In 2009, Basecamp Explorer, in partnership with 500 Masai landowners, agreed to create a 20,000 hectares community wildlife conservancy in Masai Mara Kenya. The called it Naboisho, which means togetherness in local Maa language. Unique to this conservancy is that each of the 500 landowners is guaranteed of monthly income paid as rent for fifteen years, for setting aside part of their land for conservation. The rent is determined by the number of acres a landowner has contributed to the conservancy and will increase each year based on inflation rates.

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.

In India as in most other places in the world, indigenous communities often exist on the fringe of society and their socio-political situation is complex. It is important for us to provide our guests with accurate and up-to-date information. Inevitably we have more information than can be easily digested on one holiday experience; our greatest challenge is to summarise centuries of history and evolution into bite size pieces! A common assumption our travellers make is that all indigenous communities share the same customs and costumes.

The Manu National Park is one of the most pristine natural areas in the world with extraordinary biodiversity. The park’s over 1,700,000 hectors, between 492 and 13,779 ft in altitude, of amazing natural environments range from Andean grasslands to cloud forests to foothill and lowland forests. The park is home to an unrivalled variety of animal and plant species, with over 1,000 species of birds and 200 species of mammals, including endangered species such as the harpy eagle, jaguar, and giant river otters.

Go Native America’s responsible travel policy is “Mitakuye Oyasin” – the final phrase in Lakota prayer which translates to: “We are all related in the Circle of Life – the two-legged, four legged, winged, and all living and growing things upon the Earth.” GNA operates in an environmentally-friendly fashion with the utmost respect for the Native American community, employing only Indigenous people as guides, and using tribally owned accommodations for tour members.

On Sunday, November 23, 2008 after 3 weeks of heavy rains and rising rivers, a 90 foot wall of water crashed down the valley of the Tsküy River in Talamanca, Costa Rica. The flood devastated the community of Yorkín. With a population of approximately 250 people, Yorkín is a Bribri Indigenous community situated in an isolated location unreachable by road. Thankfully no lives were lost, however sustained unbelievable losses in a single night, and the situation remains critical. Every family in Yorkín is affected by the disaster.