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Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

May 16, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Steel and Glass in the Jungle

Who They Are

The newly opened Mashpi Lodge is set within a 3,200-acre private reserve that is part of the Tumbez-Choco-Darien bio-region that stretches from Panama, through Colombia and Ecuador, to northern Peru – all along the Pacific slopes of the Andes. The reserve is located three hours by road to the northwest of the capital, Quito. After crossing the Equator you leave dry valleys to be enveloped in a world of tumbling mountains and roiling rivers, until the road winds down into a profusion of trees, plants, and animals.

A Forest Cocoon

Within all this, Mashpi is a contemporary cocoon. The glass-and-steel lodge, co-owned by former Quito mayor Roque Sevilla and owner of Casa Cangotena, is set on a hillside that takes in the dramatic views, providing guests with a constant reminder of their unique setting. The 22 rooms include three expansive suites, and in the high-ceilinged dining room the menu features touches of the Pacific and Andean cultures.

Guests can explore the bio-diverse world of the reserve by climbing the observation tower, pedaling through the forest on an aerial bicycle, bathing in rivers and waterfalls, discovering the Life Centre with its butterfly farm and terrariums, and hiking along trails through the forest in the company of expert naturalist and local guides. By September Mashpi’s 2-km.-long ‘canopy gondola,’ or aerial tram, will be ready to take guests on extended explorations of the forest.

The World is Green

What They Are Doing

From its inception Mashpi sought to work with local communities to ensure they were aware of, and became involved in, the lodge and the decisions affecting the establishment and management of the reserve. Through Ecuador’s Ministry of Production, Mashpi has implemented a program whereby the locals and lodge employees can become shareholders, playing a pivotal role in conserving the highly bio-diverse – but endangered – forests to the northwest of Quito.

Mashpi will also provide an alternative job source, and the plan is for eighty percent of staff to come from surrounding communities. It will also build and finance a local school focused on biodiversity and ecology, for pupils up to the age of 11 (at least to start with). Close to the nearby village of Mashpi, and within the reserve, the lodge will cultivate a farm to supply it with fresh fruit, vegetables, spices, and legumes.

The creation of Mashpi, it is believed, played an important part in the recent decision by Quito municipality to declare 42,000 acres adjacent to the reserve a “natural protected area.” Called ‘Mashpi, Guaycuyacu y Sahuangal,’ it is the largest of its kind in Ecuador and constitutes a strong signal by Quito to protect its highly diverse surrounding ecosystems.

A senior biologist and his team have been on Mashpi’s staff since July 2010, and six volunteers from the biology department at the Quito San Francisco University are working on projects in the reserve, where there have already been studies of butterflies (with 80 species cataloged so far), birds, frogs and reptiles, and various animal species, including pumas.

The reserve is part of the biodiversity hotspot known as the Chocó-Darien, globally recognized as one of a dozen locations with the highest concentration of plant and animal species on the planet. It is thought that the reserve is home to some 500 species of birds, with 250 spotted to date. (By comparison, there are around 1,000 bird species across all of Europe.) There are also dozens of species of amphibians and reptiles and hundreds of kinds of insects.

The only difficulty is actually seeing all these creatures, especially in the dense forest. But the design of the trails, night walks in the forest with naturalists, and the lodge’s upcoming ‘canopy gondola’ are aimed to make things a lot easier.

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Filed Under: Carbon Footprint, Community, Conservation, Ecuador, Education, Environment, Features, Mashpi Lodge, The Americas, Uncategorized Tagged With: birds, choco, darien, forest, puma, quito, roque sevilla, shareholder

UXUA Casa Hotel, Brazil

March 27, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Who They Are

In the remote village of Tracosco on the lush southeastern coast of Bahia, you’ll find the unique UXUA Casa Hotel. Conceived by Dutch-born Wilbert Das (fashion designer and longtime creative director for Diesel, the hip clothing line), the gorgeously bright and airy hotel took over two years to build using recycled materials in this tribute to the area Das loves so much.

Casa Seu Pedrinho do Quadrado

Six of the nine 1- to 3-bedroom casas or cottages (three are restored fishermen homes) are scattered around beautiful gardens, while the remaining three face the town square. Some are equipped with plunge pools, some with a Jacuzzi, and others nestle in the gardens and on terraces. Each casa has an open living room and a full kitchen where local chefs will help the culinary-adventurous create local Bahian feasts in their own casa. Meals are also served in the restaurant, at the pool, are delivered to your casa or can be taken at the beach just five minutes away. On the sand there’s a scenic lounge whose bar and kitchen were created out of an abandoned fishing boat that washed up on shore.

The Aventurine Quartz Pool

The swimming pool was made by a local, self-taught “mosaicist,” who used over 40,000 unique green aventurine quartz pebbles, well known in this part of the world to be especially healing. There’s also a spa where, in addition to acupuncture, massages, yoga, and Pilates, you can take private classes in capoeira and forro dancing, which is extremely popular at most of the social activities in the village.

There’s plenty to do if lying on endless beaches is not your thing: trek, horseback ride, snorkel, dive, canoe, play tennis, visit the nearby Indian reserve Barra Velha, a national park that 500 Pataxo tribe families call home … or join a local soccer team in the square!

What They Are Doing

To build the lodge, Das recruited local craftsmen to construct eight individual, traditional casas and one treehouse using recycled and organic materials wherever possible, while applying the local building customs to create a lodge that fits into its surroundings. Almost everything was carved by hand, which includes some unique touches in the bathrooms that are made out of fallen trees. Hardwood roof tiles were restored from old farmhouses, local ceramics cover the floors, and recycled woods and irons make up the bathrooms to create the rustic ambiance.

Casa Quintal da Gloria

UXUA has also roped in an area containing native vegetation and mangroves. The lodge owners have partnered up with the local administration and have taken responsibility for keeping the mangroves and the beach clean.

The Spa

Bahia has high levels of illiteracy, and training for luxury hospitality services is uncommon.  Das wanted to employ locals so, two years before the hotel opened, he began a ‘hotel school’ on the property, where locals were given hospitality training by professionals from international hotel schools. In addition, all personnel who had not finished high school were put into classes to complete their diplomas, and those staff who lacked basic literacy skills were given one-on-one instruction.  Every one of the present staff of 45 has either finished high school or is in the hotel’s program to get a diploma. Three of those who got diplomas are now taking university courses in a neighboring town, with tuition and transportation provided by UXUA.

Medical benefits are provided to all staff, something extremely unusual for Bahia. They are also guaranteed employment year-round, also rare in this part of the world, where staff are hired seasonally. The hotel pays the salary of the local professor of capoeira, which guarantees that the town’s children and teenagers can practice this sport even if they can’t afford to pay for the classes.

Produce for the magnificent Brazilian fare served in the hotel is sourced locally.

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Filed Under: Brazil, Carbon Footprint, Community, Conservation, Education, Environment, Features, Health, Restoration & Repurposing, UXUA Casa Hotel Tagged With: bahia, capoeira, mangrove, pataxo, quartz, recycled

Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, Canada

February 20, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Safari, North American-Style

Who They Are

Inspired by late 19th century Great Camps, Clayoquot Wilderness Resort is located at the mouth of the Bedwell River, where it spills into a 9-mile-long fjord, an area teeming with birds and wildlife. Just a 45-minute boat ride from the town of Tofino on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, the area is reachable only by boat or seaplane.

Luxury Amidst the Canvas

The enclave, well concealed by the bush under the rainforest canopy, consists of 20 great white canvas safari-like guest tents – which are done, Great Camps-style, in Adirondack-type beds, down duvets, woodstoves, antique dressers, opulent rugs, and oil lamps – as well as massage and treatment tents, dining tents, lounge and library tents, and a massive timber cookhouse area. They are linked by cedar boardwalks. The Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve contains a very rare temperate rainforest with towering cedars and Douglas fir trees, some over a thousand years old.

A Summer Night

Spa...aaahhh

The resort is open only from May through September, All activities and adventures are planned to make the most of the region’s history, people, natural environment, and wildlife. Upon arrival guests receive an orientation about the activities, which range from taking a spa to hiking (along trails such as the Wild Side First Nations Interpretive Trail, which include Flores Island), from horseback riding to whale and bear watching, from river and sea kayaking to numerous other sports. There is even yoga. Do as much or as little as you want – but always in the serene isolation.

A Black Bear and Cubs

What They Are Doing

When developing the resort the owners set out to be as mindful as possible of the surroundings. It built the resort with an emphasis on making a limited environmental impact while repairing past damage from logging and mining. It purchases and emphasizes local foods and wines, and it employs local First Nations people.

At a First Nations Ceremony

The Ahoushat First Nations Community, numbering about 1500, is based on Flores Island. Clayoquot has signed a tourism protocol agreement with them on matters regarding operating in their traditional territories, and is working with them to create a holistic healing center and on building a first-ever First Nations adventure park, which would include canopy walkways, zip-trekking, storytelling, dance, carvings, canoe building, and traditional cooking.

Your Playground

The resort donates its staff housing and some public spaces during the off season to the Ahoushat to use in drug- and alcohol-substance-abuse and family-issues programs. It also provides the participants with food.

The fish population in the Bedwell Watershed has declined significantly over the past 20 years and Chinook salmon are at critically low levels. In 2003, the resort began restoring more than six kilometers of crucial spawning habitats in the Bedwell River basin. This restoration work represents the only privately funded initiative of its kind in North America. To date, and with the assistance of corporate sponsors and resort guests, about 20,000 cubic meters of overburden  (gravel and debris jams) have been excavated to restore the pond channel, and additional excavation work is  being done upriver. Already, chum salmon have been seen digging egg nests in the new habitats, and this spring, young adults found their way back to the ocean.

Great Camps Style Bedroom

The resort has committed $3 million over five years to research, conservation, and rehabilitation. A 3-percent sustainability fee is included in every guest’s fees, one-third of which goes towards the nonprofit British Columbia Wilderness Tourism Association to assist in environmental stewardship activities. The remaining money goes to the Environmental Legacy Program that includes habitat restoration, First Nations programs, and wildlife studies. The resort is testing compostable plastics made from corn and potato to replace standard plastic items used in packed lunches. It is also its carbon footprint and intends to reduce the amount of carbon the resort expends by five percent a year. It is about to install hydropower by building a generator on the river.

Guests can be involved as much or as little as possible in Clayoquot’s raptor rehabilitation, salmon habitat restoration, black bear mapping, whale acoustics, and program working with the Roosevelt elk.

In Their Own Words

“We try to teach our guests as much as possible about sustainability and the environment to take a proactive step towards a better future for us all.”

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Filed Under: Canada, Carbon Footprint, Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, Community, Conservation, Environment, Features Tagged With: adventure, bear, chinook, elk, first nations, kayak, raptor, salmon, tofino

Nimmo Bay Resort, Canada

February 15, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Nimmo on the Water

Who They Are

Nimmo Bay Resort is a high-end, helicopter fly-fishing and helicopter-adventure destination at the foot of Mt. Stephens along the Great Bear Rainforest coastline in British Columbia – the largest intact, coastal temperate rainforest in the world. It offers luxury wilderness adventure tours that include heli-fishing, whale watching, wildlife viewing, rafting, beachcombing, heli-hiking, kayaking, glacier trekking, and First Nations adventure tours.

The Top of the World

Cedar and Pine

All this takes place across 50,000 square miles of wilderness, going from sea level to 13,000 feet – and the helicopters stay with you all day. The wild salmon and Steelhead that guests fly- and spin-fish for have been here a long time, and the catch-and-release system hopes to guarantee they will be here for a long time to come.

Coastal Kaleidoscope

Six intertidal chalets and three streamside ones (each with two bedrooms, bathroom, and a lounge area) are set in a wilderness panorama.  The floating main lodge – where meals and drinks are served – is done in pine and cedar, custom walnut dining tables, leather couches, and artwork featuring al artists that is for sale. Attached to the lodge is a fully operational floating bakery.

What They Are Doing

The Murray family has been operating Nimmo for 30 years, all but one of which have been while using a small hydropowered electric system. The drinking water comes from the snow fields and natural springs of Mt. Stephens, and the use of plastic bottles has been eliminated by providing guests with stainless steel bottles to refill each day on their tours. The resort uses fresh, local foods and hires from the local communities.

Adventure on the Glacier

Nimmo is especially proud of its relationship with the local First Nations, and has a program where guests can visit the local communities to learn about their lifestyle, art, culture, and beliefs. The 2004 tourism accord with the First Nations, called the Wi’la’mola Accord , focuses on tourism as an economic generator, with the environment as its cornerstone. The resort tries to marry the adventure of wildlife with the adventure of the indigenous culture.

A Local

In addition, Nimmo has been working on ways to preserve and save the wild salmon from the fate of nearby salmon farms, where sea lice and chemical spillages cause havoc. Although this is a common problem wherever there are fish farms, the First Nations’ Alexandra Morton and Nimmo’s Craig Murray have been collaborating on this project for many years, battling governments and foreign corporations averse to doing anything to help protect this unique environment.

In Their Own Words

“We adhere to the truism that we don’t own the land – the land owns us.  Our economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of our environment.  We are meant to be here to act as stewards of this miraculous setting that we live and work in – the Great Bear Rainforest. We take our stewardship responsibilities seriously.”

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Filed Under: Canada, Carbon Footprint, Community, Conservation, Education, Environment, Features, Nimmo Bay Resort, The Americas Tagged With: adventure, fishing, rainforest, salmon

Casa Gangotena, Ecuador

November 16, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

A Luxury Suite at Casa Gangotena

A Detail of the Staircase

Who They Are

Opened in late 2011 in Old Town Quito, the newly restored historic mansion Casa Gangotena overlooks the Plaza San Francisco, a cobbled square rich in history dating back to the days of the Inca.  Casa Gangotena is one of the grand old homes built on the southern edge of the plaza in the late 19th century, and was home to several presidents before it was rebuilt after a fire in 1926 by its last owners, the Gangotenas. It’s just feet away from the imposing, almost 500-year-old Church and Convent of San Francisco.

Casona de San Miguel, Quito

Now owned by Roque Sevilla, the three-story boutique hotel offers 31 large luxurious rooms with state-of-the-art technology and large marble bathrooms. Great efforts have been made to restore the original detail, such as the hand-painted tin ceilings. Its third-floor terrace is the perfect place to put your feet up and enjoy everyday life passing by. with the bell towers and spires of the Old Town as well as the Panecillo hillside serving as the backdrop.  A better seat in town for the Easter procession is unthinkable.

A Hotel Lounge Bathed in Quito Sun

What They Are Doing

Sevilla is renowned in these parts for his long record of involvement in local and environmental affairs. He has served as Quito’s mayor as well as being a past president of WWF Ecuador. He is also known to be humble about his efforts to help the community and the environment (which you can read about – albeit briefly – on the hotel’s website).

Casa Gangotena

Since 2008, while it was still just an idea, the hotel has been involved in several neighborhood projects, such as the award-winning Heritage Guardians, which focuses on community initiatives like neighborhood integration, the value of heritage and tradition, and offers ‘routes’ for visitors to take in order to meet locals and experience their lives and ways. (The hotel can arrange this for you).

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Filed Under: Carbon Footprint, Casa Gangotena, Community, Ecuador, Education, Environment, Features, Health, Women Tagged With: heritage guardians, roque sevilla

Unique Garden, Brazil

November 13, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

A Burst of Color Outside the Mediterranean Villa

Who They Are

In the heart of Cantareira State Park, 50 minutes from Sao Paulo, Unique Garden (the English translation of the website is a bit obscure, but can be found in the lower right corner of Unique’s site) truly lives up to its name. Besides being a sought-after spa and health retreat, with 26 deluxe chalets, as much thought has gone into pampering clients as into creating the lodge around them.

The Presidential Villa

Eight agronomists work at rehabilitating the environment, the buildings curve in such a way as to avoid destroying trees, and even waste water is treated well enough to be returned to the nearby lake.

From the Presidential Villa to the Flower Chalet, the lodgings aim to indulge, even down to a ‘pillow menu.’ You can pick your own salad in Unique’s eponymous gardens, pluck your own fruit while walking through the orchards, and know that natural and organic and healthy are key words here.

In a Forest Kiosk

A wide range of exercise classes are offered, from yoga to tai chi, or you can cycle on the grounds or swim in one of two pools. At the spa, treatments are offered in the main building or in five secluded ‘kiosks’ scattered throughout the forest. The organic meals, with a slant towards Mediterranean cuisine, are created by chef Daniel Aquino and an on-site dietician.

What They Are Doing

A Suite Unique

Unique Garden, like the Hotel Unique in Sao Paulo, is owned by the Siaulys family, which is well known for its commitment to the community. Its most famous creation is the Laramara foundation, which cares for people with impaired vision. (Founder Victor Siaulys’ daughter was blind.) Over the course of 20 years, Laramara’s clients, as well as the services it offers, have expanded and diversified, so that today over seventy percent of patients have multiple disabilities (visual impairment associated with, say, cerebral palsy, deafness, or some mental illness).

At the Unique Garden, there is a conservation facility that is run in conjunction with the Brazilian Environmental Protection Institute, where wild animals that have been hurt or dislocated by human intervention are rehabilitated and released.  A community center looks after ‘the personal and professional development’ of its staff and their families, offering them courses in computers, English, music, recycling, yoga, and even bread-making.

In Their Own Words

“For us, social responsibility is not a fashion.”

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Filed Under: Brazil, Community, Conservation, Education, Environment, Features, Health, Unique Garden Tagged With: garden, laramara, organic, park

Rincón del Socorro, Argentina

August 12, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Going Wild at Rincón del Socorro

Who They Are

Estancia Rincón del Socorro is a 12,000-hectare former cattle ranch on the edge of the Esteros del Iberá, wetlands in northeastern Argentina that have been turned into a nature reserve by the Conservation Land Trust. The trust was started in 1992 by Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of The North Face and ESPRIT clothing lines.

A Room at Rincón

Fresh from the Garden

There are two lodgings in the wetlands. Rincón del Socorro is a small, refined accommodations in the ranch’s refurbished main house. There are six rooms in the house and three more small bungalows, all with private bathrooms and one with a sitting room and a kitchenette. No two rooms are alike. The main house has a large living room, a screened veranda, a large dining room, and a terrace dining area. Guests can partake in boat rides, horseback riding, biking, wildlife viewing and bird-watching, nature walks, and fly-fishing for dorado.

Estancia San Alonso, a 56,000-hectare ranch located in the middle of the Esteros del Iberá, was a cattle operation until purchased by the trust in 1996. Today it serves as one of the key areas for the trust’s ongoing species-reintroduction program in the wetlands.

The Estancia

The main house of San Alonso, which has five rooms, sits at the shore of the Paraná Lake in the middle of the Esteros del Iberá and is coolly shaded by a grove of old lapacho and timbo trees. Many of the vegetables come from its own gardens. Visitors can walk or ride out onto the savanna, through native forests, around waterways. There is also a boat to go on the lake and up the Carambola River.

What They Are Doing

There are few regions in Argentina that can compare to the wealth and diversity of species found in the Esteros del Ibera. The trust is not only dedicated to the creation and expansion of national or provincial parks but also supports programs for the protection of wildlife, the reintroduction of locally extinct species, land restoration and programs for local development.

The Wetlands

Though there are notable species that have been wiped out by overhunting and loss of  habitat because of ranching and forestry plantations, there are also lots of species left to see, including carpinchos, freshwater otters, alligators, marsh deer and, with a little patience and good luck, the elusive maned wolf, howler monkey, or the sprocket deer.

A Rhea and Her Chicks

As part of a 30-year management strategy, biologists employed by Tompkins plan to reintroduce species such as the giant river otter, pampa deer, giant anteater, talking parrot and, eventually, the jaguar. After 30 years’ absence of anteaters in Corrientes, there are now seven in the wetlands. The transfer to the reserve of four pampa deer, which used to roam northern and central Argentina, took place in July this year.

In Their Own Words

“Our hope is to contribute towards promoting the ethos of a healthy earth, raise the management standards for protected areas, and create national or provincial parks by means of direct purchases and re-categorization or expansion of existing ones, so that the continuity of their natural processes is ensured. In this way we can maintain some parts of the territories in which we operate alive and healthy, so that these areas remain as seeds and genetic banks to revive the ecosystems in the event of a collapse.”

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Filed Under: Argentina, Conservation, Environment, Features, Rincón del Socorro, The Americas Tagged With: carambola, douglas tompkins, forest, wetlands

São Paulo by Two-Wheeler

August 10, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

U-Bikers Outside Hotel Unique

It is an audacious plan for any country, let alone Brazil and indeed São Paulo. Lincoln Paiva wants to put U-Bike, or Urban Bike, in 200 of the city’s hotels.

Some U-Bike Routes

Unlike Velib and similar schemes in Europe and other parts of the world, where you rent a two-wheeler for 30 minutes or so before you have to return it to a nearby station, U-Bike is an organized way to get visitors around green-ly. And along the way, you learn something about where you are.

With U-Bike you don’t rent bicycles separately but as part of a group of anywhere from one rider ($100) to 10 or so ($30 per person). The more participants in your group, as you can see, the less it costs. For your money you get a bicycle, a helmet, a padlock, a guide – who could even be the CEO of a business who is giving up his time to partake in this green scheme – as well as an assistant and breakfast. There are four routes to choose from. Any income is plowed back into bike maintenance and other sustainability programs.

Atop Hotel Unique, the Crimson Pool

Paiva is president of the Green Mobility, which has launched U-Bike as part of a green initiative leading up to the 2014 World Soccer and 2016 Olympics. The U-Bike project in São Paulo is a collaboration between the city, bike manufacturer Caloi, and, for the first time, a hotel.

Hotel Unique is a boutique property in the garden district of Moema that boasted innovation before taking on the U-Bike program. From its copper façade to its porthole windows, it rises like a modern ocean liner, with the wood floors in its stern and bow rooms taking the shape of the ‘ship.’ Topped by the Skye restaurant overlooking the city, it has a crimson pool above, a stunning statue of St. George slaying the dragon in the lobby. There are 85 modern rooms and ten suites.

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Filed Under: Brazil, Carbon Footprint, Environment, Features, Uncategorized Tagged With: bicycle, bike, exercise

Chalalán Ecolodge, Bolivia

May 25, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

On Lake Chalalán

Who They Are

Started by the community of San José de Uchupiamonas, a Quechua-Tacana ethnic group, Chalalán Ecolodge lies in the vast Madidi National Park in the Bolivian Amazon, which is so big the altitude varies between 200 and 6000 meters above sea level.

A Cabin Interior

This tropical Andean hotspot is host to some 45,000 different plant species and over 1,000 tropical bird species, a world record. Thirteen cabins, which range from the more luxurious en-suite doubles to twins with shared bathrooms, have been built under thatch in the traditional Tacana style and lie near the edge of the magnificent Chalalán Lagoon.

Coming Ashore at Chalalán

The half dozen lodge dugouts lined up on the shoreline take you on adventures through the jungle waterways like the Tuichi River. Thirty kilometers of paths have been designed to show off the tropical rainforest and its ecological processes, natural history, medicinal plants, hardwood trees, birds, mammals, amphibians, insects, and a variety of fungi.

One of the Cabins

What They Are Doing

There are ecolodges, there are sustainable lodges, and then there is Chalalán, a place that seems to embody what good-hearted tourism is all about.

In the 1990s two major concerns for the remote community – it’s a five-hour boat ride from the town of Rurrenabaque – were poverty and the government’s lack of interest in health, education, basic services, and access to the region. Seeing tourism as their potential savior, several locals started to learn about lodge management, guiding, logistics, and other skills needed to be able to run tours for medium- and high-end travelers.

Starting with no money, they soon started receiving donations from individuals impressed with their vision and then from, among others, Conservation International. The lodge and its activities were developed with a respect to local culture, traditions, and the amazing natural surroundings.

The cabin walls are made from the copa palm and covered with matting, the roofs woven with asaí palm leaves, and the floors made of fine hardwood. There is solar power, water is purified, and they have a waste-management system, features that are only the more incredible because of the remoteness of the lodge and the relative inexperience of the community.

A Toucan, One of 1000 Species

The lodge is owned, managed, and staffed by the community of San José de Uchupiamonas, and all profits go entirely to them. Besides benefiting 450 families,  it protects the thousands of hectares of rainforest inside their territory.

In Their Own Words

“Our indigenous community is committed to the integral development of ecotourism in the Madidi National Park, aiming our efforts at the sustainable use of natural resources in the Chalalán region by offering highly competitive ecotourism services that improve the living conditions of the people of San José de Uchupiamonas, by generating direct and indirect benefits, which will also guarantee the sustainability of the territory and the Quechua-Tacana culture for the wellbeing of future generations.”

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Filed Under: Bolivia, Carbon Footprint, Chalalán Ecolodge, Community, Conservation, Environment, Lodge of the Week Tagged With: amazon, birds, dugout, hotspot, quechua

explora Atacama, Chile

May 13, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

One Way to Explore Atacama

Who They Are
Situated in northern Chile between the Pacific and the Cordillera de Los Andes, San Pedro de Atacama is an oasis located 8,015 feet above sea level. This area of desert, oasis, volcanoes, salt fields, and hot springs has for centuries played host to the pre-Columbian Andean cultures of South America.

The Tulur Room

The bright and airy Hotel de Larache, the base for explora Atacama, is set in the moonscape-like Atacama Desert. Recent renovations to the 50-room hotel include the addition of four handsome guest suites, two sala de exploradores, a Turkish Bath and open-air Jacuzzis, and a glass-walled, open-style kitchen.

Seeing exploration has always been at the heart of the explora experience, the sala de exploradores, covered in a wealth of maps and photographs of the area, offer a great space to consider your options for the next day – going to your destination by foot, horse, mountain bike, or vehicle – all while enjoying a drink from the bar nextdoor. The hotel also has its own observatory, for some of the finest stargazing on the continent.

The Puretama Hot Springs

What They Are Doing
Outposts of humanity are few and far between in these remote parts of Chile. Yet their impact on explora’s mission is incalculable, providing travelers with unforgettable glimpses into the culture, customs, and natural beauty. Indeed, without them a journey here wouldn’t be the same. And so, over the years, the Santiago-based travel operator, which also has lodges in Patagonia and on Easter Island, has made constant efforts to support the communities it visits.

Colors of the Nearby Village

In 2000 explora helped refashion the Puretama Hot Springs near San Pedro from a few dirty pools into an inviting destination for travelers and locals to relax and bathe, an effort that not only garnered a world architecture award but also, after being given to the Atacameños, generates $150,000 annually for the community. The money is used for the Internado Andino boarding school and other projects.

Also, explora guides teach English in local schools throughout the Atacama, including the elementary school in San Pedro and others in Solor, Talabrea, Camar Socaire and Rio Grande. The company also makes donations to Juriques, a local medical institution that aids children with physical disabilities.

Under Desert Skies

The head of explora’s Atacama guiding operations works with a clinic in San Pedro to promote health awareness, recently taking 150 locals on a walk and then feeding them. Schoolchildren are brought to the property and shown around and fed. Besides its own recycling efforts, explora will this year establish training on recycling and other environmental initiatives at schools throughout the region.

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Filed Under: Chile, Community, Education, Environment, Health, The Americas, explora Atacama Tagged With: desert, horses, hot springs, san pedro
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