Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Ranweli Holiday Village Sri Lanka
Ranweli 18 Km away from Colombo International Airport is located in a coastal wetland estuary amidst mangroves. An area rich in bird life it encompasses an area of 9Ha. A paddle ferry across a lagoon gets you to Ranweli. Ranweli Holiday Village was a runners up in the Environmental Experience Category of the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2003. It also has the distinction of being selected by the World Tourism Organisation as one of the top 55 'Good Practices' Enterprises in Ecotourism. Budget Travel rated it among the world's 10 best ecolodges. Good practices like using treated waste in the gardens, promoting environmental and cultural education, supporting Conservation,ensuring benefis to the local Community are followed here. Check out this place if you are going to Sri Lanka.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
New wave ecolodges
While surfing I came across this article “New wave ecolodges” in timesonline. Gives you an idea about trends in UK. Makes interesting reading.Have a look at it.
Follow this link
http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/new_homes/article1352664.ece
Saturday, December 15, 2007
La Ruta Moskitia, Honduras – Winner of best in park or protected area award of, Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards 2007
La Ruta Moskitia Ecotourism Alliance (LARUMO Alliance).Honduras, which won Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards 2007, is 100% community-owned and operated. All financial benefits go directly to local communities.Six indigenous communities have developed ecotourism products and services within the Rio Plátano Biosphere Reserve. This earns them good money and has lessend dependence on hunting, fishing, slash & burn agriculture and cattle grazing which were taking heavy toll of biodiversity of the area. La Ruta Moskitia has received support from the United Nations Development Program’s Small Grants Program in Honduras and Rare (http://www.rareconservation.org/), an international conservation organization whose mission is to protect wild lands of globally significant biodiversity by enabling local people to benefit from their protection. Rio Plátano Biosphere Reserve encompasses over 525,000 hectares and was the first World Heritage Site to be designated as such in Central America. The Reserve encompasses coastal wetlands, pine savannas, tropical forests, and is home to rare species, like Jaguars, and Manatees as well as over 300 bird species, including Parrots, Toucans, and the elusive Harpy Eagle. An estimated 2,000 vascular plants can be found in the reserve.200 amphibian and reptiles species have been recirded. The beaches of the Reserve are critical nesting grounds for four species of endangered sea turtles.
For more details log on to http://larutamoskitia.com/about.html
Thursday, December 13, 2007
How Ecolodges Work
Regular readers have requested me to post details of good writeups I come across on the net. I was reading this article “How Ecolodges Work” in How Stuff Works and find it interesting and useful. If you are new to ecolodges this article gives you enough fodder. Gives you an account of ecolodge principles,ecolodge experience,finding an ecolodge and ecotourism. Have a look at the following link
http://travel.howstuffworks.com/ecolodge.htm/printable
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Responsible Tourism Awards 2007
My friend James Zechariah was telling me that even though the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards 2007 was announced on 14th November 2007 not many people are aware of the winners in various category. He feels that it would be useful to put the names on this blog. As per his suggestion I am giving below the list of winners. Hope it will be useful to all of you
Best Tour Operator: sponsored by The Adventure Company
Gecko's Adventures, Australia
Best Small Hotel/Accommodation: sponsored by Tourism Queensland
Finca Esperanza Verde Ecolodge, Nicaragua
Best Large Hotel/Accomodation: sponsored by Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
Apex Hotels Ltd, UK
Best Low Carbon Transport & Technology: sponsored by Virgin Trains
Eurostar, UK
Best in a Mountain Environment: sponsored by Blacks
Explorandes, Peru
Best in a Marine Environment: sponsored by Tourism Tasmania
Blue o two, UK
Best for Poverty Reduction: sponsored by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Check Out for Children
Borana, Kenya
Best in a Park or Protected Area: sponsored by Conservation International
La Ruta Moskitia, Honduras
Best for Conservation of an Endangered Species: sponsored by Sri Lanka Tourism
Grootbos Nature Reserve, South Africa
Best for Conservation of Cultural Heritage: sponsored by Jamaica Tourist Board
Andaman Discoveries, Thailand
Best Volunteering Organisation: sponsored by Lonely Planet
Azafady, UK/Madagascar
The eight best eco lodges in Costa Rica
Costa Rica has some of the best ecolodges in the world. I was reading this article in timesonline about eight best eco lodges in Costa Rica. Gives graphic description about the places. The 8 picks by Sorrel Downer, the author, are
Southern Pacific: Sirena Ranger Station, Corcovado National Park
Southern Pacific: Tiskita Jungle Lodge
Southern Caribbean: The Iguana Verde Treehouse
Caribbean: Selva Bananito
Central Highlands: Bosque de Paz
Central Highlands: Leo’s House, Rancho Mastatal
Southern Talamancas: Las Cruces Biological Station, Wilson Botanical Garden
Northern Central: Curubanda Lodge
If you are keen to know more about the places follow the link below.
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/article2425319.ece?token=null&offset=12
Monday, December 3, 2007
Luxury Ecolodges - A Misnomer?
Commander Thomas Mundakkal who runs the Thattekad eco camp feels that lodges which flaunt the label luxury ecolodges consume non renewable resources in profligate ways and does not exactly practice the precept ecolodge in its pure pristine form. He feels that many of them should be classified as green hotels or resorts instead of using the term ecolodge. I fully subscribe to his views. Cambridge dictionary defines lodge as “small house in the country used especially by people on holiday or taking part in sports, or one on the land owned by a large house”
Britannica defines it thus “Originally an insubstantial dwelling, or one erected for a temporary occupational purpose (e.g., woodcutting or masonry) or for use during the hunting season.The lodge became a more permanent type of house as the lands around European mansions were developed as parks. The lodge was often the cottage of the gamekeeper, caretaker, gatekeeper, or gardener, or it could be a larger building for occupation by a higher-ranking person. Today the word suggests a rustic dwelling or inn in a natural setting, often one used seasonally (e.g., a ski lodge).
Yes, it should be an inn like structure in a natural surrounding where profligacy is taboo. But very few qualify for this description. The term ecolodge is being bandied about by every Tom, Dick and Harry.