If you’ve ever wanted to see Uluru through eyes of its Anangu traditional owners or dine with recent migrants from Myanmar’s Karen community and learn how an urban park in Victoria has had a fundamental effect on the community, now is your chance.

To celebrate Australia hosting the prestigious World Parks Congress, a range of unique field trips to some of the country’s most spectacular areas are being offered this November.

The special field trips give participants a once in lifetime opportunity to visit Australia’s natural icons and hidden gems with the people that know them best, the landscape experts.

The Field Trips will explore areas including the Greater Blue Mountains, Kakadu, Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, tropical World Heritage rainforests, the Great Eastern Ranges and biodiversity hot spots in Western Australia.

Australia’s Director of National Parks, Sally Barnes, said: “These tours have been created to celebrate our parks and provide an opportunity for the public to get involved in the many inspiring projects taking place within our national parks and community reserves.”

“What sets these trips apart from an ordinary tour is that participants are guided by the people who know the places best. This includes park rangers, Indigenous traditional owners, private landowners and researchers.”

“Many tourists visit the Blue Mountains, but it’s a completely different experience when you see it through a park ranger’s eyes and discover that the area harbours many rare and endangered plant species including 114 that are found nowhere else on earth.”

Some of the Field Trips get you up close to some of Australia’s most fascinating wildlife, including small mammals at Booderee National Park and Tasmanian Devils at Maria Island. You can even get your hands dirty, helping to survey one of the last remnant populations of Eastern Barred Bandicoots in Melbourne,” said Sally.

Field Trips range in price and duration from one day trips to multiple nights. For more information or to make a booking, visit: http://www.worldparkscongress.org/
programme/field_trips.html

The IUCN World Parks Congress is a one in 10 year event which focusses attention on the role of national parks, marine parks, private protected areas and reserves. Hosted at Sydney Olympic Park from 12-19 November 2014, it will bring together 160 countries to plan the next decade for some of the most valuable landscapes on the planet.