Traveller Awards: 10 leaders in protecting the planet

Traveller Awards: Sustainability

In today’s era of responsible travel, sustainable destinations and experiences have never been more in demand. From staying in an upcycled train carriage to signing a tourist pledge, these nations and operators prove there’s no single approach for protecting the planet. Read on for our Traveller Awards 2024 winners in the Sustainability category.

Wilderness DumaTau

Luxury camp DumaTau was completely deconstructed and rebuilt in 2021. Credit: Bench Africa

In 2021, conservation-minded safari company Wilderness completely deconstructed and rebuilt DumaTau, its luxury camp in northern Botswana’s Linyanti Wilderness Reserve. Rooms have been reoriented to take full advantage of the camp’s aquatic location along ancient elephant corridors, with water lily motifs woven throughout the property, but the floating boma pontoon – accessed by a long staircase descending to the lagoon – is an architectural delight, a place where guests can recount their wildlife sightings over cocktails around the fire. More than just pretty looks, Wilderness recruits nearly all its staff from surrounding villages and works with communities to help minimise human-wildlife conflicts with elephants and lions. See wildernessdestinations.com

Founders Lodge by Mantis, South Africa

Heritage railway carriage beautifully restored.

Upcycling assumes creative proportions at this “birthplace of Eastern Cape conservation”, located in a private reserve an hour’s drive from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Owner Adrian Gardiner’s restored private railway carriage, which sleeps five, halts at its final stop, Founders Siding, built on a hill beside a “ticket office” which is in fact a loo with views of the wildlife-rich plains. Back at the lodge, the honeymoon pod is an elegantly repurposed shipping container. Guests needn’t venture far to see wildlife: protected white rhinos wallow beside the lodge’s onsite hide. See mantiscollection.com

Switzerland

Switzerland leads the world in sustainability initiatives.Credit: Getty Images

Switzerland has long paid attention to its fragile alpine environment and natural beauty. An eighth of the country is covered by protected parks, a third is forested, and Switzerland leads in train travel and recycling. Famous mountain resorts such as Zermatt, Murren and Rigi are car-free. Now the Swiss Federal Council has committed to a climate-neutral Switzerland by 2050 and put sustainability on top of its tourism strategy. The result is its Swisstainable accreditation program for hotels, restaurants and other tourism business, whose three categories clearly indicate the level of environmental and social sustainability already achieved. See myswitzerland.com

Tasmanian Walking Company

Explore iconic walks, like Bay of Fires, responsibly.Credit: Getty Images

You know they’re genuine when general manager Heath Garratt, out for a weekend walk, carries 20 tangled kilos of fishing boat flotsam kilometres along the beach, up the steep steps and back to the van. The TWC philosophy (they’re known as the Australian Walking Company for mainland adventures) means no trace left on the trail and low food miles are embraced. Sustainability is also at the fore in the design and operation of their huts and lodges, most of them off-grid. Their foundation supports wildlife and landscape conservation programs and their guides acknowledge the traditional owners of all the lands they walk on and explain how it was used and cared for. See taswalkingco.com.au

Palau

Palau was the first nation to protect 80 per cent of its waters with a marine sanctuary.Credit: Getty Images

Despite being one of the world’s smallest countries, an archipelago of around 340 islands in the Western Pacific, Palau is a leader in sustainable tourism. In 2009, it declared itself the world’s first shark sanctuary. In 2015, it became the first nation to protect 80 per cent of its waters with a marine sanctuary. And in 2020, it was the first country to ban reef-toxic sunscreens. Visitors must also play their part. On arrival, everyone signs the Palau Pledge, a promise stamped in your passport that you will be culturally and environmentally sensitive during your stay – another world first. See pristineparadisepalau.com

Earthship Biotecture, New Mexico

Stay the night in a luxury off-grid Earthship.

Started by visionary conservationist Mike Reynolds, Earthship Biotecture is a community of innovatively designed self-sufficient homes near Taos that includes an academy for people who want to learn how to build one of their own. An Earthship home provides for all the basic human needs – shelter, food, heat, clean water, sewerage and rubbish disposal – with minimal impact on the environment. You can learn more about the project at the onsite visitor centre, take a guided tour of the community and even stay in a home from $US165 ($250) a night. See earthshipbiotecture.com

Tiny stays

A stylish (but tiny) country retreat with Tiny Away.

A US-led movement that picked up steam in the 2000s, tiny houses have gone global, encouraging a more sustainable lifestyle by inhabiting compact, eco-friendly homes – even if it’s just for a holiday. Tiny Away hosts frazzled city dwellers in fully furnished tiny homes in rural locations throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Other operators include Wander, which has glass-fronted WanderPods on the Scenic Rim and Kangaroo Island, and CABN, which offers off-grid sustainable cabins in pristine South Australian locales. All promise the chance to escape urban life and recharge in nature. See tinyaway.com; wander.com.au; cabn.life

Earth Lodge, South Africa

Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge blends opulence with environmentally sensitivity.

Built into a downward slope, Earth Lodge’s audacious design still has the same stride-stopping wow factor as when it first opened. It is invisible on approach and is only revealed when you walk down a narrow pathway leading to an open-sided lounge overlooking the bush. What gets less attention is the property’s commitment to conversation and community engagement – it was the first South African reserve to employ a black ranger and one of the first to employ a female ranger. Current initiatives include a catering facility for vulnerable kids, a digital learning centre and a school netball and soccer league. See sabisabi.com

Headwaters Eco Lodge

Completely self-sufficent … Queenstown’s Headwaters Eco Lodge.

Queenstown has an ambitious plan to become the first tourist town on Earth to be completely carbon-zero by 2030. And no operator in the region has done more to help Queenstown achieve this than The Headwaters Eco Lodge in nearby Glenorchy. It’s the world’s first accommodation to be recognised by the Living Building Challenge, the most rigorous of all assessment programs only completely self-sufficient buildings can pass. It’s made entirely of recycled building materials, runs on solar power, offers compost toilets and all waste water is used to irrigate a wetland in the middle of the property. See theheadwatersecolodge.com

Ethical Adventures

Secret spots … enjoy a quiet visit to Tjaynera Falls (or Sandy Creek Falls) even in high season, with Ethical Adventures.Credit: Northern Territory Tourism

Owner and lead guide Rob Woods makes sure guests discover their own piece of the Northern Territory away from the crowds, during single and multi-day experiential tours in Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks. Tours go beyond the obvious and most popular attractions of the parks and deep into secret places not usually revealed, which helps those on his trips connect with the environment in a more personal way. There are private waterholes to swim in and waterfalls away from tour coaches. Part of Woods’ tour ethos is also to educate people on the need for a more sustainable future. See ethicaladventures.com.au

Traveller Awards contributors: Kate Armstrong, John Borthwick, Jim Darby, Anthony Dennis, Ben Groundwater, Julietta Jameson, Trudi Jenkins, Brian Johnston, Ute Junker, Katrina Lobley, Catherine Marshall, Rob McFarland, Justin Meneguzzi, Craig Platt, Jane Reddy, Jane Richards, Tim Richards, Craig Tansley, Lee Tulloch, Kerry van der Jagt, Penny Watson, Sue Williams