Fiji community holiday
| country: | Fiji |
| departures: | Project is currently in operation till 1st September 2009 - there is currently avalibilty for every week of the project |
| price: | From £180 (8 days) - £540 (22 days) excluding flights. Stays of up to 12 weeks can be arranged. Price includes online community club membership |
| late availability: | Late availability for July 2008 |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Vorovoro Island is a spectacular eruption of land off-the beaten path in Northern Fiji. This is a unique 21st century community project that combines an online and real adventure. As featured in the BBC2 series the idea is to build an eco village and a new community on a desert island
A community that simultaneously exists on the internet and on a Fijian Island. The project is a social experiment, an adventure holiday, and an educational journey. On Vorovoro island we have three years to build a community that is as sustainable as possible. We like to think of this project as an adventure that captures our imagination and challenges our perspective on how we live.
Local project with global impact
The project has been embraced globally, with 1300 members signing up from 35 countries. The story of the first year of the project has been documented by the BBC for a major series to be shown in 2008. The founder of the project, has written a book about the adventure and the project has even made the front cover of National Geographic!
Community Building: On-line and On-island
The big idea is that through our real and virtual Vorovoro experience we can become inspired to consider the impact of our own lifestyles. We sometimes assume as individuals, as islands, that we have no big impact, that we can’t or don’t make a difference. But we do, and we can. The key is whether the difference is positive or negative. On Vorovoro we realise the ripple effect of what we do and we want it to be positive.
Vorovoro is not a resort. It is a Fijian village filled with an ever changing global community.
Island Earth: A 21st century tribe’s quest towards sustainable living
Eat: The cycle of food is the centre of all life. On Vorovoro we plant and tend fruit, vegetable and herb gardens. We scrape coconuts, collect firewood. We spear and catch fish on the third largest barrier reef on the planet.
Drink: On Vorovoro we catch the water that falls from the sky and store in tanks. We wash in the sea or with bucket showers, and we conserve what we can. We wash with natural soaps and products.
Build: With local and island materials we have built traditional Fijian Bure’s, love-shacks, tree-houses, loft-spaces and chill-out beach spaces. We’re still building. All you need is a sleeping mat, mossie net and a blanket.
Move: On island, it’s all on-foot only. Off-island, it’s a short swim to the nearby village or a 40hp open fibre-boat ride to town, 30 minutes away.
Energise: Ecotricity are our heroes. They liked what we were doing and so gave us power - solar and wind - and now we have basic low-lighting, a place to charge our i-pods, and plug in our camera batteries. It’s all we need.
Trash: We compost our crap and then put it under our fruit tress (the real men wee in the sea). Each week we sort our rubbish, and we re-use and re-cycle as much as we can. We are constantly measuring our impact.
Lifestyle: We don’t shop on Vorovoro. The only thing you can consume is the island and culturally experience. $ for extra boat journeys to the reef and the nearby villages + a budget for kava roots and any drinks you would like to bring onto the island, is all you need.
Sharing culture: The biggest part of Vorovoro is sharing the experience with each other and the Fijian community. On average there is 25 of us on the island: tribe members, local Fijian builders, gardeners and cooks + half a dozen team members. As a tribe member you will be immersed in Fijian island living which includes taking part in the weekly projects, learning Fijian traditions and protocol and soaking up the island experience. All we ask is that you respect the Fijian culture and wash up your plate. Otherwise the hammock is yours.
Accommodation: Set in a Fijian village on the island, you can stay in a traditional bure, a shared lodge, a loft, tree house or tent. With this being developed all the time you may arrive to find something new to sleep in, but once you get there were you stay is your choice!
How to find us
Fiji is now a regular stop-off for round the world tickets and then...
By boat: Take the boat + bus, save $ & CO2
By plane: In a hurry? There’s a short hour flight from Nadi to Labasa
Membership includes pick-up and drop-off from Labasa airport or bus station.
A community that simultaneously exists on the internet and on a Fijian Island. The project is a social experiment, an adventure holiday, and an educational journey. On Vorovoro island we have three years to build a community that is as sustainable as possible. We like to think of this project as an adventure that captures our imagination and challenges our perspective on how we live.
Local project with global impact
The project has been embraced globally, with 1300 members signing up from 35 countries. The story of the first year of the project has been documented by the BBC for a major series to be shown in 2008. The founder of the project, has written a book about the adventure and the project has even made the front cover of National Geographic!
Community Building: On-line and On-island
The big idea is that through our real and virtual Vorovoro experience we can become inspired to consider the impact of our own lifestyles. We sometimes assume as individuals, as islands, that we have no big impact, that we can’t or don’t make a difference. But we do, and we can. The key is whether the difference is positive or negative. On Vorovoro we realise the ripple effect of what we do and we want it to be positive.
Vorovoro is not a resort. It is a Fijian village filled with an ever changing global community.
Island Earth: A 21st century tribe’s quest towards sustainable living
Eat: The cycle of food is the centre of all life. On Vorovoro we plant and tend fruit, vegetable and herb gardens. We scrape coconuts, collect firewood. We spear and catch fish on the third largest barrier reef on the planet.
Drink: On Vorovoro we catch the water that falls from the sky and store in tanks. We wash in the sea or with bucket showers, and we conserve what we can. We wash with natural soaps and products.
Build: With local and island materials we have built traditional Fijian Bure’s, love-shacks, tree-houses, loft-spaces and chill-out beach spaces. We’re still building. All you need is a sleeping mat, mossie net and a blanket.
Move: On island, it’s all on-foot only. Off-island, it’s a short swim to the nearby village or a 40hp open fibre-boat ride to town, 30 minutes away.
Energise: Ecotricity are our heroes. They liked what we were doing and so gave us power - solar and wind - and now we have basic low-lighting, a place to charge our i-pods, and plug in our camera batteries. It’s all we need.
Trash: We compost our crap and then put it under our fruit tress (the real men wee in the sea). Each week we sort our rubbish, and we re-use and re-cycle as much as we can. We are constantly measuring our impact.
Lifestyle: We don’t shop on Vorovoro. The only thing you can consume is the island and culturally experience. $ for extra boat journeys to the reef and the nearby villages + a budget for kava roots and any drinks you would like to bring onto the island, is all you need.
Sharing culture: The biggest part of Vorovoro is sharing the experience with each other and the Fijian community. On average there is 25 of us on the island: tribe members, local Fijian builders, gardeners and cooks + half a dozen team members. As a tribe member you will be immersed in Fijian island living which includes taking part in the weekly projects, learning Fijian traditions and protocol and soaking up the island experience. All we ask is that you respect the Fijian culture and wash up your plate. Otherwise the hammock is yours.
Accommodation: Set in a Fijian village on the island, you can stay in a traditional bure, a shared lodge, a loft, tree house or tent. With this being developed all the time you may arrive to find something new to sleep in, but once you get there were you stay is your choice!
How to find us
Fiji is now a regular stop-off for round the world tickets and then...
By boat: Take the boat + bus, save $ & CO2
By plane: In a hurry? There’s a short hour flight from Nadi to Labasa
Membership includes pick-up and drop-off from Labasa airport or bus station.
how this holiday makes a difference
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We have employed over 100 people from the local communities on Mali, with an average of 15 working on the island at any one time, hired local boats and taxis for transport rather than purchasing our own and we buy fish, craft and materials from the neighboring village and market.
We've donated to community projects in Mali (part of the island lease agreement includes an annual $15,000 or £5000 donation to the education and village committees on top of the payment to the landowners), such as supplementing school fees and wiring the generator to the computers. Our foundation has already raised £3000. At the end of the three years the local landowners will decide what happens to the project, they will own all infrastructure on the island.  We offset all our company flights and transport, and all local carbon emissions (taxis/boats) through Climate Care and encourage members to do the same. We are looking at ways of introducing carbon rationing for the tribe.On the island we use compost toilets, recycle, use renewable energy only, conduct regular clean-ups of rubbish deposited on the beach, use all waste and grey water on the gardens and use natural cleaning products. The local community is already following our sustainable lead. Our company uses two lap-tops and 4 mobile phones which we charge via solar. We have no office anywhere else in the world! We work in partnership with Chief Tui Mali and local fishing villages, considering the impact of each and every one of the tribe’s actions on these communities. We also support local community projects with both finance and volunteers, with guidance from sustainability experts. Local people on community holiday in Fiji We rotate the villages (4) for different projects, so that different individuals get the chance to work on Vorovoro and earn a wage. We also employ women from rotating villages to help in the kitchen. This rotation system aids the relationship between the two islands and communities. The online community ensures people learn a lot about the place they are going to before they go and stay involved after they have gone. We promote and raise awareness for sustainable and eco-friendly living and travel as a real option for both tourists and communities. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've lead the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |