Experience a greenway to the Milky Way safari

TWO graduates of GMIT Mayo’s BA Hons in outdoor education, Georgia MacMillan and Ged Dowling, have combined their expertise as mountain leaders and tour guides with their passion for the night skies and created Terra Firma Ireland, offering experiences ‘from the Greenway to the Milky Way’.

Mayo has become a leading destination for stargazing following the accreditation of Ballycroy National Park/Wild Nephin as a gold tier International Dark Sky Park in 2016. Astrotourism offers local accommodation providers an ideal opportunity to extend their season and encourages visitors to spend longer in the area during the winter when other strands of tourism would be very quiet.

"After several years of research into the benefits of dark sky preservation and with the growing market of astrotourism, we realised stargazing was a natural fit for our business model," says Ged Dowling.

Terra Firma’s Magic, Myth and Moonlight tour has become a signature experience and whisks visitors away on board the 'Starlight Express' for a laser pointer tour of the night sky constellations followed by some enchanting storytelling and close up magic from local seanchaí Dan O’Donoghue.

"Re-connecting people with the night sky is a cultural experience and we are generating considerable interest from groups in Australia, China and the US as well as the UK and domestic market. These visitors typically live under heavily polluted skies so when they come here and experience the beauty of the Milky Way, they are blown away," says Georgia.

Light pollution is increasing all over country, not only affecting our view of the skies but our eco-systems and even our health and wellbeing. It is also an obvious contributor to our energy waste.

Ged and Georgia are Dark Sky Ambassadors as well as Climate Ambassadors and work to raise awareness of light pollution around the country. They are heavily involved in the community teams behind Mayo Dark Sky Park and Mayo Dark Sky Festival.

For more information, see www.TerraFirmaIreland.com.

 

* The Mayo Dark Sky Festival is taking place this weekend (November 2-4). For full information, see www.mayodarkskyfestival.ie