By Michele Nevard
A dawn mist hangs around the branches of thorny Acacia trees. It's 6.30 on an April morning. I'm sitting with two others on a cool desert floor in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. We're all quietly watching a number of burrows, waiting for the first sign of movement. And as the sun rises higher, there it is. A small pointed nose peeks out of a hole and then quickly disappears. Several others follow the same routine. And then, as though a message has passed through the interconnecting passages below us, the members of Moomins group of meerkats begin to assemble for their morning ritual.
I'm on one of Earthwatch's 'eco-holidays', assisting researchers from Cambridge University with the Kalahari Meerkat Project. Based at the Kuruman River Reserve, the project has run for over 12 years, and investigates the evolutionary causes and ecological consequences of co-operation in mammals. So, the study looks at issues such as why some meerkats don't breed themselves but look after others in the group. And how for instance do they decide who will stay at the sleeping burrow and look after the babies? All this and more builds a picture of these animals, and volunteers help the researchers with a variety of tasks.
"More and more people are turning to better alternatives. People are looking for more authentic holidays around local people and cultures."
After that first thrilling sight of a 'live' meerkat, the researchers weigh them in. They're tempted onto scales with the promise of cooked egg yolk, which they particularly like. The greedy ones like to get into the scales as often as possible and it requires eagle eyes to make sure they all get weighed.
Each meerkat is marked, with brown hair dye, to identify it and we carry a list to remember names and markings. Aragon is very friendly. He likes nothing better than to scale a volunteer and post a look out from their shoulder. It was Aragon who decided my knee was a good spot to watch from while I sat on the desert floor. And when Moomins babies came above ground they played all around me, their little feather weight bodies falling over my boots and legs. How many holidays can give you that?
But it's not just the meerkat study, it's the whole experience. It's the chance to stay in the middle of nowhere in a traditional Rondavel - round thatched hut - to walk on a reserve amongst wildebeest, springbok, toucans and tortoises, and to stand in the back of a truck on a night drive and spot wildlife like porcupine and wildcats. The sunsets are ravishing and the fantastic starry night skies full of shooting stars.
This was just one of over 130 projects that Earthwatch runs worldwide. Whether it's working with dolphins, zebras, or lions, or helping conserve coral reefs, the organisation has something to suit most adventurous travellers looking for a different type of holiday. Earthwatch leads the field in this type of vacation. But there are many others who offer exclusive holidays with a focus on the local environment.
If you're looking for an environmentally responsible holiday you could do no better than start at www.responsibletravel.com, a company backed by Anita Roddick. Co-founder Justin Francis says, "More and more people are turning to better alternatives. People are looking for more authentic holidays around local people and cultures. And using local guides brings income to the community."
Before listing holiday operators, responsibletravel.com screens them against a set of environmental, social and economic criteria. And they 'have created a way for the industry and tourists to work together for travellers and local communities'. When they set up in 2001 Justin says, "We only found four companies that fit our criteria, now we have over 250." And with carbon emissions a hot topic Justin comments, " We should go back towards the way we used to travel and take fewer but longer breaks, and holiday more in the UK or travel by train."
responsibletravel.com lists holidays from honeymoons, to wildlife, family and luxury, and covers the world from the UK to Antarctica. Interestingly over 70 percent of its enquiries come from women, as opposed to a 50/50 split across the travel industry as a whole. And Justin speculates, "It could be that women do the research for holidays or are greener."
Noted travel companies in the business of eco-tourism worth checking out, are Tribes Travel and Exodus. But if closer to home is what you desire, National Trust working holidays offer the chance to help conserve the environment and the UK's heritage, without increasing your carbon footprint. It runs over 450 working holidays, at over 100 locations each year across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It's team working, staying in anything from farmhouses to isolated mountain cottages. Working alongside wardens clearing scrub, helping out in formal gardens, dry stone walling and assisting with events, are just some of the activities on offer at the National Trust properties.
Holidays of the future may need extra vigilance, when it comes to the potential damage to the environment and eco-systems, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're less fun.
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