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The inner green Ring of Kerry

Catherine's son paddling across Lough Leane in Kerry Photo: Catherine Mack

If you think that the Ring of Kerry is just for coachloads of tourists, it’s time to head ‘off piste’ with a man who knows the best shores to paddle off, peaks to conquer, and cliffs to climb  Nathan Kingerlee, founder of Outdoors Ireland (outdoorsireland.com), mountain guide and expert rock climber, is also the man who recently wrote a blog about hiking round Ireland with a dog and a goat and, when you’ve read it, you will know that this is the guy to lead you safely up to the summit of Carrauntoohil or, in my case, across Killarney in a kayak.

Before heading off on an all day paddling session, Nathan gave us some kayaking tips on the reed covered shores of Lough Leane and, as a passionate proponent of Leave No Trace (leavenotraceireland.org), he told us to ensure that we did just that on our day on the water. We left Killarney’s tourist filled streets behind and gently paddled out into a totally tranquil lough. It felt like a totally empty lough too, with Nathan saying that the tourist boat traffic stays over on the other side, so we had massive expanses of Kerry water all to ourselves for the rest of the day

With just enough wind to help us across the lough, but also to make us work our muscles when we changed direction, we certainly earned our lunch. We tucked into picnics on the water’s edge, sheltering from a shower on the edge of Tomie’s Woods, followed by a quick walk up to admire O’Sullivan’s Cascade. This stretch of ancient woodland is spectacular, and accessing it by boat might certainly have been a better approach for some man who, according to Nathan, got lost for three days in this, some of Kerry’s densest forest. Warmed, re-energised and back in our kayaks, we gently followed the shoreline to the point where the River Laune meets Lough Leane, and took our final glances of the magnificence that is Macgillycuddy’s Reeks from the water, ending with a lash down the rapids leading to Beaufort Castle, with Nathan able to identify each peak, point out nesting eagles, and teach us how to ride the rapids all at the same time, in that multi-tasking outdoorsy way that I am totally in awe of.

Outdoors Ireland is part of a network of Kerry businesses to have joined the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS), a UK certification scheme brought in to help them achieve green status as a region. All participants are listed in brochure called The Greener Side of The Ring of Kerry, downloadable free of charge from Discover Ireland. Some are greener than others, however, with Gold award winners like Outdoors Ireland leading the field, and others still at the early stages of green practices with a Bronze award, although this range isn’t clear from the brochure. For my kayaking trip, I chose an accommodation which had been awarded the Gold award, Salmon Leap Farm, a traditional farmhouse b&b just outside

Paddling down the River Laune in Kerry Photo: Outdoors Ireland

Killarney whose green practices are clearly listed on their website.

The GTBS is now one of the several green certification schemes recognised by Fáilte Ireland, with others including the EU Ecolabel, Greenbox Eco-certification and the Green Hospitality Award. In a land where there are forty shades of green, it sometimes feels as if we are getting as many shades of certification schemes, and I long for the day when Fáilte Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board agrees on one certification which fits all and which embraces all aspects of sustainable tourism particular to Ireland, including access to low carbon transport facilities and, ultimately, creating a clearer, simpler picture for tourists and businesses alike.

In the meantime, Outdoors Ireland certainly meets the criteria for any gold and green award, with Nathan not only sharing his skills relating to excellent low carbon activities, but also guiding us with an expert knowledge of the local ecosystem.  You mightn’t do the whole ‘Ring’ thing with Nathan, but the 24kms of Kerry which I saw from a kayak are some I will never forget. Goodbye Celtic Tiger, hello Celtic climbers and kayakers, where the future is green and raring to go.

An edited version of this article was first published in The Irish Times

 

 

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Inis Meáin – my Christmas best

Photo: Inis Meain Restaurant and Suites

Few things in life beat a wish which actually comes true. This time last year I wrote a New Year’s wishlist, which included a mission to visit more of our stunning islands. First, a trip to Cape Clear made me smile and celebrate our natural heritage, but a trip later in the year to Inis Meáin, one of the least visited of the Aran Islands, actually made me cry. In the same way that a fine work of art makes me cry, or a stunning piece of writing,  or just an overwhelmingly kind gesture. I experienced all of this on Inis Meain, staying at Inis Meáin Restaurant and Suites, a place where I felt all my travel writing Christmases had come at once.

Inis Meáin is a place of solace and reflection and Inis Meáin Suites has been designed with this in mind. As the only hotel here, it could have made a big splash, but instead its architect opted for a native limestone façade, with just enough glass to reflect the soft, luminescent blue sky, creating a long, low-lying building which segues seamlessly into the matching limestone terrace. This is just one of hundreds of hard-

Monkfish and spuds at Inis Meain Photo: Catherine Mack

won terraces, so characteristic of the Aran Islands, stretching out in every direction like veins across a body.

Indeed, Inis Meáin Suites plays the role of a central artery on the island, providing tourism income which is sustainable in a sumptuous, seductive and yet sensitive way. Sustainability is core for its owners, Ruairí and Marie-Thérèse de Blacam. Ruairí is chef in his own restaurant, where the food has already won endless accolades from the gastro press. Before dinner, he showed me his impressive fields of vegetables, free range chickens, cow and piglets.  As we walk past one barren field after another, all enclosed by the famous stone walls,  I realised it’s not long ago in the island’s history that this land was considered impossible to cultivate. However, the local people created soil from sand and seaweed and, having grown up on the island, Ruairí seems to have inherited some of this determination to create life and sustenance out of the rock.

How far this island has come, with developments like the hotel’s water harvesting system which enables the use of grey and rainwater, helping in the creation of  salads, herbs, cabbage, spinach and spuds. Later in the restaurant, his inspiration seeps through every mouthful of his food too, as we watch him produce lobster salad, monkfish and dry aged sirloin from his open plan kitchen, chatting with the guests as he merrily chops, sears and simmers.

The de Blacams want you to savour every bit of Inis Meáin, so even though you have the luxuries of an enormous whiter than white bed, chilled champagne, white robes and alpaca throws, the call of the land is too great. They leave bikes outside each suite, as well as swimming towels and a fishing rod. I managed to avail of all three and, along with my hiking boots, was able to reach the less accessible coves and cliffs, allowing me to live every moment here. I even caught some Pollock off the pier, which Ruairí prepared as a starter later – not just thrown in a pan, but sashimi

Photo: Catherine Mack

style, sprinkled with sesame seeds, ginger and a bowl of wasabi sauce.

Walking is the only way to truly imbibe the wild, desolate and totally intoxicating beauty of Inis Meáin. The de Blacam breakfast is strategically generous, so that you can pack the leftover boiled eggs, salami, cheese and homemade bread into your bag for a good long walk. Don’t miss the wilder south west side of the island which took me a good four hours, as I navigated my way across the mad, craggy, limestone cliffs, constantly stopping to try and get my head around these unique and awe inspiring seascapes.

This is a pricey getaway, with suites €250 per night and a minimum 2 night stay. But if I could pick one ethical travel treat as a voucher for someone this Christmas this, without doubt, is my top tip. Because although I generally adore the solace of islands when travelling alone, Inis Meáin evokes such poetry and passion, offers such mystery and magnificence, that it is just one of those special places which begs to be shared with someone you love.

Photo:Catherine Mack

This article was first published in The Irish Times

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Responsible tourism is on the move

Photo: Cotswolds Conservation Board

Sometimes people take the proverbial when I talk about responsible tourism as a ‘worldwide movement’. I try and make the point that it is not just for hippies and ecowarriors, or about solar panels and changing towels, but that the very core of tourism is changing. This change has been led not only by switched on businesses, but also by growing numbers of tourists who realise that their impacts on local economies, resources, culture and communities can be hugely detrimental.

There are times when I lose the faith, however, when profit-before-people tourism seems to be taking over. There are too many examples of senseless destruction to list – we have all seen them on our travels I am sure, from Donald Trump’s highly questionable plans to build a golf course on one of Scotland’s most stunning coastlines in Aberdeenshire (check out the website youvebeentrumped.com about the superb film which questions the ethics of this project), to the blatant abuse of human rights in the name of tourism.

Then suddenly I see the movement lashing into the mainstream again, and my faith is restored. The last two weeks saw two incidences of this. First, in the South East of England, where nine Protected Landscapes have united on one website called our-land.co.uk, to promote their sustainable tourism businesses. More than a third of England’s South East region is officially classified as Protected Landscape and employment in tourism in these areas is around double the national average at almost 20%, in some cases is much higher, such as on the Isle of Wight (one of my favourite places for what it’s worth), where it accounts for 41%.

The Protected Landscapes consist of two National Parks and seven Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB): the Chilterns, Cotswolds, High Weald, Isle of Wight, Kent Downs, New Forest, North Wessex Downs, South Downs and the Surrey Hills, some of these less than an hour from London. Funded by a £1m grant from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), to be spent over the next 2.5 years, it is intended the model will continue to prosper commercially after that and be available as a template for other protected landscapes across the country.

our-land.co.uk is a fine website, where sustainable B&B’s, self-catering properties, small hotels and activity providers can list for free and gain advice on how to put landscape and conservation at the heart of their businesses.  The only condition is that the business must offer something more than just a ‘place to stay’, but ‘provide visitors with a real connection with the people, the landscape, the culture and the environment’. So, if you are planning a trip to London, for example, but fancy a couple of nights away from the madness, this is a top site to get a quick overview into where to stay or what to do in one of these Protected Areas, from farmstays to fishing, walking breaks and walking guides, to thatched cottages and cycling breaks.

Photo: Cotswolds Conservation Board

A very different website also launched ten days ago – a blog called Conscious Travel (conscioustourism.wordpress.com). Created by Anna Pollock, one of the most inspiring speakers on ‘creating change in tourism’ I have ever heard, she has worked with tourism boards around the world to advise on climate change and tourism, sustainability and responsibility. It has developed out of the Conscious Capitalism philosophy, which believes that ‘a more complex form of capitalism is emerging, that holds the potential for enhancing corporate performance while simultaneously continuing to advance the quality of life for billions of people’ (consciouscapitalism.org). Similarly in tourism, Pollock firmly believes there is a worldwide group of Conscious Travellers who, post-recession, are seeking a consumerism which is ‘mindful, collaborative, participative and co-creative.  At the same time there are Conscious Hosts who  are ‘awake, alert and aware’ to changing consumer needs, whose business decisions are values-based, and about collaborating together as communities to help one another.

The Conscious Travel blog is in its early days, but Pollock has spent years assimilating this philosophy and is definitely one to watch. And be inspired by.  Both these sites are fine examples of not only how much the responsible tourism movement has travelled, but how, at this rate, it will be whacking the unwanted and outmoded Trump-like models of tourism straight into the rough.

An edited version of this article was first published in The Irish Times



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AITO announces the winners of its Sustainable Tourism Awards 2011

The winners! Back row, from left to right: Megan Freese of Explore; Mike Sykes of Dragoman; Guy and Amanda Marks of Tribes Travel; Judith De Witt (judge); Pia Louw of the Tenerife Tourism Corporation; Chris Breen (chairman of AITO ST Committee); and Dick Sisman (judge). Front row, from left to right: Gavin Bate of Adventure Alternative; Luc Genest of Rezidor Hotels; Richard Hume of the Tenerife Tourism Corporation; and Richard Hammond (judge)

Sustainable Tourism (ST) is at the very heart of The Association of International Tour Operators’ (AITO) ethos, and the annual AITO ST Awards – presented at an AITO anniversary dinner on 23rd November, 2011 – are always big news in the travel industry. AITO’s ST guidelines state that travel and tourism should benefit host communities, respect local cultures, protect the environment and conserve natural resources, and member companies are rated by AITO accordingly. With 24 companies currently awarded the top rating of 5 stars, the ST Awards 2011 were hotly contested.

Judge and environmental guru Dick Sisman says: “This year’s entries show once again the depth of understanding that AITO members and their affiliates have for projects which support communities and the environment in tourism destinations around the world. I am particularly pleased to see the new Roger Diski Community Project award, which remembers a remarkable man and his love for the host communities who helped to make tourism such a special event for him and continue to do so for us.”

The results are:

The ‘AITO Affiliates Green Award 2011’ is for the AITO business partner or tourist office deemed by the judges to best demonstrate sustainable practice in a tourism or non-tourism area, and the winner was the Tenerife Tourism Corporation. Highly commended in this category was the Rezidor Hotel Group.

For the Tenerife Tourism Corporation, achieving sustainability across the island is a group effort, involving various hotels, businesses and visitor attractions. Tenerife now boasts the world’s first-ever village of carbon-free homes and, with one of the world’s three largest Solar Photovoltaic Plants, the island hopes to soon be able to generate more than half of its energy through natural energy resources. The Government too has played a vital role by funding various initiatives focusing on, for example, recovery and protection of the seabed, and using wind power to run public transport. The Ocean Dreams Factory, meanwhile, has developed the unique Flyover diving project which allows visitors and residents to meet marine species and participate in conservation activities themselves.

In 2001 the Rezidor Hotel Group (runner up) introduced a Responsible Business programme, which focuses on respecting social and ethical issues in the company and community, reducing negative impact on the environment. Nearly 50% of Rezidor hotels have already been awarded eco-labels, and the company hopes to reach its target of 100% by 2015. This year the company also supported the UN Refugee Agency by collecting monetary donations from employees and guests at all 315 operational hotels, to raise funds for Libyan refugees. Rezidor even has a designated Responsible Business Action Month which, this year, managed to raise €85,000 for charity.

The winner of the ‘Most Innovative Sustainable Tourism Initiative 2011’ was Tribes Travel, and the joint highly-commended runners up were Wilderness Scotland and Explore.

Tribes Travel (winner) has introduced a system of environmental and social impact auditing of the properties with which it works around the world. So far, over 300 properties have been assessed across 17 countries, establishing their relative eco strengths and weaknesses, before publishing their grading on the company’s website. This process helps to raise environmental awareness among property owners, who are able to make positive changes as a result. Tribes also has a business plan to push sales for the higher-graded properties as an added incentive for those with a lower grading. The audit form has been so successful that the company has shared it with the Ethical Tour Operators’ Group so that other operators can replicate it.

Wilderness Scotland (joint runner up) has put together a Wilderness Guide Training Programme (WGTP) which provides adventure travel guides with unique training focusing on client education, awareness and understanding. The course teaches guides how to inspire clients about nature conservation and sustainability, with added modules on the Leave No Trace campaign, wilderness cookery and astronomy. The programme currently has over 1,500 clients per year, and is delivered in partnership with local businesses and accommodation services who participate in the Green Tourism Business Scheme.

Explore (joint runner up) has recently introduced ‘Responsible Travel’ cards on all tours in India, with the intention of rolling them out elsewhere if the scheme proves successful. These cards outline topics including how litter and recycling should be dealt with whilst on the trip, tips on what to wear, and advice on how to respect local sensitivities and cultural differences. The cards also mention any local projects supported by Explore, with advice on how customers can give something back to the community should they wish to. Explore is dedicated to fundraising for various projects around the world, and is heavily involved in the running of a number of Sustainable Tourism courses.

The final award was the ‘Roger Diski Community Project 2011’, and was won by Adventure Alternative. Highly commended was Wild Frontiers Adventure Travel.

Adventure Alternative (winner) impressed the judges with its long-term development plans for two rural village communities in the Nepal Himalaya. One of its main achievements has been to improve the quality of inhabitants’ lives and to stem the migration of younger generations to the more urban lowlands, thereby rejuvenating this unique community. Locals have been involved with projects including the design and build of a hydro-electric plant, the building of new classrooms and improved facilities at local schools, and the creation of an annual medical camp where western medical students and Nepali doctors provide free consultations and medication. The company also funds eight teachers’ salaries in local schools and sponsors 12 local children to go on to higher education in Kathmandu. As winner of the award, Adventure Alternative will receive a £1,000 bursary which will be put towards a project to establish a tea production co-operative in Bumburi.

Wild Frontiers Adventure Travel (runner up), set up the Tourism in Ethiopia for Sustainable Future Alternatives (TESFA) initiative in 2003. Its aim was to set up a network of community-run tourism enterprises which would allow visitors to trek through the Ethiopia’s remarkable landscape while putting money into local communities at the same time. Treks have been incorporated into Wild Frontiers’ group tour itineraries and the project has increased employment in the region by offering guiding, cooking and home-stay opportunities to local families.

To ensure that AITO’s ST programme is kept fully up to date, a dedicated ST committee of members and advisors reviews progress and ensures that AITO is at the forefront of environmental thinking. To find out more about the 140 AITO specialist tour operators and their ST initiatives, visit www.aito.com.