Making a difference

Making a difference 

Barbara Harrison, a vibrant 74 year old is the winner of the 2007 Get Up & Go Award for Australia’s most adventurous traveller. More than half a century ago she got up and went off to see the world. An inveterate traveller, her travelling goals began to change over time and for the past 13 years she has been contributing to the places she visited by putting her time and effort into conservation projects.

Barbara Harrison was a trailblazer from the time she reached her twenties. She headed off to Europe, worked and travelled (as many young women did at the time) but she moved outside the 1950s box when she travelled overland from London back to Australia. This wasn’t an ordinary feat then for a young woman.

“They were the early days of overland travel, very rough and we would stop where we found accommodation – no forward booking as there weren’t many hotels in Pakistan.  It was wonderful and rugged and I swore I would never do that type of trip again!” 

“It was time to go travelling again. I had years of working and saving money and also going back to school and studying as I hadn’t a great education. I started to think and plan where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. It was always the plan to get off the beaten track. I wanted to go places to find out how people really lived and to understand them and their country.” Barbara said.

Barbara travelled to Yemen, Patagonia, Botswana and Zimbabwe with ‘Explore’, a UK-based tour operator. While these tours were enjoyable, Barbara felt she needed to get away from the ‘tourist traps’ and make a worthwhile contribution to the environment and the communities of the places she visited.

“A friend sent me information about Earthwatch and I signed up immediately; I had found what I was looking for. My first Earthwatch experience was an architectural expedition in Mexico. I didn’t really understand what we were doing but I immediately felt part of a team – and meeting the villagers and getting a feel for that part of the world and the people was inspiring,” she says.

In the past 13 years, Barbara has joined 14 research team in 12 countries on six continents, including out-of-the-way locations like Alaska, Easter Island and Mongolia.

In 2001, Barbara took part in the ‘Sea Otters of Alaska’ trip. By night, Barbara and other volunteers and scientists slept in an expedition-style tent on a platform on Alaska’s shore. By day they would take photos of the sea otters on the water’s surface, use binoculars to determine what the otters were eating, map and survey different otter habitats and enter data and otter photos into the database. This work helps to determine why otter populations have declined dramatically in parts of Alaska.

Barbara is also a former Earthwatch Institute Volunteer of the Year winner. “I was only the second person who had been recognised this way,” Barbara says. “It meant a lot to me, I was so proud and chuffed and I had never won anything before!”

For Barbara, the real attraction of an Earthwatch expedition is the opportunity to work alongside and socialise with local communities, making lifelong friends and making a real difference to their lives and their environment.

“For such a long time I saw documentaries and read about this type of global community work and wanted to somehow contribute – and now I do. Not only do you feel good for other people, you feel good about yourself.”

Barbara’s most recent expedition was to Africa, where she assisted Dr Laurie Marker in her quest to save the cheetah from extinction in Namibia’s rural heartland. Dr Marker founded the Cheetah Foundation Fund in 1990 and is collecting essential data on cheetah behaviour and working with Namibia’s farmers to change attitudes to cheetahs.

Barbara is planning her next Earthwatch expedition, and is living proof that it’s never too late to make a difference.

Barbara Harrison wins a flight for two with Qantas to New Zealand, accommodation at Wellington Holiday Inn, a Wild About Chocolate sightseeing tour, Wairarapa Gourmet Wine Escape and a Seal Coast Safari Experience. Prize valued at $3035. Thanks so Wellington Tourism for support and sponsorship.

Barbara’s Earthwatch Projects:

Earthwatch runs 150 conservation research projects in 53 countries, allowing volunteers to make a difference.