Tribe Wanted, now run by founding member Ben Keene, is both a real-life and internet based community building project. Styling itself as a paradigm of democratic eco tourism, the venture seeks to harness the power web-based social networks and translate it into a conservation project. It links tourists and the Fijian natives of the island Vorovoro: 200 acres of picturesque tropical land located in the South Pacific and the location of the tribe’s endeavours away from the internet.
As a project it has never been short of controversy and criticism. Although it launched in 2006 to critical acclaim and an overwhelmingly positive media response, the project was threatened with collapse as rumours began to circulate that it was little more than a hoax. Ben mentions that the “scam accusations online burst our internet bubble and almost closed the business as quicky as it had exploded out of the blocks.” But the desire to achieve the dream that originated as a “young persons railcard was about to expire, which basically meant I was looking for an excuse to grow up and take a risk” .
Having fought off the early negativity, the project has recently garnered accusations of stagnation. A trip to the online home of the community reveals that membership levels are hovering at around 1,400, short of the 5,000 target set at the projects inception. Initially this total was set as a necessary requirement of members traveling to the islands; this project is a business venture after all. “Getting the lease money deposit (£27,000) down in 6 weeks from a £3,000 investment (flights to Fiji) was easy in hindsight because we believed it was possible.” Although there is little information available on whether the project has made any money – quick math would suggest that it hasn’t made a substantial amount – it originated out of ideas for possible internet start ups at the start of the second generation of dotcom ventures.
Fundamentally Tribewanted is a business venture, and although it may not prove to be a large money spinner, part of this being down to the self-imposed visitor limits that the tribe members place on the islands capacity. For the founders it’s a limit on their earnings. However, what it may probe to be is a decent prototype for larger scale future projects. Currently the lease that Tribewanted have on the island runs out in September 2009 and the direction that it will take after that is still uncertain.
With the rise of web-based social networking contributing to the interest in the Tribewanted project, the objective of building a flourishing web community to govern the decisions of the real world tribe attracted significant interest. Decisions are made via a voting process, undertaken on the websites forums. In the beginning almost everything was debated with an intensity exclusive to the new and zealous. Heated debates over the smallest of choices ensued, influencing the overall direction of the project and in the past “conflict has taken place on-line where non face-to-face debate is open. As soon as everyone gets to the island they don’t waste their time arguing and the Fijian way to resolve things is not through argument which is refreshing.”
It is interesting to note that for all the press coverage and shared ideal that the project seems to capture, the online communities are smaller than you might assume. The Tribewanted site boasts around 4,700 non-paying members, while the associated groups on Myspace, Facebook and Flickr all hold fewer. There seems to be an acute interest in the project, but it fails to turn this into the sort of visitor numbers that would ensure its impact in the legacy of global tourism. Reality television shows such as Big Brother, or Shipwrecked – a lesser known social experiment involving tropical islands – cannot have created any significant appeal to spending time with a group of strangers in a isolated environment. These experiments are often marked by in-fighting and are revealing of the less appealing side of human nature.
Now though, the direction of the island’s marketing has moved from the escapist dream, to a more measured consideration of eco tourism. Ben talks at length of the community building, eco and sustainability projects that are built on the island. Sustainability projects include experiments in “biogas, solar, wind, medicinal and fruit gardens”. Although the size and environment of Vorovoro means that self-sufficiency through cultivation would be difficult to achieve, green projects are designed to minimize the impact that tourists have on the environment.
Despite the mark objective of an eco-tourist endeavour you have to question the sensibility of the majority of visitors traveling around the world in order to enjoy a week’s eco-tourism. The party, or rather, tribe line, is that the promotion of eco ideals on the island, which employs green techniques such as conservation, solar energy and intelligent building to run the community, are taken back home and spread as ideas via the members. If positive change can be made on the island, it’s hoped that it will provide some impetus to making a difference to life at home. Ben also mentions that a number of visitors are already on trips – enjoying gap year travels, or holidaying through the area and hearing about the project locally. A glance at the website reveals that the island is booked to its maximum visitor numbers for the next few months, but there is an opportunity for those lucky few who hear about Vorovoro while in the area to visit at short notice.
The main focus of Ben’s answers concerns the nature of community and the one they have developed with the native Fijians on Vorovoro. While many detractors can mention the conflicted nature of the eco project, community building and cross cultural links are an important way to propagate the sharing of ideas and shaping of perspectives. For Ben the “highlight by far has been the relationship that has been built between the local Fijian community and the visiting tribe members”. One aspect that is mentioned consistently is that the “Fijian’s are such generous people and are giving us a huge lesson in what the word ‘community’ actually means”. The passed down wisdom practiced by the indigenous people has given insights into conflict resolution and promoted harmony among the visitors.
Although Vorovoro wasn’t always the picture of inter-cultural tolerance that it is portrayed as now. In its infancy “an accidental fire in week one of the project caused tensions between non-Fijian members”. Luckily major damage to the island was avoided. The blaze crept to the edge of the village but was extinguished and the damage done to the early relationships subsequently repaired.
It’s a little slice of paradise for many, some visitors have been so entranced by the project that they have restructured their lives to become more heavily involved with running Tribewanted. Now it is staffed by a passionate group both on and off the island. The internet based part of the community is undergoing development to try and galvanize support and encourage more participation and visitors are still making regular trips to the island. Ben is keen to stress that if you want paradise don’t think it will come easy”, but the rewards have been worth the effort.
In a community that warmly embraces outsiders the future goals are to “continue our drive towards sustainability, and support more local community projects”. After all, island living is the dream of many and Tribewanted are doing their utmost to make it possible. There’s little more enticing than “waking up in my little beach hut at sunrise, grabbing my surf board and running into the sea”. Ben makes Vorovoro sound like such hard work.
Quick fire
The best thing to…
Take to the island:
Open-mind and bio-degradable washing products
Say on the island:
Yadre Sia! (good morning with a smile – its usually always a good morning)
Eat on the island:
Lovo’d (cooked in the earth) fish freshly caught by you from the cakalevu (third largest barrier reef in the world)
Drink on the island:
Kava. Numbs your mouth, loosens your tongue, unites the world (or at least those sitting around the large wooden bowl)
See on the island:
Pupu Epeli bang a nail into a piece of wood without looking at it before proclaiming, ‘Nothing hard in this world!’ Legend.
Do on the island:
For me, hang out with our Fijian family – either in the kitchen, at sea or around the kava bowl. Forget the sunsets – these are the memories that last forever.
