25/11/2023
The NEW BREED of TRAVELLER with STARS in their EYES ...
By Ricky French (Weekend Australia)
Roughly once every 18 months, the moon passes between the Earth and sun with such precise alignment that it casts a thin shadow – a sort of celestial snail trail – across a small portion of the Earth’s surface.
It’s called the “path of totality”, and anyone positioned on it will witness the holy grail of astronomical events, a TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE.
And each time this happens, a dedicated tribe of astro-tourists known as eclipse-chasers will travel from all corners of the world to be there.
On April 8, 20,000 of them converged on Exmouth, Western Australia – a town with a population of less than 3000 – to spend one minute and two seconds standing in the shadow of the moon.
The eclipse threw the Ningaloo Coast suddenly into the spotlight (or more accurately into shadow) and the region embraced the opportunity to showcase itself on the world stage. Guests aboard a special tour by Ningaloo Whaleshark Swim could tick off two bucket-list items on the same day.
Tour manager Jasmin O’Brien says watching the eclipse from Turquoise Bay after swimming with whale sharks was something no one on the boat will ever forget.
“Seeing the landscape and seascape fall into darkness, then being dazzled by stars above the boat in the middle of the day, surrounded by the big blue of Ningaloo Reef … it’s something you can’t comprehend until you see it.”
Preparing for the huge influx of visitors was a mammoth undertaking for the region. The state government invested $22m to boost capacity and ensure tourists were kept entertained beyond the fleeting event. An Eclipse Discovery Tour of 27 events ran throughout April and was attended by about 3000 people.
“It was an effort to invite visitors to stay longer, disperse into other regions and experience the wonders of Western Australia’s dark night sky,” says Carol Redford, chief executive of Astrotourism WA.
She says about half the visitors were interstate or international. “We had Tasmanians in Mingenew, Costa Ricans in Northam, Germans in Gascoyne Junction. That never happens.”
Redford says the number of inbound international tour operators specialising in astrotourism is rapidly growing, but more product and planning is needed to fully capitalise on the burgeoning market.
“Dark-sky enthusiasts become your advocates for the region. They can have amazing experiences that can leave a legacy. We need to make sure we harness it.”
Tour operator Dark Sky Traveller is well practised in harnessing the surging demand for astrotourism.
Led by the founder of the charity Dark Sky Alliance, Marnie Ogg, and her husband, government astronomer and science communicator Fred Watson, tours traverse all facets of the genre.
Guests have sat in Einstein’s chair at the tower named after the great scientist in Germany, walked through the tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider, seen the northern lights from a chairlift in Lapland, had lunch in the canteen with staff at the Swedish Institute for Space, and witnessed an exclusive concert by composer Urmas Sisask in his “observatorium” in Estonia.
Watson says the surging popularity of astrotourism flows logically from the desire to experience unspoilt places.
“If you think of the wilderness as an unspoilt area on Earth, then the universe is the greater wilderness. Travel isn’t stopping. People have gone through a very insular experience with Covid, and are seeking out natural experiences.”
For this year’s eclipse, Watson and Ogg were on a Coral Expeditions ship on a Kimberley cruise from Darwin to Broome, leading a tour in partnership with the Australian Geographic Society. The eclipse was viewed from remote Scott Reef, 300km off the Kimberley coast, the 120 guests getting a private screening of the greatest show on Earth.
Coral Expeditions commercial director Jeff Gillies says there’s already a waiting list for the next Australian total solar eclipse in 2028. “The evangelists of the astro-travel world seek out eclipse viewing from cruises,” he says. “It’s a way to get away from the crowds, and being on a vessel means if there’s cloud cover you can move around it.”
But the regular dark-night sky is proving a powerful drawcard on its own. Recent years have seen a boom in places seeking “dark sky” accreditation from the International Dark Sky Association.
IDSA spokesperson Michael Rymer says it’s part of a general move towards sustainable, low-impact eco-tourism. “People are becoming advocates for the protection of dark skies, which is important not just for stargazing but for a healthy ecosystem on Earth.”
There are more than 200 certified dark sky places, across 22 countries.
In July, Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in the Flinders Ranges became Australia’s fourth, joining NSW’s Warrumbungle National Park (home to the largest telescope in Australia, at Siding Spring Observatory), Queensland’s The Jump-Up (near Winton) and South Australia’s River Murray Dark Sky Reserve. Aoraki Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve in New Zealand’s South Island is the world’s second largest, and has seen tourist numbers to the region more than double since its inception in 2012.
At its flagship attraction, the Dark Sky Project at Lake Tekapo, astronomy is interwoven with Maori mythology, while at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat guests can raise a toast to the heavens from the Pukaki Wine Cellar and Observatory.
The dark sky movement began in the US, which is one of the best places in the world for comfort-seeking stargazers. At Summit at Big Bend, in Texas’s Big Bend National Park, you can observe the night sky through a transparent ceiling from a king bed inside a stargazing dome, or hole up in a luxury cave carved into the side of Tres Cuevas Mountain. Colorado has 15 dark-sky places spread across myriad mountain ranges and desert dunes. Fans of the great American road trip, meanwhile, can drive the 800km Park to Park in the Dark route from Nevada’s Death Valley National Park to Great Basin National Park, timing their trip for the Great Basin Astronomy Festival in September.
Tours to view the aurora borealis (northern lights) have long been a stalwart of winter tourism around the Arctic Circle, while islands in the Pacific Ocean could be the spiritual home of stargazing, given the role the stars played in wayfinding for early Polynesian explorers.
Marama Tours’ Legends and Stargazing trip on Bora Bora in the islands of Tahiti takes guests on a traditional outrigger canoe to a private beach for Champagne, canapes and ancient stories recounted by local guides.
The Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea is a hub of astronomical observation, with more than a dozen of the world’s largest telescopes dotted around the summit. Mauna Kea Summit Adventures has been running tours since 1983 and takes guests to the top in four-wheel drive vans for stargazing by telescope.
Eclipse-chasers now have April 8, 2024 circled in the calendar for what’s been billed the Great North American Solar Eclipse. With the last North American total solar eclipse in 2017 credited with kickstarting mass interest in astrotourism, next year’s eclipse, which crosses 13 states of the US, will likely be the biggest event of this kind the world has seen.
If you can’t make it there, there’s every chance Australia’s next total solar eclipse in 2028 will come to you, when for the first time since 1857 the path of totality crosses directly over Sydney.
But, as Ogg points out, every night is an astro-tourism opportunity; a chance to get together with friends and let the darkness embrace you – if you just know where to look. “There’s something special about bonding under the stars. We’re all equal under the night sky.”
Five Top Astrotourism Tours for 2024
1. Texas
Guided by Fred Watson and Margie Ogg, Dark Sky Traveller’s 11-day Totally Texan Total Solar Eclipse tour is a veritable hit parade for astro-enthusiasts, taking in the Houston Space Centre, Cape Canaveral, the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Centre and George Observatory. A private ranch in Fredericksburg will host the main event on April 8, where the moon will cast its shadow over cowboy country for 3 ½ minutes. The tour also visits historic stockyards, the remains of Spanish frontier missions, music venues of Austin, Texas and includes two nights at Florida’s Hilton Hotel Cocoa Beach; $US9545 ($14,830) a person, twin-share; single supplement $US3595.
2. Mexico
Holland America Line’s 22-day Solar Eclipse cruise departs San Diego in early April and heads down the coast of Mexico into the path of totality. A professor of astronomy and astrophysics from University of California San Diego will present lectures and help passengers create their own eclipse viewers. Post-eclipse, the ship sets sail for Hawaii, ending in Vancouver; from $6089 a person, twin-share, in a veranda stateroom.
3. Jordan
The Perseid meteor shower occurs each July and August, when the Earth passes through a debris trail from the Swift-Tuttle comet. On the Go Tours sets up a desert camp among the canyons, cliffs and sandstone arches of Jordan’s Wadi Rum (known as Valley of the Moon), the most dramatic natural setting to watch up to
60 meteors a second streak across the sky. Escorted by an expert Jordanian guide, the eight-day trip includes sightseeing at the ancient city of Petra, a day at the Dead Sea, camel riding and canyoning; $2735 a person, twin-share.
4. Northern Lights
Chase the Northern Lights through Iceland’s most iconic landscapes on Intrepid Travel’s eight-day Premium Iceland in Winter tour. Highlights include the lava fields of Skaftafell National Park, the basalt sea stacks of Reynisdrangar, and the breathtaking glacial lagoon of Jokulsarlon. There’s an odds-on chance of viewing the aurora borealis, and guaranteed comfort in premium lodgings; from $5103 a person, twin-share.
5. Norway
Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has partnered with Go Stargazing for 26 astronomy-focused cruises around Norway, Iceland and the Azores and Canary islands. Departures are timed to coincide with celestial events such as April’s solar eclipse, while on June’s Spitsbergen cruise guests can soak in the midnight sun in far-north Norway.
