Utopia, or trouble in paradise?

SYDNEY - More than 700 adventurers have signed up to become part of a South Pacific island tribe which its organisers hope will be more Swiss Family Robinson than Lord of the Flies.

In a cross between a reality television show, a holiday time-share and a hedonistic backpacker resort, 5000 people are being sought to live on the all-but-deserted islet of Vorovoro, in Fiji, now renamed Adventure Island.

The palm-fringed outcrop has been leased from locals for three years by British entrepreneurs Ben Keene and Mark James, both 26, with the experiment due to begin in September.

It has all the attributes of a classic South Seas tropical retreat, from caves allegedly used by pirates to a secret beach accessible only by sea and an ancient burial site on rocky headland.

Only 100 people at a time will live there, with the rest of the tribe voting by email on everything from waste disposal to energy production.

Tribal members will rotate through the island, spending up to three weeks on the 80-hectare hideaway, depending on which level of membership they pay for - nomad, warrior or hunter.

The island, in the north of the Fijian archipelago, is currently inhabited by just four people including the local chief, Tui Mali.

It has no running water or electricity and the first batch of arrivals will have to build from scratch their accommodation, probably thatched huts known in Fiji as bures.

"It's going to be a pretty basic experience," said Keene, who created the tribewanted.com website.

So far the project has attracted nearly 750 people from 20 countries, including New Zealand, Britain, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Japan, Finland and Australia.

The project's literature gushes with the virtues of environmentally friendly development, integration with the locals and turning an online forum into a real-life community.

Proposals for initial developments have a decidedly backpacker theme - a cliff-top lagoon and zip slide to a sunset stage, beach bar and jungle sports.

When they are not fishing, growing vegetables or playing sport, the island's inhabitants will be able to retreat to the secret beach.

The experiment has drawn comparisons with fictional island utopias which eventually sour, such as William Golding's Lord of the Flies and Alex Garland's The Beach.

"It's not going to spiral out of control because it's structured," Keene said. "There are utopian ideals but it's tempered with reality.

"Decisions will be taken by the 4900 online members, not just the 100 on the island. There'll be a fast turnover, so rival groups won't have time to form.

Sydney University sociologist Catriona Elder said the popularity of the project "reflected disenchantment with society ... There's a notion that we can't control the world we live in.

"But I imagine there'll be lots of problems. What have all these people got in common beyond idealism? The turnover will mean there won't be much sense of community. It sounds like a very cheap and basic Club Med."

Tribe members must pay a flat fee, and then fork out for flights to Fiji. Participants will have to make their own way to the town of Labasa, on Fiji's second largest island, Vanua Levu, and then to Adventure Island.

Islanders had considered leasing to a development firm before they were approached by the Britons.

"If it hadn't been us it would have been a big developer turning it into Costa del Fiji," Keene said.