South Africa on horseback
Rainbow Tours can organise a trek along South Africa's Wild Coast with Amadiba Adventures, an aid-funded community tourism project. Local guides take you on horseback across wide, sandy beaches and through dune forests. You will sleep out at riverside camp sites where you can swim, canoe or dive into deep pools from rocky bluffs. The Mpondo people, who rely mostly on subsistence farming, prepare food and entertainment, be it a traditional dance, a game of soccer or a chat over a beer.
Where to book: Rainbow Tours ( 020-7226 1004). You can contact Amadiba direct on 0027 39 305 6455, amadiba@euwildcoast.za.org. Treks cost from £25 per day including full board.
Andaman adventure
Join in with village life on an island in the Andaman sea. Symbiosis Expedition Planning has teamed up with the Thai Volunteer Service, an organisation that places Thai nationals in development projects. This homestay scheme in a small village where the houses are on stilts over the water, is just one such project. Although it is less than two hours by boat from Phuket, few tourists make it to the island of Koh Yao Noi.
Where to book:
Symbiosis Expedition Planning (020-7924 5906). A three-day stay costs US$100 excluding Phuket.
Swim with pirhanas
Hike through jungles and canoe on rivers full of pirhana. Trips Worldwide can take you to Kapawi Lodge, a joint venture between the indigenous Achuar people and an Ecuadorean tour operator. The lodge is remote but has electricity, hot water, wide verandas on which to sit and listen to the jungle, and a well-stocked bar. Before tourism, the Achuar earned most of their income from cattle ranching which necessitated clearing the forest.
Where to book:
Trips Worldwide (0117-311 4400). A seven-night Ecuador itinerary, including three nights at Kapawi, costs from £1,545pp, based on two sharing, including flights.
Solomon snorkel
Snorkel over coral gardens as a local spears a fish for supper. In the Solomon Islands, palm and wood chalets sit on stilts over lagoons. Marovo Lagoon, at more than 100km, is the longest in the world. Several lodges are dotted around its shores, accessible only by ship, canoe or small plane. Accommodation is basic, but the stunning scenery and the simplicity of village life offset any lack of facilities. Very few tourists make it to these parts. Aid agencies are assisting people with environmental management plans and small-scale tourism to alleviate the temptation to log the islands.
Where to book: Trans Pacific Holidays (01293 567722) can put together a 12-night package including return flights via Fiji for £1,989pp based on two sharing. This includes five nights in Marovo Lagoon lodges.
Aboriginal idea
Journey along songlines with an aboriginal elder. Desert Tracks has a six-day "Bush College" where you will learn about the spiritual significance of the red heart of Australia. Travelling by 4WD over dirt roads, you will camp under the stars, dig for witchety grubs or honey ants and listen to aboriginal stories by the campfire as the billy boils. Desert Tracks is wholly owned and operated by the Pitjantjatjatjara people of Central Australia.
Where to book: Desert Tracks. The six-day tour, departing Alice Springs, costs Au$2,500pp.
Nicaraguan struggle
Work on a "Brigade" in central America. Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign will organise a stay with local people in rural communities for two weeks, helping on organic coffee farms. In the third week, you will visit an ecotourism lodge on an island in the middle of lake Nicaragua, as well as enjoying salsa in local bars and sunbathing on Pacific beaches.
Where to book: Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign (020-7272 9619). The next brigade is in August and will cost "about £1,000" including flights.
Island of sheep
Stay on a sheep farm on the otherwise uninhabited Faroe island of Koltur. At Lukka and Bjorn's farmstay, there are just two guest bedrooms. You can spend your days hiking over the hills to towering cliffs, home to many different seabirds, or laze on the sandy beach with a picnic of pickled herrings.
Where to book:
Lukka and Bjorn (00298 328190). £42pp full board. Smyril Line ships go to the Faroes from Aberdeen (01595 690845) or you can fly from Stansted with Atlantic Airways (01737 214214) from £245 return plus taxes.
Back to basics
In Sabah, villagers have built a traditional long house to accommodate tourists. The walls are made of beaten bark and the floor of split bamboo. Your bed is a thin mattress , your light a kerosene lantern. Members of the village take it in turns to cook local food, served with potent rice wine. The evening's entertainment is dancing, gong-playing and an ankle-thwacking game with bamboo poles. During the day you can visit a superb beach nearby, work in the rice fields or, if you're lucky, see barking deer and pythons in the forest.
Where to book:
Emerald Travel (020-7312 1700) can tailor-make a Sabah holiday including a stay at the Bavanggazo long house.
Madagascar by outrigger
Sail along the south-west coast of Madagascar in a traditional outrigger canoe with two Vezo fishermen as crew. At night, the sails are turned into shelters to sleep under. After a day's sailing, you can fish, snorkel, look for turtles or go exploring with local people in this remote, undeveloped part of Madagascar.
Where to book: Rainbow Tours (020-7226 1004). A two-week "Madventure" costs £2,495pp including flights. There are three departures in 2002.
The ultimate energy saver
If you don't want to fly overseas, Country Lanes organises self-guided bike tours in England. It will make sure your 21-speed bike is waiting for you at the train station, provide you with an itinerary and maps and carry your bags on to the next night's B&B.
Where to book: Country Lanes (01425 655022). A two-day itinerary in the Lake District costs £150pp (two sharing). There are also three- and six-day itineraries.
Family options
Go for Pembroke
Pembrokeshire has some of the best beaches in the UK - vast expanses of sand sheltered by sculpted cliffs. It's perfect for buckets and spades or walking and birdwatching. If you'd rather not clog up the pretty country lanes with cars, the Pembrokeshire Greenways Initiative will help you find a holiday that relies on public transport, bicycles and walking.
Where to book:
Pembrokeshire Greenways Initiative (01834 860965). The £145, five-day Greenways Explorer Break includes an itinerary of train rides (price not included), short walks, beaches and historic towns. Accommodation is being encouraged to "go green" and is mostly locally owned and managed.
Close to Eden
Mount Pleasant Farm is an organic smallholding nine miles from the Eden Project and a short walk to sandy Porthlune beach. All the food is organic and locally produced, specialising in vegan and vegetarian cuisine; although if you hanker after a full English breakfast, owner Jill Lucas will buy free-range sausages and bacon to go with eggs from their hens.
Where to book: Mount Pleasant Farm (01726 843918). From £17pp per night. There are just three bedrooms, one of them a family room. Non-smoking.
Scottish retreat
Off the west coast of Scotland, on the Island of Mull, remote Treshnish Farm offers plenty of walks, small sandy bays and wildlife in abundance. There are several holiday cottages, some without electricity, but all well maintained and equipped (there's gas lighting and heating).
Where to book: Treshnish Farm (01688 400249). From £170 a week for a cottage for four.
Farm comforts
Just a short distance from the Emerald Coast of Sardinia is a family farm in a tranquil rural area, 10km from Olbia. At Agriturismo Agrisole, Monica looks after the accommodation, while her brother Alessandro prepares fabulous feasts from their farm produce - home-made ravioli, roast suckling pig, fresh ricotta with warm honey - all washed down with farm-produced wines and liqueurs.
Where to book: Agriturismo Agrisole (00 39 0789 57227). From £115.50pp per week. Children 4-10, 50% discount. Ryanair flies daily to Alghero.
Village life in Cyprus
The Cyprus Agrotourism project is helping to stop the flow of people from villages to towns. You can stay in a rural working hamlet such as Kholi, with a population of 50. A group of old stone buildings has been converted into four holiday-lets, with room for up to 14. The beach is a short drive away.
Where to book:
Sunvil (020-8568 4499). From £383pp for a week in March, including flights and car hire.
In the slow lane
The kids will love meandering along country lanes in a horse-drawn caravan . In south-east Ireland an award-winning, environmentally friendly, family-run business will introduce you to your companionable Irish draught horse and set you on your way in your five-berth wooden caravan. At night, you park your caravan and graze the horses at farms, country houses or pubs and cook dinner on gas rings. There's a 24-hour emergency contact just in case your horse- handling skills go awry.
Where to book: Stena Line Holidays (08705 747474). From £253 for three nights, including ferry crossing from Holyhead to Dublin for a car and up to five passengers.
Park life
The Loire Valley is a Unesco World Heritage site. In the protected area of La Brenne Natural Park, the meadows, woodlands and over 1,000 small lakes are home to birds galore and freshwater turtles. At the Brenne "ecomuseum" you can learn more about the local ecology. Income from tourism helps to maintain the park. Your gîte owner will provide you with local maps.
Where to book: Gîtes, approved by WWF, start from £105 for the weekend, sleeping four (0033 254 275 861). Buzz (0870 2407070) flies from Stansted to Tours daily from March 31.
Conserve your energy
Cumbria prides itself on being the first destination in the UK to be awarded a Green Globe in recognition of sustainable tourism practices. The Derwentwater Hotel, Keswick, has a range of energy-saving schemes including a wetlands conservation area in the grounds, providing a protected habitat for wildlife including deer and red squirrels.
Where to book: Derwentwater Hotel (017687 72538). B&B from £65pp.
Saving Majorca
From May 1, visiting any of the Balearic islands will help conserve the environment, thanks to the new "ecotax", a small, daily levy on tourists. The money will help fund the islands' conservation projects. If you want to have even more impact, you could stay in a beautifully restored, locally owned farm or village house. Most are inland: the Muleta de Ca S'Hereu is a grand 17th-century finca surrounded by olive trees and forests, a short drive from Puerto Sóller in mountainous north-east Majorca. The owners cook traditional local food and there's a lovely, peaceful pool, with views across to the sea. Not suitable for young children.
Where to book: Muleta de Ca S'Hereu, 00 34 971 18 60 18. B&B from £138.23 double.
Best of the Med
On the small Croatian island of Lopud, 7km by boat from the historic town of Dubrovnik, there are no cars, just little coves with turquoise waters. Dine on grilled fish with a glass of Croatian wine. You can stay with villagers in their homes.
Where to book: Bond Tours (01372 745300). From £290pp, room-only, including flights.
There are more examples of "fair trade" holidays in the Community Tourism Guide by Mark Mann, published by Earthscan, priced £9.99.
