch, which lowers or raises the blinds, allowing guests to watch the sun rise from reclining comfort.
The $1,000-a-night luxury campsite was designed with the lazily adventurous in mind, but parent company Voyages Hotels and Resorts also had to cater to the needs of the area's full-time residents, such as the tiny mulgara—a native marsupial—and its delicate desert ecosystem. Given its proximity to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, listed as a World Heritage site, Longitude 131° was built with scrupulous attention to environmental impact. Once the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority confirmed there were no sacred sites in the area, and a range of environmental concerns were satisfactorily addressed in accordance with federal law, permission was granted to begin work in October 2001. To avoid harming the desert vegetation, which could take years to recover, the tents were prefabricated in pieces and lifted into position. "We wanted the place as pristine as it could be after construction," says Kane Hardingham, environmental manager for Voyages Hotels and Resorts. "We didn't want any large areas of cleared land."
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