The Wakatobi is a fantastic area to visit and explore. Taking the following steps will help to preserve the Wakatobi’s biological and cultural heritage and also enhance your experience of this unique region.

Before you go…

Do some homework

Learn a little about the culture and geography of the region before you go (this website is a good place to start!). Learning a few words of Indonesian will help you to communicate with the locals more quickly. 

Learn Indonesian in 7 days is a great introductory website which also has audio to help with pronunciation click here

Go Indonesia is an interactive website with information about five Indonesian destinations including Sulawesi click here

Wikipedia has useful basic exercises and links click here

Beginning Indonesia is more advanced and has lots of interactive exercises click here

Packing

Try not to take any excess packaging with you when you go as it will just create unnecessary rubbish for your hosts to deal with.  Used batteries are toxic and difficult to dispose of safely.  Rechargeable batteries are more environmentally friendly and will save you carrying lots of dead batteries back home when you leave.  If you are going to be going off the beaten track in areas, which don’t have a reliable electricity supply, LED torches are a good option that last much longer than traditional torches. Toiletries are a major source of unwanted pollutant effluent and refuse in the Wakatobi, consider brands such as ‘ecover’ or ‘lush’ that are eco-friendly, made from natural ingredients and use low levels of packaging.

Offset your flight carbon emissions

Climate change has the potential to devastate corals reefs in the Wakatobi through impacts such as coral bleaching and sea level rise.  You can offset your carbon emissions on a number of commercial websites.

Visit Climate Care click here

Visit CarbonNeutral click here

While you are there…

‘Take only photographs and leave only footprints’ is a good motto to remember. When you are visiting biologically sensitive habitats remember: what ever you do your presence will have an impact so keep that impact short term and minimal, maintain your distance from wildlife to reduce disturbance, never touch or feed wildlife, don’t chase or harass wildlife. More guidelines for diving on coral reefs can be found by clicking here

Reduce, re-use and recycle

Even in an area as remote as the Wakatobi it is not unusual to see plastic bags and bottles floating in the sea.  It is easy to forget that these convenient single use items can have severe impacts on wildlife (sea turtles often eat plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish which can be fatal) and take an extremely long time to biodegrade.  Take a strong water bottle and water purifying tablets instead of buying bottled water.  You can also buy portable water filters, which make local water supplies and rivers or lakes safe to drink. (Look at brands such as MSR and Katadyn)

Avoid using plastic bags. 

Buy responsibly

Purchase souvenirs from local artisans to support local businesses and traditions.  However, when purchasing souvenirs make sure you are not buying products made from vulnerable or endangered species (tortoise shell, animal skins, hard corals,bone and ivory, tropical hardwoods).  Taking away the things you came to see is never a good idea!

Read more on responsible travel...

visit the The lonely planet website on responsible tourism click here