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ISSN 1108-8931 |
Year 6 - Issue 63 |
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Sponsored by: Zante Feast Holidays, Purple Valley Yoga, Hana Botanical Gardens |
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This month we warmly welcome two new Sponsor Members Purple Valley Yoga and Hana Botanical Gardens. We thank them for their great support and encourage you to visit their websites to learn more about their quality services:
You have most probably heard about the devastation caused by a seemingly endless series of hurricanes in the Caribbean and the South Eastern USA, over the past months, and the tragedy, especially in Haiti. Fortunately, our Members avoided the worse. Fredericus Enneking of Zion Country sent this from Jamaica: "Hurricane Ivan hit Jamaica badly. Most damage was in the south
and west of the island but Zion Country got some damage. The lovely
beach is gone and it is one big mess on the water front. Yesterday we
started to do cleaning work and hopefully the whole property will be
soon ready for the winter season again." Arthur Campbell of Cottages @ Springhouse Farm said: "We actually came away with minor damage here on the farm. We
were involved in two tropical low events about a week apart. The first
being Hurricane Charlie which by the time it reached us had become a
tropical low pressure which dumped nearly fifteen inches of rain in as
many hours. Secondly, Hurricane Francis came through a week later and
left us with nearly seven inches of rain and high winds. Yesterday as
well as today is a brilliant sun shiny day with cool temperatures. Both
fine days to clean up all the mess!. Seriously, while our creeks and
streams over flowed, one can hardly tell any thing happened in the
forest as the high forest canopy and the deep and lush under growth
absorbed and dissipated the heavy rain fall. Mother nature is a tough
act to follow!"
Laguna del Lagarto Lodge has been awarded Costa Rica's
Certificate
of Sustainable Tourism (CST) with a level "4", only one of
just six Lodges to receive "4" or higher. Meanwhile, Laguna del
Lagarto have lowered rates in their innovative rainforest project,
whereby you can become the 'owner' of a part of the rainforest provided
you agree to preserve it. Rates now start at just US$ 250 for 1,000
square metres. Laguna del Lagarto hope that the lower rates
will attract those really concerned with the rainforest but who have
modest means.
BSI reports: "This year the dry season in Chugchilán was
harsher than ever. One of the town’s springs dried up. To get us
through August and September, we helped the town patch together a
temporary system. Rick Coleman, the Permaculture teacher who was here in
1998 told us, “If you can convert 20% of any property to water, it
makes the remaining 80% of the land 200% more productive.” Because of
this we had put in a back up water system from a neighbors spring the
last year. We are always trying to catch and hold more water on our
property. We have now offered to install cut-off valves for every user
of the town’s water system to diminish water leaks and abuse. We are
investigating wind and solar pumps to help us through the driest months.
We are trying to calculate how much water we need to store and what kind
of storage would work best: ponds, tanks cisterns etc. There is
definitely enough rain during the rainy season; and we currently have
plenty of catchments. Our main challenge is containment and storage of
enough water to get us through the long and dry summers. Knitting group
is going very well. We now sell quality scarves, hats and even a couple
of sweaters in our lodge. All products are made out of 100% natural
fibers, and hand woven by the women’s group of Chugchilán. All
profits go directly to the women’s group or individual knitters. Black
Sheep Inn sponsored two workshops on women’s health with Peace Corp
Volunteers Nici, Laura, Arjun and Sam. We’ve also been encouraging the
local “grupo de ecotourismo” to organize themselves and set up a
guiding association in Chugchilán. For the last month aspiring guides
attended a course sponsored by the Federation of Indigenous
Organizations and the Ministry of Tourism. We hope the group continues
to organize, and provides quality guide services for tourists in the
vicinity of Chugchilán."
Mr Vijitha Nugegoda of Ranweli Holiday Village, who is in charge of implementing the winning project (organic agriculture at nearby school), reports good progress: In mid September, enthusiastic schoolgirls of Dankotuwa Balika Vidyalaya, prepared beds for planting (photo 1), planted seedlings provided by Ranweli Holiday Village (photo 2), and started tending to the young plants (photo 3)
ECOCLUB Ecolodge Members TEA announce the newly elected officers of the Toledo Ecotourism Association: New Chairman Dionicio Choc, Assistant chairperson
Vicente Sacul, Secretary Pablo Ack assistant Secr. Beatrice Mariano,
Treasurer Joseph Cal, Assistant Treasurer Pedro Coc, and Councilor Lucas
Pop. We warmly welcome Krishna Jungle resort as a new
Ecolodge Member. It is located in the area made famous by Rudyard
Kipling's 'Jungle Book', just a short distance from the main entrance
gate of the Kanha National Park, which includes the famous Kanha Tiger
Reserve created in 1974, under Project Tiger. The lodge nests in 8 acres
of thick forest and provides an ideal setting for bird watching for a
natural history oriented traveller.
Our Expert team is larger and stronger with the addition of two new Members: Dr Kevin Vang is Executive Director of AFAP,
one of Australia's foremost development and environment overseas aid
agency, for the past 11 year, and oversee a variety of cutting edge,
donor-funded ecotourism programs in Africa, Asia and the Pacific
Islands. Mr Pascal Languillon is a young Ecotourism
Consultant, who has advised the Reunion Island Tourism Committee, lead a
fundraising team for Greenpeace New Zealand and assisted the Shiwiar
tribe of Ecuador with developing ecotourism. ECOCLUB Expert John Todd, was quoted by The
Guardian (Sept 11, 2004), for an article on Bulgarian tourism:
"Bulgaria has identified eco-tourism as a cornerstone for future
tourism development. Although there has been huge investment in the
package-holiday resorts around the Black Sea, the country wants to
develop ecotourism in the hinterland, away from the resorts, where there
is an enormous amount of pristine countryside." ECOCLUB Ecolodge Saga Eco Camp Director, Mr
Somnath Chakraborty, was quoted in the Times
of India (Calcutta Supplement, Aug 29, 2004) in an article
entitled "Wanted: a conscious eco-tourist" as saying that the
Orissa government was far receptive to the concept of Ecotourism and
they had managed to make Chilka a plastic-free zone. ECOCLUB Ecolodge Ranweli Holiday Village,
was included in an article on '10 Great Places to Visit' in USA
TODAY (Aug 19, 2004) "A great eco-friendly resort on a
22-acre peninsula "where mangrove forests and winding rivers
converge with the sea, provides bird watching, fishing and other sea
activities. Ranweli supports nature clubs and schools, hires locally and
practices environmental principles through solar energy use and
biodegradable local materials." |
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