Monday, May 29, 2006

Join a timeshare island tribe in Fiji. Mark Frauenfelder: Today's LA Times has a short article about Tribewanted, a project to recruit 5,000 people from around the world who want to live on an island with 100 other people for a couple of weeks and build a community. The goal: to build a sustainable eco-community and keep at bay developers with dreams of massive hotel complexes. Memberships — Nomad ($220), Hunter ($440) and Warrior ($660) — entitle members to seven, 14 or 21 days on the palm-fringed 200-acre oasis, 100 at a time. Fees cover food, lodging and local airport transfer. This is not for the five-star hotel crowd. The tribe will be roughing it, especially the early arrivals, who will have only tents and basic shower and toilet facilities. "The first job for the tribe," [co-founder Ben] Keene said, "is to build for those who come later," working alongside paid Fijian laborers to build beach huts. There's no electricity, but solar energy will provide Internet access. So far, about 400 people have signed up, ranging in age from 18 to 67. Link [Boing Boing] comment []  trackback []