Ah, ecotourism! Something to dream about: Adventuring in lush natural settings while conserving the environment and benefiting the locals...
Aaugh, ecotourism! Something to argue about: Flying halfway around the world in some polluting aircraft to add stress to fragile ecosystems and gawk at the locals...
There's truth in both arguments, but the sumptuously photographed book Authentic Ecolodges wants us to believe that you can have a comfortable and even pampered vacation in a fabulous wilderness location in places that are off the grid, locally owned, locally sourced and as environmentally low-impact as possible.
Will it make you dream of packing your bags? Join me below the fold…
Authentic Ecolodges was written and photographed by Hitesh Mehta, long-time board member of Ecotourism.org, and has been an important voice in shaping truly ethical practices. His architectural firm, HM Design has developed a number of ecolodges around the world. He sets out eight broad criteria which any ecotourism enterprise should strive to address:
1. Use alternative and sustainable means of water acquisition and at the same time reduce overall water consumption.
2. Meet its energy needs through passive design and renewable sources
3. Provide for careful handling (reduce, refuse, recycle and reuse) and disposal of solid waste
4. Use environmentally friendly sewage treatment systems
5. Fit into its specific physical and cultural contexts through careful attention to form, landscaping and color as well as through the use of vernacular architecture
6. Use environmentally friendly building and furnishings materials
7. Have minimal impact on the natural surroundings and utilize traditional building techniques during construction
8. Endeavor to work with the local community, including community members, wherever possible, in the initial physical planning and design stages of construction.
In other words, sustainability comes from both minimizing the environmental footprint of the facility and maximizing the benefit to the local population. The book describes how each of the 36 featured eco-lodges accomplishes these goals.
Three lodges are actually owned and operated by the indigenous community: the Cree Village Ecolodge in Northern Ontario, Canada; the Chalalan Ecolodge in Madidi National Park, Bolivia; and the Il Ngwesi Lodge in Laikipia, Kenya. (Hint: If you'd like to read this diary accompanied by the sound of birds and howler monkeys, have the Chatalan website open on another tab!)
The most tempting to me of these three is the Il Ngwesa in Kenya. My wife and I took two budget safaris in that country during the course of a two month trip in 1995. In the Masai Mara, we stayed in large but basic canvas tents and had our meals in an open-air pavillion. We also took a camel safari in Samburu country, where we slept in standard backpacking tents and slept on bedding in part fashioned from the blankets used to saddle the camels. Being that close to nature was great, but hey, we're 16 years older now. maybe we could go a little upscale?
The most intriguing aspect to the Il Ngwesa is that there are very few walls. The bandas' (rooms) front walls are only about three feet high, even for the bathrooms. The showers are outside the rooms. The beds are on wheels so you can sleep under the stars on the deck if you want. With a stunning panoramic view out over an elephant migratory route, who in the hell would want walls?
The building materials are local, the food largely organic and grown locally, the lighting and water heating are solar, the water flow is gravity-fed, the Maasai tribe runs it...and there's an infinity pool. It does sound tempting...
Of course, ideas of luxury may differ. At the Guludo Beach Lodge in Quirimbas National Park, Mozambique, you'll have no electricity, your hand-washing sinks will offer water from recycled glass bottles rather than from spigots, your toilets will be dry-composting, your shower will be manually operated delivering water through bamboo tubes from an aluminum drum. But hey, you'll have one of the world's greatest deserted beaches at your doorstep, part of your money goes to community development projects, and you'll get the chance to participate in craft workshops run by local women artisans. Again, part of me is tempted by the idea.
A wide variety of innovative architecture is featured. At the Concordia Eco-Tents in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, you stay in solar-powered tents perched on platforms 10-15 feet above the ground, the better to enjoy both Caribbean views and cooling breezes. At the remote Jalman Meadows Ger Camp in Mongolia, yak carts will bring your luggage to a round white tent of felt, goat wool and canvas, powered by both sun and wind, where you can soak in the tranquility of the steppes. In Kerala, India, you can stay on TourIndia's gorgeous kettuvallam houseboats (truly gorgeous-click the link!) made without nails of traditional material like anjali wood, bamboo, coconut rope and a resin derived from boiled cashews. Yes, the boats have bathrooms and kitchens, but the fixtures are solar, the water low-flow, and and with enzyme-enabled low-flush biotoilets.
Or you could stay in one of the modified geodesic domes of Las Torres EcoCamp at Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile. Each dome features murals depicting indigenous wildlife and peoples, painted by local artists, and utilize various low-impact appropriate technologies.
I have some experience of Torres del Paine National Park as well. That was way back in 1987, and the trip consisted of a week-long hike that remains one of the highlights of my life. Life was good in that pink backpacking tent, gazing at glaciers. And again, perhaps those days are behind me, and if I wanted to experience Torres del Paine again, this might be the way to do it.
I've traveled my entire life. Up until about 11 years ago, I managed to get away for longer periods, ranging from two months to a full year, every couple of years. My job in the past decade has limited me to shorter trips of a couple weeks at best.
I've always said that travel gets more expensive the older you get. The body just can't tolerate sleeping on the ground or in cheapo hotels and hostels as much as it used to. The dynamics of arranging travel is different for trips of extended periods versus shorter trips as well. On my long trips to South America, Europe, Kenya, the Indian sub-continent and Tibet, we took off with either no hotel reservations at all, or at best the first few nights booked to give us time to find our way around. With the luxury of time, you can ferret out inexpensive local hotels and book those budget safaris. With longer trips, you have time to get to know the local culture and people a bit better. You spend your money to buy time rather than luxury, spending more of it in the local economy of small shops, market stalls and family-owned hotels.
So what to do, when the body needs more comfort, and circumstances don't offer the luxury of time?
I suppose that's why I find the idea of these ecolodges somewhat appealing. They are comfortable enough to coddle our aging bodies just a little bit, yet offbeat and distant enough to attract a more adventurous and hopefully culture-sensitive traveler. These lodges seem to truly utilize local sourcing for material, involve the local community in decisions, seek to use the most environmentally advanced appropriate technologies, and strive to give back to whatever community they are situated in.
On the other hand, these are still packaged experiences for which you will pay hundreds of dollars per night, a price which makes me shudder. You'll still be located in environmentally sensitive areas. As much as these ecolodges seek to be in harmony with their natural setting and their communities, they still are unnatural places, islands of unreality within the realities of their surroundings. I'm not wholly comfortable with them. You will be buffered to varying extents from the local community, although in truth these lodges are usually more about experiencing nature rather than culture...and there is nothing stopping you from exploring on your own.
But the book? Well, Authentic Ecolodges is gorgeous. The 36 places it details are fascinating in their use of design and technology to address the issues of environment and community. The photos make my heart strain with desire.
And now it's your turn to rant or to dream in the comments. What do you think?