We are nevertheless once again proud to present our Photos of the Year – the travel pictures of the year 2011 that most captured the imagination of The Travel Word team and a group of expert external judges. Unlike our Photo of the Year 2010, this year (2011), we had a tie for first place.

Click on the image below for more information about them. See further below for the judges’ comments about them and the rest of the shortlist.

Krishna Mandir on Krishna Janmashtami, Patan, Nepal

Cheetahs Posing, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

About the Photo of the Week and the Photo of the Year

A bit more than two years ago, we started featuring one picture each week (or, lately, every other week) on The Travel Word. We spotlighted favourite images pulled from our growing collections on Flickr.

We then asked the photographer or owner of each selected Photo of the Week to submit a short and revealing text about it – covering the subject of the photo, the general location, the experience of taking the picture, technical aspects of photography etc.

These text-image combinations have proven to be very popular. We believe that this has a lot to do with the special emphasis we have placed on the honesty of the images, all taken or sourced by our partners, who are local travel experts in their destinations. Through their eyes, and given their knowledge of what makes their homes unique, we felt confident that were discovering something special.

The Shortlist

Our methods were decidedly unscientific. For each month, The Travel Word team singled out one photo of the month. To this list of 12 we added afew wild cards that had made a particular impression on us. This shortlist is what we sent to a group of five skilled photographers for their assessment.

Below are the nine images, ranked in order, that caught the judges’ fancies along with their comments. We thank the judges for their contribution and encourage you to learn more about their work.

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+ WINNERS: PHOTOS OF THE YEAR 2011: Krishna Mandir on Krishna Janmashtami, Patan, Nepal AND Cheetahs Posing, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Comments about Krishna Mandir on Krishna Janmashtami, Patan, Nepal, photo and text by Navin M. Shrestha:
“This photo does an excellent job of capturing both the manic movement of the crowd and the ethereal nature of the temple.” — Mike Richards

“Here’s a unique image of the Durbar Square of Patan that not only does a good job of displaying the beauty of the temple of Lord Krisha, but bringing the square to its full cultural context by choosing to photograph it on Krishna Janmashtami (the birth anniversary of Krishna), full of devotees, prayer and a long enough exposure that bleeds the light and gives the scene a more spiritual climate.” — Arog Vila

“This picture is amazing for the fact that at first glance it could reflect a scene dating back centuries. Truly a timeless shot.” — Matt Stabile

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Comments about Cheetahs Posing, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, photo by Ward Graham, accompanying text by Shafina Bandali:
“Luck is the final element, together with well-studied technique, good planning and plenty of patience, that results in this gorgeous golden-hour capture of two cheetahs looking back at us. This image has a rich tonal range accentuated by a pronounced vignette, which in this case does more than spotlight the cheetahs, it completes the interplay of light within the frame.” — Arog Vila

“Great light, composition and pose, it’s almost tells the viewer that these wild cheetahs are longing for some patting.” — Rafael Pinho

“From a technical perspective, the depth of field and vignetting are just right to single out the pair of cheetahs. They appear curious, ominous and regal all at once.” — Mike Richards

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+ RUNNERS UP: Church of Tisco, Arequipa, Peru AND Beautiful Waters of the Bocas Islands, Panama

Comments about the Church of Tisco, Arequipa, Peru, photo by Alberto Gonzalez, accompanying text by Mariel Gonzalez:
“Travel photography at its best evokes faraway experience in a single image, and this shot of a remote Peruvian church does just that: the totemic ochre ornamentations and roaming landscape transport the viewer to the high fields, far from home.” — Linus Gelber

“Just the right amount of grunge and color provide a contemporary artistic take on a classic stone structure.” — Mike Richards

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Comments about the Beautiful Waters of the Bocas Islands, Panama, photo by ATP, accompanying text by Melissa:
“Transparent green water makes any destination appealing, even if it’s all there is to it. This image portrays the dream-like environment all urbanites long for.” — Rafael Pinho

“I’m a sucker for visions of tropical paradise, probably because I so rarely experience tropical paradise. A jetty with amenities, lifted above clear entrancing waters, with balmy skies above – does it get better than this?” — Linus Gelber

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OTHER FAVOURITES OF OUR JUDGES:

+ Sleepy Lions, Kidepo Valley National Park, Uganda, photo by Steve Cunliffe, accompanying text by Nicola Swann

Comment:
“As anyone who has gone on safari knows, finding lions is the ultimate reward, and to find them in such a natural state must have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Oddly enough, this also looks like my family’s living room after Thanksgiving dinner.” — Matt Stabile

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+ The Children of Yakel Village, Tanna, Vanuatu, photo and accompanying text by John Nicholls

Comment:
“Seven strange children range along the ladder entrance to a treehouse home on Tanna Island; they may never hold an Xbox controller or argue the merits of teen fashion, but they smile, gaze, consider and go about their business just like children anywhere else. The wild differences highlight that we are, at heart, pretty much the same.” — Linus Gelber

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+ Smile from a Little Girl, Cusco, Peru, photo by Pieter Roos, accompanying text by Fernando Carrasco

Comments:
“This heartwarming portrait of a little girl is technically sound and beautifully communicative of the colorful personality beyond the girl’s colorful costume. An image that is very easy to connect with, well done!” — Arog Vila

“This girl’s amazing smile reminds me of what is truly great about travel: the people.” — Matt Stabile

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+ Migratory Birds, Lijiang, China, photo and accompanying text by Lily Zhang

Comment:
“A skein of geese, which might have just recently taken off, before forming a V, makes this a chaotic but amusing composition where each element has a certain clumsiness to it.” — Rafael Pinho

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The Judges

We sincerely thank our five judges for the time and effort taken to review our shortlist. We value their opinions and their readiness to share them with us. Please take a moment to check out their work.

Linus Gelber is a photographer from New York City, where he shoots cityscapes and live performances (notably burlesque) and sees way too many movies, if such a thing is possible. His work is represented by Getty Images. Linus would like to go to Antarctica one day, and if you knew how he felt about New York winters you’d think that was weird too.

Born in Brazil, Rafael Pinho took up photography after finishing his architecture studies. He set out as a freelancer in 2005 in Belo Horizonte and spent the following years between Berlin, New York, Reykjavík and São Paulo. His work has been shown at the Florence Biennale (2011) and the Biennale di Roma (2012) and appeared in the The Wall Street Journal, Modern Painters (US), Forum AID (Sweden), FFW Mag! (Brazil), Nýtt Líf (Iceland), Trip and Tpm (Brazil).

Mike Richard is the editor of Vagabondish. He lives in Rhode Island – a spit of land in the northeastern US - where he is a professional web designer and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, camping, hiking and seeing the world. He enjoys knit hats, small, declarative sentences and speaking in the third person.

Matt Stabile founded and runs TheExpeditioner.com, through which you can read his writings, see his videos, purchase the book he co-edited or contact him via email at any time.

Arog Vila is a New York-based photographer who developed his unique aesthetic and rule-breaking composition studying at the International Center of Photography, the New School and the School of Visual Arts. He delivers crisp and edgy images of photojournalistic human narrative, pointing his camera on the expected from an entirely new angle, then turning to the unusual and connecting it to something familiar and beautiful.

The Monte Toboggan on Portugal's Madeira Island is just one of many ways locals have created to get from one place to another, ways that we believe are a vital part of a local travel experience

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 dare you to give them a try! We’re sure you will find these rides to be a brilliant bonding experience with locals.

To inspire you… and in honour of our recent focus on local transport, we asked our network of local travel professionals all over the world to give us a glimpse of the best local conveyances in their destinations. Their responses are as varied as they are colourful – everything from trains and boats and buses to animal power and bicycles and three-wheeled wonders.

We’re pleased to present this gallery of the best of local transport inside the whl.travel network.To make it work:
+ Click on a thumbnail to open a preview.
+ Click the name of the photo to be taken to the full written entry supporting it.
+ Click the photo itself to close the preview.
+ Use the arrows to navigate through previews.

Trains on the Right Track

(click here to read more)

Bicycles Worldwide

(click here to read more)

Buses Not to Miss

(click here to read more)

Muscle Power

(click here to read more)

Transport on the Water

(click here to read more)

Three-Wheeled Wonders

(click here to read more)

Often also used in conjunction with today's International Day of the World's Indigenous People, this is officially the logo of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII), an advisory body with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues

When is International Day of the World’s Indigenous People? Today! Proclaimed by the United Nations, it’s a day  on which, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said, to “celebrate and recognise the stories, cultures and unique identities of indigenous peoples around the world.”

This year the focus is on indigenous designs – celebrating stories and cultures, crafting our own future. According to the UN, it “highlights the need for preservation and revitalisation of indigenous cultures, including their art and intellectual property…. It is also a reminder of the responsibility of individuals as consumers, to understand that there is a story and a personal experience behind every piece of cloth, textile or artwork from an indigenous individual or community.”

In Support of Indigenous Culture

On this special day an in keeping with this year’s particular focus, The Travel Word is very proud to join the world in saluting the cultural roots from which we have all sprung, roots that remain robust but require our admiration, care and protection.

To this end, and given the broad reach of the WHL Group community, of which The Travel Word is a part, we have concentrated for the last two weeks on sharing word from the indigenous people and native communities in our network. Our posts have examined indigenous culture and travel as it relates to:

• an Aboriginal tour guide in Cooktown, Australia
• the indigenous shea-butter-producing communities on the fringe of Mole National Park in northern Ghana
• an arts and ethnography museum in Laos that provides important information about the country’s ethnic groups
• the indigenous Rungus tribes of northern Borneo, Malaysia
• the Tzotzil indigenous people of Chamula, Mexico
• the Maori on the North Island of New Zealand
• the Embera indigenous community of Panama
• the Sámi indigenous people of northern Scandinavia
• the Bassari villages of rural Senegal
• the hill tribes of northern Thailand
• in Vanuatu, a Yakel village on the island of Tanna and the Namba population of Malekula Island
• the aboriginal Pemon people of Canaima National Park in Venezuela

We also have older articles about indigenous culture that explore Bhutan, Colombia, Georgia, Malawi, Mexico, Pakistan and Peru.

Poster announcing Indigenous People's Week, August 8-12, 2011. By planeta.com

There’s More: Indigenous People’s Week

In extended appreciation of indigenous people, The Travel Word is also throwing its weight behind Indigenous People’s Week, which takes place from August 8 to 12, 2011.

According to Ron Mader of Planeta.com, one of the week’s co-organisers, Indigenous People’s Week is “an innovative and fun ‘unconference’ ” that calls for recommendations of educational and engaging videos, podcasts, websites and online resources as part of “a wonderful mixing of cultures – indigenous and non-indigenous – as well as cyber-savvy and friends who simply don’t want a smartphone. We don’t all have to do the same thing or have the same background to contribute to a win-win effort.”

Please start adding links or questions now to the Indigenous People’s Week event pages on Facebook and LinkedIn. When tweeting about this topic, please include the hashtags #indigenous and #ipw.

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 shown in the picture below will never go to school. Their clothing, food and entertainment will be provided solely by the forest in which they live.

Visiting Yakel, or other Kastom villages in Vanuatu, is partaking in a voyage where time is of no consequence, where birthdays do not exist as there is no way of remembering this or any other event marked on a calendar – even if the residents had any inclination to record anything. One male from the village will be chosen to receive sufficient education in either English or French to act as an interpreter and guide to the outside world. Many of the Yakel villagers do not even speak Bislama, the creole language used throughout the archipelago.

The  Yakel tribe performs dances for visitors and sells handmade carvings to raise cash for basic tools such as machetes, axes, pots, pans and medical equipment, and to maintain the one old truck that services the tribe, a group consisting of around 700 people.

There’s an old story that in the past a chief was asked by his community “What do you do with all the money we collect?” The chief happily displayed his pride and joy – a mattress made of weaved Pandanus leaves and stuffed with currency notes from all over the world. He had not known what to do with all the strange-looking ‘White-Man leaves’. Rightly, he believed this was better than sleeping on the ground at his advanced age. Nowadays, the money is kept in a bank.

There are many other villages in Vanuatu where one experiences a spontaneous friendliness, dancing and indigenous art, and many of these can be visited as part of an organised tour. There are also many accommodation options that allow visitors to experience several different perspectives of life on Tanna.

As the UN’s World Tourism Organization has acknowledged, tourism can play a vital role in promoting cultural understanding, tolerance and respect, which is why 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 found in the whl.travel network of local tour operators.

In the Embera indigenous communities of Panama, women wear a traditional headpiece of tropical flowers and use corporal paint. Photo courtesy of Panama Tourism Authority

Visit the Embera Indigenous Community of Panama

In a world faced by rapidly paced globalisation, sometimes it becomes necessary to take a moment, close your eyes and just breathe. If you are searching for a place that lends itself to breaths of truly fresh air, a place where you can break from modernity and ‘progress’, you will have much to learn from contact with the traditional Embera indigenous tribes and their playful children. In Panama, the Embera maintain a careful distance from global influences and a deep respect for their environment. They use palm trees and natural fibres as construction material; they wear only simple multicoloured woven cloth garments; they practice corporal painting and have dances for all occasions. Complete with flowers in their hair, they are just as their ancestors before them were.

To start a memorable day with the Embera, your hosts paddle you down a river in a traditional dugout canoe to their community, where the village warmly welcomes you. During your day, you witness traditional dances, feast on typical foods and learn local crafts. A walk through the village and the botanical surroundings further helps you understand the wild diversity of their natural environment. At the end of the day, you leave with tender memories of a remarkable cultural exchange with the indigenous Embera, a uniquely beautiful community.

Two local girls on Malekula Island in Vanuatu greet visitors with shy smiles. Untouched by the forces of globalisation, their curiosity about foreign cultures matches outsider's intrigue about Makekula daily life. Photo courtesy of John Nicholls

Explore the Malekula Island People of Vanuatu

Visitors to the Malekula Island of Vanuatu are always intrigued by the history of cannibalism on the island. The belief system of the island’s indigenous Namba population included cannibalism until about 100 years ago, when the practice became obsolete (on the Malekula). These days, however, among the indigenous Namba, other tribal practices continue to thrive in full colour, such as matting, dancing, face painting and vibrant costumes.

As part of a special seven-day island safari, whl.travel local partners John and Silvana Nicholls include a visit to Malekula and a taste of life with the local Namba people. The tour begins in the capital city of Port Vila and then proceeds to Malekula, where you stay in the locally operated Nawori Seaview Bungalows for three nights. During that time, you follow local guides on excursions to nearby tribal villages and even take a canoe trip to ex-cannibal Rano Island. Another highlight is a visit to the Big Nambas tribe, which is distinct from all other tribes in Vanuatu; their red-dyed textiles are a highly prized and much photographed artifact of indigenous Vanuatu island life.

An Akha woman smiles warmly. The Akha are one of the five main indigenous hill tribes of northern Thailand. Photo courtesy of flickr/AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker

Trekking to the Hilltribes of Northern Thailand

Chiang Mai is the second-largest city in Thailand and part of the Golden Triangle travel loop of Southeast Asia. It is also the gateway for tours of the hilltribes of northern Thailand, fascinating encounters in sharp juxtaposition with the pace of contemporary urban life. On a trip into the lush scenery of rural northern Thailand, you reach the mountainous region near the border of Myanmar and encounter the small communities of several different tribes, like the Lahu, the Karen, the Hmong (or Meo), the Lisu and the Akha, each with its own distinct costumes, language, traditions and livelihoods.

You can arrange a trip to the hilltribes of northern Thailand through Hilltribe Holidays, a tour operator dedicated to exploring areas near Chiang Mai in a respectful, culturally sensitive and sustainable way that creates enriching and mutually beneficial exchanges for everyone. You can take in the scenic mountain passages, waterfalls, breathtaking views and local tribal ways of life. Sharing home-cooked meals and ancient customs with the local communities is one powerful way Hilltribe Holidays creates a safe and constructive context for cross-cultural understanding.

In Venezuela's Canaima Nationnal Park, an indigenous guide of the Pemon tribe leads tourists through the protected area of the park and to the main attraction: Angel Falls. Photo courtesy of flickr/whl.travel

Discover Angel Falls with a Pemon Guide in Canaima Park, Venezuela

As one of the highest waterfalls in the world, Angels Falls is the major attraction at Canaima National Park in Venezuela. The waters of Angels Falls plunge 2,648 feet (807 metres) from top to bottom, inspiring photographers and filmmakers alike with its roar and mists set against lush green forests and glistening gray rock faces. Because of its remote location, though, reaching the famous cataract takes some doing. One travel option is a five-hour upstream trip in a traditional dugout canoe.

If you’re looking to experience Canaima Park beyond a glimpse of Angel Falls, a two-day tour led by an aboriginal Pemon guide takes you deep into the natural wonders and everyday customs of the indigenous populations. (The local language of the Pemon people is Cariban, spoken only by an estimated 15,000 people.) During the tour, the Pemon guide explains the indigenous people’s symbiotic relationship to the land. Over dinner, he shares some of the myths and beliefs of the tribe before you retire to sleep in hammocks under a brilliantly starlit sky and within earshot of the roar of the Angel.

The Bassari people of Senegal practice subsistence farming in their remote villages and celebrate their rites of passage with decoration and fanfare. Photo courtesy of Association ACoSTE

Experiencing the ‘Teranga’ of the Bassari People of Senegal

In Senegal, the Wolof word teranga describes the warm welcome that Senegalese people are known to bestow upon their guests, something the whl.travel local partners in Senegal are determined to share. One way of doing so is to lead you outside the hustle and bustle of the country’s urban areas and head straight into the heart of its local villages, some of which are inhabited by people indigenous to the land.

Tours like the 12-day Great Unknown Senegal or the nine-day trip to Park Niokolo Koba  and the surrounding area take you inside the daily life of several villages in Bassari country near the border with Guinea. The Bassari are subsistence farmers who speak a local language from the Tenda family and adhere to a belief system that is, at its root, animist.

Both tours, run by Réalirêves, the whl.travel local partner in Senegal, spend several days in remote villages outside Niokolo Koba National Park. Lodging is taken in a village encampment and the daily activities focus on time spent with the people. Lucky visitors arrive in time for to witness an initiation ceremony, the most common kind of Bassari celebration. On the way out of the area, the tour passes through a Bedick village, home to another tribe similar to the Bassari.

For example, 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.

In pottery, the potter’s partner is the kiln, or, more precisely, the heat generated by the fire. Without it, the potter is impotent. In photography, our partner is light and how that light is used. Introducing reflected light (images created from that light) into one’s image is to invite nature to participate in one’s image. It is letting go the need to control and admitting that nature’s contribution to one’s art, with all its impossible variables, is masterful after all.

Technically, reflected light can either spoil a great image or it can create one. The art or travel photographer is only there as a tool to translate its beauty into another form; his job is to be in the right place, at the right time and have the technical understanding plus equipment to capture it at its most elusive, not control it.

In art and travel photography, one should look at things differently. Rather than seeing and recording only one part of a larger whole, the photographer has to find and evoke the spirit in the moment he has captured. His job is to transfer it for others to share for eternity..

I hope you enjoy this images (and others like it) as much as I enjoyed taking it, just one of many on my travels throughout the beautiful islands of Vanuatu.

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.

Silvana Nicholls and her four-legged baby Chloe at her former home in Kuranda, Cairns (Australia), the morning after the caviar-and-champagne event (see below). Everyone was so delighted to be reunited that Chloe was never left alone again.

Silvana was born in Italy and moved to Melbourne, Australia, at the age of four. In the late 1990s, she slowly moved her way up Australia’s eastern seaboard – first to Sydney for seven years and then to Queensland for five years. 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.

WHL Group: Which is your favourite WHL Group destination and which would you most like to visit?
Silvana: Favourite? There are so many! I love archaeology, hence Greece would be high on my list in order to visit all that history, but I also dream of trekking in the highlands of Peru.

WHLG: What would you never travel without?
Silvana: After a valid passport, credit card and local currency, it would have to be a reliable map of the destination I was to explore, insect repellent, snack food, a water bottle and a good book. You never know how long that flight, train, ferry or bus is going to be…

WHLG: What do you miss most about home when travelling?
Silvana: It would have to be my husband’s humour (and rants) if he is not with me. When we travel together, I miss the comfort and karma of our home the most. Although I would rather spend money on seeing and doing than sleeping, I have never been the backpacker type; I need a good and clean bed in a secure, private environment at the end of a packed day on the road!

WHLG: What’s the most adventurous trip you’ve ever taken?
Silvana: Moving to Vanuatu. I left a great job, packed all my belongings – including my dog – put my house up for rent and flew to an island that I had never known existed in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. Not to mention the fact that it was created by its still-very-active live volcano and that the place is known for Melanesian cults and their past cannibal culture. The place did not even have electricity or running water – we had to generate our own!

WHLG: What is your funniest travel experience?
Silvana: When I won a Christmas party costume contest as a very pregnant Virgin Mary. The prize was an ‘indulgent’ weekend in the penthouse of a five-star resort in Cairns, Australia. At 2am the first night, we felt so guilty about leaving our dog Chloe behind by herself that we couldn’t even sleep. So we took the complimentary champagne and caviar, and returned home for what became a great weekend with our four-legged baby.

Silvana Nicholls and her husband, John, pose with a guest's little boy. In addition to her dog Chloe (left), Silvana adopted a Papillon (small breed of dog) whilst managing a resort in Vanuatu. Guests and their children had a menagerie to chose from: two lovable dogs, a pet pig that thought she was a dog, coconut crabs (fed instead of eaten), injured turtles and numerous flightless birds that found sanctuary on the protected grounds.

WHLG: What is your scariest travel experience?
Silvana: Hmmm. Between facing an oncoming four-metre-high tidal surge, a 7.5-force earthquake or a category-5 cyclone, I’m not sure which to choose. They were all terrifying.

WHLG: If you could go on holiday with anyone famous – living or dead – who would you take?
Silvana: Sir David Attenborough. I would just love to forage and find fossils with him.

WHLG: Describe the best and worst accommodation you’ve ever stayed in.
Silvana: It’s ironic, but the best was the penthouse of the five-star resort in Cairns, Australia, mentioned above, that I left to be with my dog. The worst was a hotel in Kuranda in North Queensland, Australia. The mattress was infested with lice and felt as if it was created for an S&M torture chamber.

WHLG: Describe your earliest travel memory.
Silvana: When I was four years old, my family emigrated from Vibo Valentia in southern Italy, to settle in Australia. So returning to Italy some 16 years later to see my extended family and the village of my ancestors was an emotional experience. In addition, we visited other parts of the country I had never been to before, like Florence, Rome and of course iconic Venice to find out who was producing that contorted alien-like glassware in my mother’s home.

Silvana Nicholls stands back, elated after successfully coordinating the first official wedding on top of Mt Yasur volcano, Vanuatu, including negotiating government red tape and completing the celebrant's paperwork

WHLG: Please briefly explain what you think local travel is.
Silvana: I think finding the ultimate solution to changing the prevailing ‘Me!’-travel culture to one of local travel is important. Local travel needs to be felt in order to be manifested. It is akin to comparing real love to self-love. Local travellers will make that extra effort to empathise, understand and share in another person’s life, as opposed to those who use a destination as a new host to satisfy their whims and indulgences.

Frankly, I don’t understand some travellers. Without an emotional interest in a country, what is the point of visiting it? If one cannot feel for the people and country one is visiting, then one will not comprehend the local-travel concept. Caring about others – their welfare and the environment – and balancing your own self-gratification with support for local people when travelling should come naturally. How you behave and what you do will follow, as is mentioned by all my WHL Group counterparts.

WHLG: In what ways do you see local travel benefiting the country in which you live?
Silvana: Travel is a fantastic opportunity to experience how others live and it engenders global tolerance. Independent, sustainable travel in particular can contribute enormously to local communities who need opportunities to develop some economic strength in a fast-moving and interconnected modern world. As whl.travel local partners, we have a role to play as educators, promoters and facilitators connecting travellers to the most effective tourism service providers in our regions whilst leaving as minimal a footprint on the environment as possible.

A more detailed explanation of our activities in this area is found at http://www.vanuatu-hotels.vu/aboutus.

Exactly one year ago, we started featuring one picture each week on The Travel Word. We spotlighted favourite images pulled from our growing collections on Flickr (here and here).

We also asked the photographer or owner of each selected Photo of the Week to submit a short and revealing text about it – covering the subject of the photo, the general location, the experience of taking the picture, technical aspects of photography etc.

These text-image combinations have proven to be very popular. We believe that this has a lot to do with the special emphasis we have placed on the honesty of the image. All taken or sourced by our franchise partners, who are local travel experts in their destinations, they conveyed (we believe) something special. We weren’t looking for postcard images, even if we did end up focusing on a gorgeous sunset or backlit kid. We still always knew we were looking at a place through the eyes of someone who’s seen lots of kids and sunsets and knows their worth or when a scene comes along that really is exceptional.

The Shortlist

Our methods were decidedly unscientific. For each month, The Travel Word team singled out one photo of the month. To this list of 12 we added four wild cards that had made a particular impression on us. This list of 16 we put to a group of five skilled photographers for their assessment.

Below is the resulting list of nine images, ranked in order, with comments from the judges:

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+ Winner: Photo of the Year: The Dazzling Colours of Sunset, the Maldives

Comments:
“Nice composition, perfect exposure. I like that the photographer chose
to silhouette the people and the bridge. It definitely makes me want
to be there!”

“This stunning sunset in the Maldives is a classic example of being in the very-right place at the very-right time. What separates this sunset photo from most is the focus the people on the pier gives the viewer. Taking us far away and drawing us into the scene, in doing so we end up wishing that we ourselves were right there in the photo.”

“Sunsets never get old, and this one is quite spectacular. There is something really inviting about the whole scene, and I deeply envy those people on the pier.”

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+ First Runner Up: Mt Yasur Eruption, Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Comments:
“I like the abstract quality of this image. Proper exposure could be
challenging and this is nicely done.”

“I’ve never seen a live volcano up close, and given that I live in Brooklyn in New York City, I count that as a good thing. This view of a sudden and unexpectedly powerful eruption is an instantly-accessible peek into a foreign world. I like the easy way it reminds me of everything we don’t expect to run into in the course of a regular day.”

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+ Second Runner Up: Boats Bob in the Waters of Melissani Lake, Kefalonia, Greece

Comments:
“Crystal-clear waters in a shocking blue against the weathered gray stones of the surrounding cave walls – what’s not to like? This image has a simplicity and a purity to it. It’s a casually-composed shot, a day in the life of some guys who just happen to work in this incredibly beautiful spot.”

“I chose this one because it just had it all. The photograph itself is beautiful, it is wonderfully shot and of a spectacular moment in what looks to be an amazing place.”

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Other Favourites of Our Judges:

+ Yummy Penny Bun Mushrooms in Latvia

Comments:
“This basket of mushrooms picked in Latvia looks simply stunning. The photographer has found a whole world of textures and rich colours framed by the equally tactile grass and basket. The high contrast and dappled light creates a larger-than-life image that makes me crave mushroom soup.”

“Here’s a beautifully composed image that has a nearly artificial tone to it suggesting a leisurely adventure that’s always fantastic: mushroom picking. The photograph with its colors, the arrangement of the mushrooms in a basket, takes the viewer right back to fairy tales and stories of enchanted forests.”

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+ Gorillas in Our Midst, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda

Comments:
“Gorillas make very good models and the one in this picture is nearly human in its cinematographic expression. The image has a curious temporality as it freezes the movement of a beast that’s decidedly about to do something. The frame is suggestive of movement and one is tempted to imagine what’s beyond the frame and beyond the time frozen in it.”

“This handsome portrait of the gorilla really struck me. You can really feel the impact of his stare through the photograph; it was captured perfectly. I really have to give it to the photographer for getting that close.”

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+ Sifting Rice for the Day in Muang Sing, Luang Namtha, Laos

Comment:
“This photo of a girl carrying out what is for her a day-to-day chore offers for the casual viewer a brief window into her world in a photo filled with context and brought to life with action. In the background, the rural character of her village on stilts is clear and everything about her from her unwashed clothes to her slight Mona-Lisa smile gives you a wealth of detail in this brief snapshot of her day. Contrasting this detail the rice is a blurred fountain of movement and adds a bit of magic to the every-day.”

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+ Traditional Soap Making, Tripoli, Lebanon

Comment:
“Travel photography is a genre where the portrayed object is more important than the image itself. It’s a matter of finding the most peculiar scene, place or event and then register that in a way that is pleasant to look at. A row of ladies stirring soap in steamy cauldrons is as catchy as a photograph can be.”

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+ Fire-Knife Dancing in Samoa

Comment:
“I love fire as a photographic element; it’s stark and full of motion, and when you capture it right you can almost hear the sizzle and crackle. This shot made me think about how performance is a kind of shorthand, in some ways. While the picture was taken at a hotel during a cultural program, it still evokes dark nights on sandy beaches, on foreign shores.”

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+ Young Novice Monks in Vientiane, Laos

Comment:
“Very nice shot of the playful interaction. Many people are too intimidated to photograph strangers, but the people we meet are such an essential part of the experience.”

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The Judges

We extend sincere thanks to our five judges for their time and effort. We value their professional opinions and their readiness to share them with us.

+ Ian DeLaune is a New York-based artist working primarily with issues of media and information dissemination, and drawing on a wide array of digital and analogue techniques. He received his MFA in 1998 from SVA and currently works and teaches at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

+ Linus Gelber is a photographer from New York City, where he shoots cityscapes and live performances (notably burlesque) and sees way too many movies, if such a thing is possible. His work is represented by Getty Images. Linus would like to go to Antarctica one day, and if you knew how he felt about New York winters you’d think that was weird too.

+ Richard Jephcote has taught traditional photography and Photoshop in colleges in North London and created several films through the artistic collective Tea Fuelled Art, which he co-founded with writer/composer George Lewkowicz and artist Katherine Harding. In addition to freelancing in photography/design and filmmaking, he has been pursuing an MA in Filmmaking (specialising in cinematography).

+ Born in Brazil, Rafael Pinho took up photography after finishing his architecture studies. He set out as a freelancer in 2005 in Belo Horizonte and spent the following years between Berlin, Reykjavík and São Paulo. His work has appeared in Modern Painters (US), Forum AID (Sweden), FFW Mag! (Brazil), Nýtt Líf (Iceland), Trip and Tpm (Brazil).

+ Although Jennie Zeiner received her undergraduate degree in Journalism, it is her images that have appeared in Reader’s Digest, Fast Company, Forbes, Money Magazine, Inc., BusinessWeek, Newsweek, ComputerWorld, Utne Reader and Village Voice. Her corporate/advertising work has been used by Bank of America, General Motors, FedEx, FCB, VISA, Mastercard, Larry King, Disney Latin America and Discovery Network.

Kalo and Nina Nathaniel own Malo Lodge on Uliveo Island, one of the Maskelyn group of islands in Vanuatu. The Nathaniels built the bungalows with basic hand tools using materials found locally (coral bamboo, Natangora palm fronds, coconut palm leaves, pandanus leaves). Cement and handmade bricks are used sparingly, as is local wood. The lodge's menu is based mainly on what can be grown on the island or fished from the water. Electricity is produced at night for a few hours from a small diesel generator... and, thanks to a refrigerator that we donated (actually paid for with clam shells), food can now be preserved long enough for when foreigners come. Helping locals can be this easy.

Precious Resources Wasted

A couple of years ago, a major donor in Vanuatu decided to provide assistance in tourism. The donor sent out requests for expressions of interest in producing (wait for it…) a ‘Pre-Feasibility Study’ on developing tourism to the outer islands of Vanuatu. Even better, the ‘Pre-Feasibility Study’ in question had two programmed follow-ups: a ‘Feasibility Study’ and an ‘Implementation Plan’!

The winning tender went to a consultant company from northern Europe. They assembled a crack team with representatives from all over the world. Unfortunately, all but one had never worked or studied tourism in Melanesia (the team leader had spent a week in New Guinea).

This is where families collect water while donor consultants sit in expensive resorts composing reports on how to best help the locals. As the sea level rises around Vanuatu, wells like this will be rendered unusable, at which time whole island populations will be without fresh water and deep-rooting trees will die off. The coconut palms are already gone from beach degradation as this small island (Uliveo) shrinks. The immediate needs are obvious: the people need help catching and managing rainwater, harnessing energy for pumps and making bricks for effective retaining walls. Soon the problems will be too big to tackle, but the donors are busy with expensive studies.

As a vital counterbalance to this, I was hired as one of three ‘local experts’. But was our combined 60-plus years of local knowledge valued? No, it was mostly ignored, our function reduced to facilitating the appointments and travel needs of the imported consultants; on many occasions, the local ‘consultants’ were actually excluded from meetings with the very same local people we had arranged. The fieldwork was completed over a two-week period and the 30-odd page document (written by the team leader) was submitted to the client two months later.

The outcome: a report so academic and long-winded that no one could keep awake long enough to read it. It has been shelved with all the other donor-requested studies gathering dust. No follow-up ‘Feasibility Study’ has been commissioned. In any case, the final report would have take its place as something like the 10th or 15th study on the topic in as many years, probably resulting in the same conclusions and recommendations as those that preceded it – predictable outcomes, since each successive study appears to plagiarize its predecessors – a process in which career consultants are experts.

The worst thing about it is the vast amount of the money spent on these multiple re-examinations of the same issues year after year. In the case above: between US$110,000 and $130,000. Sometimes two national donor organisations have conducted virtually the same study only weeks apart – one in English and the other in French – each financed by a different government. Millions of Australian, New Zealand, American and European taxpayers’ dollars are squandered by elitist consultants staying in expensive resorts, being paid salaries nearly equal to the total annual revenue of a small B&B hotel, and travelling and dining like royalty. Meanwhile, the private sector is doing the hard lifting by maintaining and growing the real economy (as distinct from the hypothetical one).

Why Must We Study the Need to Study a Need?

The public sector, including governments and donor agencies, does not generate income. It never has. It doesn’t know how to, so why is it advising on the topic? The public sector only knows how to spend (note I did not say ‘invest’), more often than not with negligible return or total loss.

It almost seems to me like the objective is to spend taxpayers’ money with no sense of how hard it was for the taxpayer to come by the income in the first place. Donors seem to believe that the pot is inexhaustible, and maybe it is, as long as people continue to pay taxes and spending excesses can be hidden in national government budgets.

This is the airport toilet for all arrivals and departures on an outer island of Vanuatu. Do donors really need multiple studies by consultants costing an average of US$5,000 a week to find out what is hampering tourism development here? Suffice it to say that I don't think it has ever been frequented by a donor. PS: BYO paper...

But that doesn’t change the deplorable ongoing waste of precious resources by some of these donors, all to the detriment (not targeted benefit) of our society, our world. As we’ve learned (and suffered) from the greed of Wall Street, is it not time to question donors about how they are spending our money? Money that, if used wisely, could fix so many problems in the developing world. The unacceptable alternative is the kind of unchecked waste that only delays fixes and pads the pockets of people on the consultant gravy train.

Let’s take a quick look at what could have been done in Vanuatu (as just one example of the world’s many developing nations). The main challenge to starting any tourism business in Vanuatu is the availability of energy. Without energy, there is no communication, no refrigeration etc. The means certainly exist for isolated indigenous operators to generate cost-effective, renewable, earth-conscious energy through hydro, solar, thermal and wind power. In fact, viable micro-systems have been established for as little as US$10,000.

Think of what we could have accomplished with the money that was spent on the most recent Vanuatu ‘Pre-Feasibility Study’. Instead of thinking about thinking about how to help, we could have given a real fighting chance for the long-term survival of a dozen accommodation providers on the outer-island, where a little capitalism and financial reward are the type of hands-on assistance required. But no, it was more important yet again to waste time with interviews and cruel teases about the potential for the possibility of better things to come in the name of research. What improvements were made? The perpetuated reputation of the futility of working with governments and donor agencies. Oh yes, and the ever-growing salaries (with perks) of donor officials and their consultant mates.

All that said, it would be foolish to tar all consultants employed by donors with the same brush. I work closely with a few that really care and are genuinely committed to their missions. Nevertheless, passions are quickly cooled in donor politics and bureaucracy.

Donors that really want to effect change aren’t (and shouldn’t be) afraid of transparency and financial accountability. They must work closely with the local private sector in order to gain the respect and cooperation from the industry they wish to ‘assist’. Until that happens, they will continue to be seen by locals as air-filled soufflés of change.

These guys want to set up a hand-painted t-shirts business but can only afford to buy one colour and have no idea what subject matter will attract tourists. WIthout consultation they would have painted their dozen shirts with the wrong design, had no range of sizes and not known where to display their goods or how much to charge for them. But everything will be all right! We have a donor that will spend another $100,000 on a study to find out how to encourage and harness private enterprise in the outer islands.

The question I asked them was whether they travelled primarily to meet and interact with local people in the destinations they go to or to see and experience things as distinct from the personal interaction?

John Nicholls (third from left) of of Vanuatu Hotels, the whl.travel local connection in Vanuatu, with local friends and former colleagues from the days when he operated a resort on Tanna

They all agreed that “meeting and interacting with the locals” was low on their travel priority list. It was an unknown anyway. If they happened to meet someone local they connected with, great, but they did not search for it or plan it, and in some countries the local people spoiled the travel experience anyway. In the time they have available to them, they really travel to see and learn about past civilizations, nature, music, cultural festivals, museums, art galleries, architecture, local gastronomy and other travel experiences depending on the destination.

Generational Change

That being said, they found that for their children (20- to 25-year-olds) it was very different: the latter first socialized in social network sites or the likes, a part of the Internet to which the parents did not ever venture. The children connected with people (“…total strangers!!”) in the countries they were going to, something the parents would never do. They also travelled on a more ‘feral’ level and trusted foreigners more than their parents ever did when the latter were their age. (My friends had never backpacked or stayed in dormitories.) This style of travel was very foreign to my group and not one they could relate to. On a personal note, my 23-year-old daughter is a backpacker/couchsurfer, much my great chagrin, and I constant worry about her welfare traveling this way. I don’t think any father can honestly say he is comfortable with his daughter sleeping in a unisex dormitory or in a stranger’s lounge room in some far distant land. (I’ve left comments to this effect in the article ‘Are couchsurfing networks legitimate local travel?‘)

Time Is of the Essence

Another factor raised with my group is the time it takes to make initial contact with locals on the net or otherwise, then to socialize with when in the destination, and then maybe keep up with communications following the holiday. This is something one can do when time is not an issue – such as, generally speaking, for the younger traveler, or the empty-nesters and/or the retired – but for the average time-poor, mortgage-carrying working couple (with or without kids), time spent seeing and doing things together is the prime objective of travel. Interacting with locals beyond asking for directions and conversing at train stations is not an essential element of their holidays. Although I’m not saying that if they had more time, they would not try.

An Interesting Future

This I find very interesting, especially since, by intent, the Local Travel Movement and its partners speak to and are dominated by this new style of travel and not what I would consider the majority of real travelers I deal with. Organisations like the WHL Group are preparing well for this new generation of Real Travel. It is insightful long-term brand building and without doubt generating business for a number local partners. But will it help in the long term?

The reason for mentioning this to my friends is that they are very indicative of the traveler profile my business attracts right now, they are my bread-and-butter customers. There is good financial rationale behind this: without profits generated by ‘commercial tourism’ there is no money for me to develop the indigenous part, and that is what we at Vanuatu Hotels and whl.travel are all about.

The future will be interesting. Will the younger social-network traveler of today continue to be more ideologically local-travel oriented as he ages, or will he be more pragmatic as the material realities become more essential and economically accessible to him? I also wonder if the questions posed here would generate the same responses in, say Tripadvisor, as they will in this space.

John Nicholls owns and operates Vanuatu Hotels, the whl.travel local connection in Vanuatu.

This article was first published by our friends at The Local Travel Movement, who have agreed to its republication here.
View the original article on the Local Travel Movement blog.

The tower is built when the first yam crop is ready for harvesting and takes about five weeks. A tall tree is found as the ‘foundation’ of the tower and hundreds of branches are tied in a scaffolding pattern to reach a height of between 20 and 30 metres. Each diver then selects his own vine. The thickness and length of the vine is of primary importance because if it is too long or stretches too much, the jump could be fatal. The diver must touch the earth with his shoulder in order for the jump to be successful and to ensure fertility for next year’s yam crop.

It is impossible to describe the ambiance as the women and children stomp the ground, dancing in rhythmic unison, encouraging the divers. You just have to be there! The sight of families as they may witness the final minutes of a father’s, husband’s or brother’s life before jumping sends shivers throughout the limited number of privileged spectators.

The Pentecost jump is 100% authentic and is unequalled in its threat to the lives of its participants. No other spectacle in the world matches the intensity felt by those who have witnessed it. A few divers have jumped to their deaths and others have been severely injured.

If you want to find something unique and off the beaten track, this is it. The jumps only occur between April and June each year following the monsoon season, ensuring that the jungle vines – which so many lives will depend on – have enough moisture in them to guarantee elasticity and will not break from the stress of the fall. A plunge takes sheer Stone Age courage or temporary madness, depending which way you want to look at it.

This photo is from a series of 50 shots taken on my last trip there (in 2009) using a Sony Cybershot DSC-F828 (fantastic workhorse camera). Every year I organise day trips to this event via private plane, with a stopover on Epi Island for lunch and a swim with the wild but docile resident dugong family (see our site for details).

Every so often, a photographer finds him- or herself in the right place at the right time, although the circumstances may not be ideal. This shot (one of a series of 10) is the result of such a unique time and place.

Mt Yasur, although a Strombolian volcano only 500 metres high, is indisputably the most accessible live volcano in the world. There is no doubt that every person who makes the short (15-minute) trek to the crater is increasing the prospects of a shortened life, but that’s why thousands do it. There’s a violent explosion of 3,000-degree C magma every five to ten minutes. The experience of witnessing this phenomenon is addictive.

There are different categories of danger, which is carefully monitored. Categories 1 and 2 are relatively safe for viewing from the crater. Category 3 is not; no one should be near the crater. Category 4 means that no one should be within a 20 kilometre radius of the volcano. Category 5 obliges evacuation from the island.

The volcano usually hovers around a category 1.5 to 2. On most occasions, it is a simply beautiful pyrotechnic display and has an natural artistic grace to it. Oddly, the magma splattering softly into the crater resembles illuminated cow dung.

On the night of my photograph in 2002, Mt Yasur was doing its usual category 2 performance for an enthralled audience. Suddenly everything became much more frightening: the explosions increased in intensity and did not appear to be abating. Before we knew it we were in a category 3 situation. Deformed elastic chunks of magma the size of cows flew over our group’s heads. I knew we were definitely too close, but we would not make a run for it down the mountain. It was too dark and far more dangerous to run than to stay. Running, we would trip over black boulders and maybe get hit in the back or on the head with falling magma. The safer option was to stay alert to falling magna. This we did, and as my camera was on a tripod, I continued to shoot whilst looking up in the black sky for magma bombs.

This scanned-from-print image was shot with a Canon EOS 30, on 800 asa Kodak positive film at around 1/125 of a second. It has now become the country’s most-used iconic image of the volcano. Tanna Island is a 45-minute flight from Port Vila, but the volcano is another 90-minute 4WD drive from the airport.

I have returned over 30 times to Mt Yasur and continued to photograph this beast (yes you get to relate to it). It is in continual growth and I have had a different experience every time I visit. On the last occasion, there was an earthquake whilst we were on top of the crater. That certainly adds a new dimension to fear, as I was imagining the whole side of the crater – little more than compacted ash, like giant sand hill – caving into the vent!

You want an adrenalin high? The Tanna beast will give you one every few minutes! I am happy to advise/coordinate anyone’s Mt Yasur volcano expedition (we offer three options – an overnight trip, and a budget or deluxe seven-day option). I have never lost anyone to the beast… yet.

Visit the whl.travel Flickr photostream for a set of more pictures of Vanuatu.

John Nicholls with the chief of Vil Vil village, Malekula Island, Vanuatu

The Nicholls own and operate Vanuatu Hotels, the most comprehensive online accommodation booking facility – also the whl.travel local connection – in this island nation in the South Pacific. Running a business unaffiliated with any hotel, resort or tourism company, the Nicholls got where they are today by putting in the long, hard hours required to build expertise and a reputation for integrity and reliability. But they also found their way into a golden opportunity and have capitalized on it fully.

Fortunately for the people and nature of Vanuatu, the Nicholls’ also promote culturally and ecologically sensitive travel out of profound respect for their adopted land and its indigenous inhabitants.

The whl.travel Connection

“When we were running the [The White Grass Ocean] resort in Tanna, I read somewhere on the Internet a report on The World Bank introducing a book-on-line portal,” John recalled. “I was so impressed by the idea. I mean the whl.travel model is as brilliant as it is simple. Then, one day the most amazing thing happened. They were presenting their product to the industry in Vanuatu! I could not contain my joy. However, the day they gave their presentation, I fell sick with the worst flu I have had in my entire life; bed-ridden, I missed the meet. How ironic, considering I was the only one in the country that knew of and was already sold on the project! Anyway, I contacted a director of the organisation and found they were still open to tenders and they were prepared to bend over backwards to assist in setting up a partner in Vanuatu. Now I could realise my dream of aggregating Vanuatu tourism products and services online under one banner. Vanuatu Hotels was that vehicle.”

In the last 10 years, John Nicholls has taken more than 10,000 pictures, most of them documenting life and nature in Vanuatu and quite a few visible at www.vanuatu-hotels.vu/photo andpicasaweb.google.com/vanuatutravel

But dreams take time. John’s experience of launching six resorts from the ground up had taught him it takes at least three years to establish a solid commercial presence. They nevertheless dove fully into the new-business cycle and, sure enough, now entering their fifth year, they have not only doubled their inventory every second year to include 90% of Vanuatu’s rooms (including resorts, motels, guesthouses and NiVanuatu indigenous bungalows) but increased their profitability exponentially since year three through flight reservation, sale of travel insurance, car rentals and even wedding arrangements on top of a live volcano with a croquembouche wedding cake delivered to the rim.

Keeping It Local

John and Silvana Nicholls on a moonscape plain near Mt Yasur volcano, Tanna Island, Vanuatu

But Vanuatu Hotels is more than just a standard business; it’s an ethical one. On a Web page about the Nicholls, travellers are told of their “deep attachment and respect for the people of Vanuatu and an uncompromising commitment to the protection of the country’s natural heritage.” The Nicholls have accordingly shown great initiative in finding ways to increase the benefit of their work with the greater community.

“And the beauty of it is that all our revenue is generated in the country for the country, reducing leakage, which is a real problem for Vanuatu,” enthused John. (Estimates show that between 50% and 70% of the tourism dollars generated by Vanuatu never make it to the country.) “Another benefit is that we are distributing the Vanuatu experience to a much wider audience than ever before, consequently that means more foreign exchange acquired from markets that may have never heard of Vanuatu, money that would have been spent in countries with healthy economies. Now some of it is being spent here.”

Caring for the Destination

The general practice of sustainable tourism, although relatively new as a labelled hot-button concept, has been around Vanuatu for a long time. Some people have always been sensitive to the needs of the land and its communities without market forces having to convince them. “They saw the publicity of it as blatant commercialisation of their inner beliefs,” said John. This was the challenge the Nicholls faced in cataloguing their suppliers’ sustainable practices.

John Nicholls with his close friend Rex Iapen (and piglet) promoting the outer islands at a trade show in Port Vila, Vanuatu

But they persisted and helped lead the charge, setting themselves up as an example in the both their personal and professional lives. “[At home] we happily follow sustainable practices in everything we do,” John emphasised. “As whl.travel partners we commit ourselves to this; it is the responsibility we willingly and passionately take on board. It’s easy, makes sense and saves us money. We also had to make sure that every part of our business could be scrutinised thoroughly on the basis of eco-sustainability. We had to ensure that no one could ever insinuate we were being insincere.”

Few would make such a claim. Since 2001, they had been lobbying for coconut crab conservation. Later, for a year they produced a monthly 25-page newsletter addressing sustainability issues and John is active on committees and advisory boards looking for ways to influence government policy and the hospitality industry about it. In 2006 they even introduced and sponsored the Best Indigenous Bungalow Award, followed in 2007 by creation of the Best Green Operator Award, which they have continued to sponsor in the national Vanuatu Tourism Awards to this day.

Prizing Success

Tourism in the South Pacific has long been dominated by wholesalers, but the trade winds seem to be blowing in a different direction of late. “The tourism food chain has changed radically,” predicted John. “We certainly had a difficult start as the [whl.travel] concept was so different for our suppliers to absorb, and the Internet was still regarded locally as an information-gathering medium only. In the first two years we had to knock on doors, but now we are well established and everyone comes to us. It’s much easier that way, but the flip side is that we cannot keep up.”

Their efforts have not gone unnoticed, most of all by whl.travel, which recognised the Nicholls as Best Franchisee of the Year in 2007-2008 through a reward and recognition programme that encourages network partners to meet business objectives and service standards. (The award in 2008-2009 was given to the franchisee for Laos.)

John and Silvana Nicholls with some of their staff on Tanna Island, Vanuatu

“I’m elated!” reported John, after learning about the win. “It has been tough, we have worked very hard and must admit we are both extremely competitive. But this competition has greater rewards for all of us in the whl.travel organisation than a single franchisee winning a prize. It is an essential motivator for all of us to improve.”

Walking the Talk

John’s many years in tourism have taught him that there is no such thing as secure employment in the tourism industry. “You’re on top one day and you can be out of a job the next day.” However, he’s thrilled to have found something different in whl.travel, a discovery made in 184 other destinations in 80 other countries, with more epiphanies to come in nearly 100 more destinations (including 12 new countries) in the coming months. “It’s different with whl.travel. They provide the most amazing vehicle. The local partner only has to drive it. Friends ask me why I never wanted to own my own resort? My answer is: ‘Did Schumacher own the Ferrari he was driving? If he had would he be driving them at 180 kilometres an hour?’ whl.travel provides the Ferrari, never stops enhancing it and I am having a ball driving it.”

John also likens whl.travel to being on the Greenpeace ship saving whales. “I could not be more proud than to be part of an organisation such as whl.travel. You know you’re doing something valuable, yet at the same time building a successful business. It’s undeniably the best business decision I have ever made. I foresee whl.travel becoming the dominant ‘real travel’ online booking engine of the world within the next three years.”

La Colle River is in pristine condition and Pascal is careful to show it with zero footprint, especially along a section that runs through a large private property and to which Pascal has exclusive access for trekking/ kayaking. Here, Pascal has met local Nivan guys along the track making lunch from a caught wild hen.

I chatted with Pascal – no easy task as he is always on the move – to find out what keeps him going.

John: Pascal, why did you start Vanuatu Ecotours?

Pascal: I wanted to share this unique and beautiful country with everyone from all over the world, from all walks of life; to provide them a life-changing experience by taking them out of their safety zone; to awaken the human spirit, the human attachment and need to connect with something real. To me there is nothing more real than the great outdoors… nature.

People exist in such sanitised comfort. The urban lifestyle found in modern society has, over thousands of years, desensitized our natural consciousness. I like to provide the opportunity to make them touch their inner selves by providing breathtaking locations and experiences which are not on the brochures. I like to see people do things they never thought capable of doing.

Accordingly, don’t be surprised if Pascal takes you to a secret cave where the only access is through a waterfall deep in the jungle, which is, in turn, only accessible by kayak!

It’s hard not to see how passionate Pascal is, but he is also practical. After a brief conversation, I learned that he is the Vanuatu representative for RAM (Rotary Against Malaria), in Vanuatu today called R.O.M. (Rotary Operation Mosquito), which, in conjunction with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, teaches village communities malaria prevention practices and donates mosquito nets to needy people throughout the islands (1,200 nets to date).

Pascal is perched on the edge of a waterfall showing layers of volcanic ash compacted over millions of years. It's all that remains of a lake that once sat at the foot of the Mt Yasur volcano on the Vanuatu island of Tanna. The lake's banks burst in 2000 and left a river that all must cross (there are no bridges) to access the volcano.

Pascal also buys and resells indigenous carvings, the proceeds from which help local parents pay their children’s school fees. (Pascal provides this service for free.) Part of this project is to encourage visiting travellers to sponsor local children’s education. Pascal has two Australian families presently doing so.

As an active diversion from all his professional activities, Pascal’s love of sports (he has a degree in sports education) sees him playing and coaching villagers in soccer and volleyball. You guessed it: he also supplies the equipment for free.

Pascal is originally from France, where he was also educated, but, with his wife and son, he made Vanuatu his home 16 years ago. A keen walker, mountain biker, tennis player and horse rider, Pascal has travelled extensively throughout Vanuatu, acquiring fluency in Bislama (he also speaks fluent French and English) and an incredible knowledge of the islands and its unique, indigenous network. Pascal tirelessly trains NiVanuatu people in tour management, furthering the understanding and practice of ecotourism throughout the archipelago.

Visit the Vanuatu Ecotours website to learn more about how you can benefit from and support Pascal’s work.

Teamworkz Consulting accepting its accolades as Franchisee of the Year 2008-2009 at the whl.travel Asia Pacific regional conference. Left to right are: Rob Shortland, whl.travel Asia Pacific Regional Director; Anne Done, Lee Sheridan and Mouk of Teamworkz; Len Cordiner, CEO of WHL Group

“An amazing effort,” comment Rob Shortland, whl.travel Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. “Amazing especially when you consider they also won two of the three category awards (service and web marketing). They really worked hard for this over the last 12-18 months and it shows in their results, as well as in the growth of their business. A great job and well done.”

Reward and Recognition

The whl.travel Reward and Recognition (R&R) program is designed to encourage, recognize and reward franchise partners who show improvement in their pursuit of excellence in areas deemed important to the growth and wellbeing of the network, all in the spirit of friendly competition. The 2008-2009 program focused on three categories: sustainability (improvements in the quality and quantity of product with Caring for the Destination ratings); service standards (the ability of each franchisee to hit and surpass the 95% success level for responding to client queries within 24 hours, and to keep published rates current); and Web marketing. There were quarterly awards in each category, category leaders for the year and top honours given to the Franchisee of the Year.

Teamworkz Consulting basically dominated the rankings. While Vientiane sat atop the leader board, the next three positions were filled by Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Phuket (Thailand), and seven of the top eight spots included Koh Samui and Chiang Mai (both in Thailand) – all operated by Teamworkz. Only the whl.travel local partner in Vanuatu – the 2007-2008 whl.travel Franchisee of the Year – broke the run with its fifth-place finish tying with Luang Prabang as winner of the service category of the year. All 10 live sites in Laos and Thailand under Teamworkz management swept the Web marketing category for the year, while one local operator in Marmaris-Datça, Turkey (10th overall), was category leader for the year in sustainability, 87% of its accommodations and tours meriting a Caring for the Destination ranking.

“As much as I would like to take all the credit,” said Lee Sheridan, managing director of Teamworkz, “I have to admit that my team of Mouk, Anne, Vong, Phansee and Thouni have done all the hard work. A big thanks to them!! They are the ones who consistently demonstrate the power of the local connection.”

The R&R program rules will change in 2009-2010 based on important feedback from the local partners. The goal however remains the same: to ‘encourage, recognize and reward’. After all, “Who cares if we win or not again?” said John Nicholls, owner and operator of Vanuatu Hotels. “This R&R competition has greater rewards for all of us in the whl.travel organisation than a single franchisee winning a prize. It is an essential motivator for all of us to improve.”

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As a primary force in the Greater Mekong region, where whl.travel network coverage may soon know no equal, Teamworkz Consulting is the local connection in Laos (the Champasak, Luang Prabang [read more here], Vang Vieng and Vientiane destination sites are live, while Luang Mantha and Xieng Khouane are under construction) and Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Samui, Pattaya, Phuket and Sukhothai).

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