| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 01/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 41 |
| Copyright: Other |
Growing native options hike walkabout appeal
Range of tours developed for this year
Aboriginal culture and heritage: product review by Louis Jordan
NOTHING is more intriguing to travellers to Australia than the tales, dreams and beliefs of the indigenous Aboriginal people. Yet gaining an authentic glimpse of Aboriginal culture can prove surprisingly difficult.However, operators are responding to increasing demand for this kind of experience by working with ground handlers in Australia that specialise in tours built around Aboriginal culture and heritage.
Kuoni
Clients on Kuoni’s new coach tour, run by AAT Kings, view Aboriginal rock paintings at Kakadu National Park before visiting the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre.
Visitors can then journey to Arnhem Land and the Mikinj Valley where Aboriginals have maintained their traditional lifestyle and hear tales of traditional land ownership, bush tucker and hunting. Day three of the tour includes a viewing of ancient Aboriginal paintings at Ubirr.
Kuoni product manager Jayne White said the tour offers a great opportunity to see how Aborigines live as well as sampling spectacular scenery of the Northern Territory. “I am expecting this tour to sell extremely well in its first year of being featured in the Kuoni brochure,” she added.
Kuoni’s three-day coach tour of Arnhem Land and Kakadu, near Darwin, costs from £244 to £344, depending on the time of year.
Ancient art: Tjapukai park features a museum of artifacts
Airtours
Airtours offers a day trip to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park on the outskirts of Cairns in Queensland. The park’s 25 acres house five theatres, a museum, an art gallery and a traditional Aboriginal camp. The museum contains authentic Stone Age artifacts, once used by the Tjapukai tribe. Large murals by the Tjapukai’s foremost Aboriginal artists tell the legends of the past.
The spiritual and traditional beliefs of the Tjapukai people are portrayed in the Creation Theatre. Performers interact with giant holographic and animated images, to illustrate and bring to life the ancient story. An audio-visual presentation showcases the traditional culture in the History Theatre, while the Tjapukai Dance Theatre performs corroborees – a traditional form of dance and song. Visitors can also try their hand at boomerang and spear throwing; didgeridoo playing; and learn about bush foods and medicines.
Airtours long-haul marketing manager Steve Yeoman said: “This is proving to be one of the more popular Australian excursions with an increasingly high uptake.”
Airtours offers a trip to Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park as part of its Kuranda Skyrail and Scenic Rail excursion in Cairns. The one-day excursion costs £69 per person.
Native culture: meet the locals on the Kuoni tour
Qantas Holidays
Qantas Holidays works with Anangu Tours, which operates out of Ayers Rock, and provides two tours that focus on the Aboriginal understanding of the environment, flora, fauna and the cultural significance of the area.
Aboriginal guides and an Aboriginal language interpreter lead the one-day tours.
Billy Can Tours, new to Qantas Holidays’ product range for this year, operates out of Darwin and offers overnight camping tours that include a significant element of Aboriginal heritage with the opportunity to see how the dramatic ecological changes of the last 20,000 years have been recorded in Aboriginal rock art.
Qantas Holidays marketing co-ordinator Tim Jones said: “There isclearly a big growing interest inindigenous tourism: customers are increasingly requesting more unusual holidays, placing a greater emphasis on exploring the local environment and culture.”
British Airways Holidays
Clients on British Airways Holidays’ Kuniya Sunset Tour join experienced Aboriginal guides on a walk to the base of Uluru, or Ayers Rock.
Visitors learn the importance of the sacred place, hear ancient tales passed down to the guides from their ancestors and see the stories brought to life by paintings in the caves beneath the rock before watching the rich colours of Uluru change as the sun sets.
BAHassistant product manager Matthew Brabner said: “We’ve only started the tour this year but there’s a lot of interest in it. People going to Australia are looking for something a bit different – this tour is something away from the mass market.”
BA Holidays’ Kuniya Sunset Tour, which departs Ayers Rock daily, is priced from £28 to £33 depending on the time of year.
Going walkabout: aboriginal rangers help protect the Uluru National Park
Travel 2
Travel 2 offers full-day and half-day Aboriginal culture trips from the main tourist points such as Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Darwin or Cairns.
Tourists can also take in Aboriginal culture as part of modular and extended tours – attractions such as the ancient art site of Nourlangie Rock are an essential part of coach tours and pre-planned self-drives in the Kakadu region, according to product manager Andrea Robinson.
The operator’s two-day Kakadu and Wildlife Cruises tour, from £159 per person, operates from Darwin into Kakadu National Park. Day One includes the Aboriginal art site of Nourlangie Rock and Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre; the second day visits the 20,000-year-old rock art site at Ubirr.
“Most people visiting Australia want to gain some insight into the culture and lifestyle of the Aborigines and the vast majority of first-time visitors include some element of Aboriginal tourism in their itinerary,” Robinson said.
Travel 2 offers a three-day Ayers Rock – Kings Canyon Camping in Style tour which visits the impressive Olgas. It leads in at £234 per person and offers a true Outback experience but with luxury tents. It includes an Aboriginal-guided cultural tour of Ayers Rock.
Seeing red:a Travel 2 luxury camping tour takes in the stunning Olgas