Eco-Tours and Nature Getaways: A Guide to Environmental Vacations Around the World.

I reached for this book with high anticipation. Having traveled all over the world on ecological jaunts over the last 30 years, I know that there is a need for a thoughtful guide for those interested in ecological or environmental vacations. Unfortunately, this book was disappointing and often misleading. The text begins with sweeping generalizations about ecotourism and moves into similarly misleading generalizations about ecology in many regions of the world.

The section on Siberia, including the Lake Baikal region and Mongolia, leaves the reader with the incorrect impression that tourist facilities are available, and with an ecological description so superficial as to be misleading. Though the section on Australia is reasonably accurate, to say that: "Fiji and other small islands of the South Pacific still retain their 'island paradise' character" is to perpetuate a myth that will not help to ensure what little ecological preservation may still be possible there.

The section on New Zealand is extremely misleading. This nation is clearly one of the most human-modified islands in the world, but the authors make no comment about its almost totally (90 percent) destroyed ecosystem. They could have pointed out that the incredible destruction is both ecologically fascinating and horrifying, making the tiny remaining pockets of native flora and fauna even more interesting and ecologically significant.

Other sections on China, Central and South America, and Africa are equally at odds with my experience as a traveler and researcher in those places.

The authors attempted to cover the entire world, an impossible task in a small book. A second edition--with accurate ecological comments, a detailed index, maps, and a few photographs--could make this a useful guide. In its present form I can recommend this book only for its fine list of tour operators around the world.