By Chris Houts, edited by Jim Luce
Two New York City community venture funds, Citi5 and Travelcology have partnered to create the Mountain Bike Haiti Project; Citi5’s first community venture designed to promote sustainable travel and ecotourism to Haiti.
Haiti is ideal for mountain biking with mountains, harbors, and the beautiful Caribbean.
The long term goal of the Mountain Bike Haiti Project is to establish a sustainable adventure tourism industry in Haiti, run by local Haitian tour operators and cottage businesses in partnership with the international adventure and ecotourism industry. Haiti literally means “Land of Mountains” and has tens of thousands of miles of single track trails.
Haiti is both its beautiful natural resources and its proud people – both challenged to the extreme.
Haiti’s tropical climate means the ideal season is October through March, when weather is cool, dry, and mild. The pioneering mountain bikers who arrive this first season will be ‘discovering’ Haiti’s natural beauty, epic adventure-ready terrain, and historical cultural sites. These are virtually unknown outside of Haiti, and starkly contrast with the scenes of destruction and disease that most outsiders have indelibly etched in our minds.
In the southeast of Haiti is a tremendous pine forest, the largest forest in the nations.
The first adventurers on the ground will return home with captivating stories, dramatic pictures, and jaw-dropping video footage, creating envy among friends who missed out. When these go viral, the resulting flood of interest will both enable and encourage further investment in attractions, accommodations, and services that will expand and strengthen Haiti’s physical and business infrastructure, and create economic growth in rural towns and villages.
In addition to simply spending money, there will be opportunities for those with relevant skill sets to assist in areas like trail mapping, skills training, and marketing.
The Caribbean beaches of Petit-Goâve in Haiti’s south is a must-see for adventure bicyclists.
While initially focused on mountain bike adventures, the blueprint will be quickly replicated in other regions and other sports including hiking, rock climbing, and trail running, and water sports like paddling, wind surfing, kite surfing, snorkeling and diving. All of these are inter-related, and will build up a dense ecosystem of adventure activities that will help establish Haiti as a compelling tropical destination spot, especially for socially conscious adventure travelers.
Through bicycling, the world will get to see Haiti in terms of the beauty of its land and people.
Sweepstakes & Short Film. To raise awareness, Citi5 and Travelcology are shooting a short documentary-style film for Mountain Bike Haiti with legendary director Michael Brown of Serac Adventure Films. The film will follow five icons and legends of the mountain bike industry as they discover new trails and tackle epic first descents. Two lucky amateur mountain bikers will also be chosen to appear in the film.
To enter, you must submit a short video with a compelling pitch as to why you would make a great “ambassador” for Mountain Bike Haiti. Then you get as many friends as possible to vote for you, which in turn helps spread the word about this undiscovered destination in our own back yard.
Many scenes in Haiti seem like they have been recreated from the Hudson River School.
Video submissions begin on October 10th - for more information and to submit your video here. Project Mountain Bike Haiti has support of The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation.
Chris Houts, Founder & Executive Director, Citi5. Chris has held executive management positions in several firms in the new media space, with a specialized focus on community development in conjunction with general operations. Working with the education, investment, and clean-tech sectors, he has played key roles in development and deployment of digital learning and networking platforms. He currently spends his days spreading the message of social and environmental justice at the crossroads of Clean-tech and New Media.
Philip Kiracofe, C.E.O. of Travelcology. Philip has been deeply immersed in technology, real estate, and entrepreneurial ventures for nearly 20 years. He has co-founded or led a diverse range of companies including a pioneer online grocery service company, an India-based venture capital fund, and the first large scale social networking site. in 2009, he founded Horizen Partners to incubate ideas and projects. GreenCyclists.org was created to teach safe, responsible bike handling skills to recreational and commuter cyclists as part of an effort to make bikes a significant part of the NYC culture. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.
All photos above by Jim Luce. See Stories by Jim Luce on:
Film | Haiti | Health | International Development | Social Responsibility