Voluntourism with Parks & Wildlife's Green Guardians Program

Forward thinking eco-conscious travellers are being invited by the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service to participate in the new Green Guardians program.
Green Guardians provides sustainable experiences in Tasmania’s national parks and reserves for tourists on guided trips. This is a new joint program with Tasmanian tourism operators and Tourism Tasmania.
Travellers to Tasmania participate in a conservation project as part of a Green Guardians’ guided tour. Projects undertaken as a Green Guardian are chosen by Parks and Wildlife Service rangers to make a tangible difference to the conservation work carried out in the reserve.
Each project is undertaken as a small proportion of the overall tour. As an example a Green Guardian project might take approximately one to two hours of a 4 day trip.
Keep nature at the top of your mind when booking your next adventure by choosing to be a Green Guardian with a participating tourism operator.

Each Wild Tarkine Coast tour is part of the Green Guardians program. Participation in the program is optional

What is Voluntourism

Voluntours are a way to learn about the people and place you are visiting on a deeper level. Participating in voluntourism is a way to establish long-lasting connections, discover more about cultures around the world, and about yourself. It is most definitely a way to give back to a community you are visiting, to lend a helping hand to someone in need, to work towards a cause you believe in, or simply to find a way to make a positive impact through your travels.

Click here for a youtube video of the Green Guardians program

Like walking through a living museum

The Australian Heritage Commission has assessed the Tarkine as “one of the world’s great archaeological regions” (1990, cited in Richards and
Sutherland-Richards 1992).

The word Tarkine is adapted from the name of one of three bands of Aboriginal people (Tarkineer) that made up a tribe that once lived in north-west Tasmania. Evidence of Aboriginal occupation in the region includes innumerable middens, hut depressions, artefact scatters, ceremonial stone arrangements, petroglyph’s, and spongolite (a particular rock used to make stone tools). At least 244 archaeological sites have been identified in the area, and although surveys have been less than comprehensive, estimations of up to 1000 sites have been made (Richards and Sutherland-Richards 1992). On the Wild Tarkine Coast you will see the massive middens, the stone tools and hut depressions as we travel along the coast to the home of the Tarkineer at Sandy Cape.

Your opportunity to be part of of the Tarkine Devil Project.

By coming on this tour you will be supporting the project in the following ways:

• You will be ensuring our business will be able to continue contributing our time and money to the Tarkine Devil Project. This will ensure that the project continues well beyond the term of the initial funding.
• On your Tarkine Explorer tour you will be directly involved in the project as you assist in the collection of data recorded on the motion sensor cameras. You will also be the first to see photos of any Tasmanian Devil activity that has occurred since the last time the cameras were checked.

For more information see the Tarkine Devil Project Page.

The power of the landscape

This rugged landscape is a world away from you day to day life. The changing light and mood of the Tarkine adds an atmosphere to the walk perfect for capturing amazing photos.
• Next landmass west of the Tarkine coastline is South America
• Powerfully elemental
• Rugged geology and massive sand dunes
• Cape Grim, just North of the Tarkine, is considered to have the cleanest air in the world. On the coast trip you will be breathing in this same air.

What's included on the trip

• All meals including snacks from lunch on day one to lunch on day six.
• All group camping equipment including all first aid and safety gear (rental gear available for some personal items – see detailed itinerary for more information).
• Experienced and professional guides with a passion for Tasmania’s wild places.
• Transport from and back to your accommodation (refer notes on pick up points and drop off points above to ensure you are within range).
• Entry fees to National Parks/reserves/tours/ferries.
Not Included
• Accommodation prior to the start or at the end of the tour
• Flights
• Breakfast on morning 1 and dinner on day 6

Our passion for an integrated approach to sustainability..

The environmental policy of all our eco tours fall out of our love and respect for the natural world and that we look beyond what is simply “good for us” when making decisions that impact the environment. That we give voice to environmental injustice when we see it and work creatively toward win-win solutions that protect the environment for the benefit of people today and future generations. Specific outcomes of this environmental policy for our eco tours include:

• A policy of “Maximum Respect Bush walking ” which embraces and develops upon the philosophy of minimal impact walking. This idea encourages us to recognise that we are a part of the natural environment and as such damage to “it” is damage ultimately to us.
• Offering organic food (where possible) with minimal and reusable packaging.
• Each year we offset the emissions (fuel, travel and electricity) our business creates by paying climate friendly to invest in the renewable energy industry. Rather than try to offset the carbon emissions from food we have a policy of buying as much of our food & wine from local suppliers and growers as well as buying organic where possible.
• Use 100%, post consumer waste recycled paper for all our office paper needs.

The first and only business to offer the 6 day walk

The Tarkine Experts – In the hands of the Tarkines Pioneers
• The first business to run multi day guided bushwalks in the Tarkine Rainforest (operating for 8 years)
• The only operator currently walking from Pieman Heads to Sandy Cape in the Tarkine