We’ve asked our global network of local tourism professionals about the ‘length of stay’ factor in their destinations. Answers varied, but they all agree on one thing: the average tourist isn’t a slow traveller and just doesn’t stay long enough to really appreciate a place. Here are their thoughts on how long is long enough and what the average fast traveller is missing.

We believe that the different forms of local transport are unique qualities of a place that, when experienced, are a vital part of a local travel experience. To know a place is to get around it the way local people do: cramming yourself into a chicken bus in South America, throwing caution to the wind in a tuk-tuk in Southeast Asia or boarding a ferry in Africa. We’re sure you will find these rides to be a brilliant bonding experience with locals.

Living what some outsiders would consider a feral existence is normal to the children of Yakel, a ‘Kastom’ village on the island of Tanna in the Vanuatu archipelago. The settlement is referred to locally as a Nambas village – the Nambas being the sole item of apparel worn by men, hiding their private parts. This means that the village rejects everything introduced by the Western world. The children will never go to school. Their clothing, food and entertainment will be provided solely by the forest in which they live.

The theme “linking cultures” has been chosen for the 2011 World Tourism Day (to be celebrated on September 27). Often, in an area with indigenous populations, or people who are original to the land, one of the greatest assets is traditional culture. Through mindfully operated cultural tours, indigenous groups have something a great deal to offer – and to gain! – from exchanges with tourists. Here we share a roundup of some of our favourite indigenous culture tours.

Looking at the world from a reflected perspective can produce far superior images than one’s attempt at orchestrating it. Reflections can completely alter the image from something fairly straightforward to a more artistic, whimsical abstract. I especially like using water, as the liquid medium not only reflects but absorbs light in space, often with subject matter suspended in that potential energy.

Silvana Nicholls and her husband, John Nicholls, were some of the earliest local partners to join the whl.travel family. They launched their Vanuatu destination portal in November of 2005 and have been strong collaborators ever since. She arrived on the island of Vanuatu in the South Pacific in 2001 and spent the first three years on the volcanic island of Tanna before moving to the capital city of Port Vila on Efate Island, where she and John still live.