Association “Neni E” (meaning “Neni, Yes!”) was founded in 2004 by two French brothers, who had lived with an African family for four months and observed the tourist flow passing by the village of Neni. The Association aims to provide a different way to discover the Dogon Country: in a humane, ecologically responsible and ethical manner, giving the travelers a real insight into the life in an African village.

Tourism activities under the Sápmi Experience Quality Label are based on the common heritage of the Sámi. Sámi tourism must be sustainable over the long term. This means that tourism must be accepted and established, culturally and socially, in Sámi society, and the host must be able to communicate Sámi values and way of life. Sápmi Experience operators strive for social, cultural, ecological and commercial sustainability. They are companies that respect the integrity of the Sámi culture and work to prevent its objectification.

Borneo is home to the Rungus people, one of the island’s few remaining indigenous ethnic groups who reside in the area surrounding the former capital of Kudat. Organisations like Borneo Ecotourism Solutions and Technologies (BEST) Society help the indigenous Rungus people harness the power of tourism to maintain their vibrant performing arts, customs and traditions. To this day the Rungus live in longhouses, which are extended single-floor structures elevated off the ground on stilts and are designed with an emphasis on community.

By Karolyn Wrightson

Aboriginal elder Willie Gordon of Guurrbi Tours offers ancient stories oriented toward the human soul. The wisdom of Willie is what distinguishes his Guurrbi Aboriginal tours from others – his remarkable sense of what each visitor brings to the moment. To ensure that he bridges the gap between his culture and ours, he begins with his family’s story, then relates that to the story the visitor has (or lacks).

By Hollie Tu

Last month I headed out on a tiny plane into the interior of Borneo to spend 10 days with the Penan. The Penan are one of the indigenous peoples of Sarawak and were, until recently, the only people to live a nomadic lifestyle within the rainforest. Today, most Penan have settled in villages where they primarily cultivate the land yet still utilize their hunter-gatherer skills to supplement their diet.

By Katja Bechtloff

Nutti Sámi Siida is a Sámi tourism enterprise owned by Nils-Torbjörn Nutti, a reindeer herder from Saarivuoma Sámi village, and Carina Pingi from Gabna Sámi village. During one particularly bad winter in the pastures, starvation of the reindeer forced Nils and Carina to move their reindeer to corrals. The high costs of feeding the reindeer caused the needed an additional source of income, and invited visitors to the corrals. This – combining reindeer husbandry with tourism – led to the foundation of Nutti Sámi Siida.

Yurts – rounded wooden structures, canvas covered, comfortable, spacious, more like a home than a tent – are easily dismantled and moved (in theory). Mongolian yurts evolved as the home of choice for the nomads of Central Asia. In Mongolia, one of the regions yurts originally hail from, an innovative foundation called Ger to Ger (or ‘Yurt to Yurt’) is working with nomadic families to invite adventurous soles to discover their world.

In March 2011, the Tourism Corporation Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa (TCKP) and the Chitral Association for Mountain Area Tourism (CAMAT) joined hands to celebrate Navrouz, or the Persian New Year, and to honor the beauty of Chitrali culture and cuisine. In the town of Chitral, a lively festival featuring indigenous cuisine and folk music was held with the aims of sustaining local traditions, as well as promoting the marketability of these cultural elements for regional tourism development.

As a collaborative endeavor, the Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Website Award is the high point of a decade-plus conservation with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Oliver Hillel and numerous friends – indigenous and non-indigenous peoples – about the best ways to develop indigenous tourism. As a non-indigenous person myself, I ask what are the best ways that other non-indigenous peoples connect with individuals and communities who take pride in their indigenous heritage.

Spiti Ecosphere is an endeavour to promote community-based ecotourism in the Spiti valley, a stunning high altitude desert region tucked away in the Trans-Himalayan belt of Himachal Pradesh. A passion for conservation, mountain travel and adventure brought together a collaboration of local community members and professionals from diverse backgrounds to offer a range of trekking, mountaineering, biking, rafting, cultural and spiritual adventures in this beautiful and remote corner of the Himalayas.