International Ecolodges & Jem Winston

The home stay program was just another step on the eco-path of the lodge since its inception in 2002. One of the most fundamental aims is to live in harmony with, and have as little harmful impact on our surroundings as possible, whilst recognizing that the ecolodge has an important role to play in protecting and enhancing the environment for guests and residents of the local community.

By Ethan Gelber

There’s an island in the Caribbean skirted by beaches of fine white powder that give way to pristine waters of disarming blue. Yes, that may sound like the description of a lot of Caribbean islands, but few are as distinctive as San Salvador, one of the many beachheads of the Bahamas and site of a surpassingly beautiful and uncorrupted body of water known as the Lagoon.

As a private 365-acre nature reserve set along the banks of the Macal River in the foothills of the Maya Mountains, The Lodge at Chaa Creek provides a unique adventure travel experience for thousands of people while maintaining an unspoiled ambiance. The story of Chaa Creek Cottages began in 1977 when two young travelers stumbled upon what would later become their adopted home – an overgrown 140 acre farm in the Cayo District. They soon moved out to the jungle property and within years the land was producing home grown vegetables.

The island’s steep coastlines and lovely reefs offer excellent snorkeling and scuba diving. The rainforest preserves of St. Lucia’s mountainous interior are one of the Caribbean’s finest locales for hiking, bird-watching and canopy ride adventures. Fond Doux Holiday Plantation in St Lucia is a 19th century colonial plantation hotel set in nature amidst the lush, tropical foliage of St Lucia’s breadbasket, historical center and world heritage site, Soufriere. Luxurious, historical and architecturally intriguing the Fond Doux Holiday Plantation is a journey back in time and closer to nature.

In 2008, Hotel Mocking Bird Hill made significant steps towards achieving the goals of developing high quality responsible tourism experiences with minimal negative impact. A value-driven company, the hotel has always taken the long term view of the sustainability challenges. When it opened in 1993, the hotel focused on being an earth-friendly hotel, contributing to biodiversity conservation and environmental initiatives. With the new goals of becoming water and carbon neutral, the hotel addresses the critical issue of climate change.

An important aspect of Rosalie Forest Eco Lodge’s environment policy is to involve the local community in ecotourism projects. All the employees come from local villages, and are trained in sustainable living. Guests will have various opportunities to experience the local community first hand through community-based ecotourism activities showcasing environmentally sound practices, as well as providing options to get involved in various local community projects. Among the many sustainability initiatives by Rosalie Forest Eco Lodge is the Dominica International EcoFest

Excerpts from “SUN, SAND, AND SUSTAINABILITY: Corporate Environmental and Social Practice in Caribbean Coastal Tourism” (2006) by Emma Stewart, Ph.D., Research Manager at Business for Social Responsibility – the Caribbean is an important region in which to examine the patterns of corporate environmental and social practice in the tourism sector. And in fact, it also provides a sort of ‘natural experiment’, comparing two Caribbean island nations, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, that have similar tourism markets but greatly different approaches towards managing them.

“Luckily there are always people who put quality before quantity and operate on a small and green level, and they make a real change. In our region we have one eco adventure travel agency that grew extremely over the past years, and they use a lot of that income for improvements in the Mayan communities… They manage quite some numbers of tourists in the high season though, and although they provide income for communities, their vans make a large part of the daily traffic.” – Stefanie Baeker, Project Mayan Encounter

According to Conservation International, “among the most important bird symbols for conservation in the Caribbean are the parrots, including the St. Vincent parrot (Amazona guildingii, VU), the St. Lucia parrot (Amazona versicolor, VU), and the imperial parrot (Amazona imperialis, EN) of Dominica.” The Imperial Amazon of Dominica is arguably one of the most striking members of the genus Amazona. This large, impressive parrot is characterized by vivid purple feathers tipped in black that cover the head and chest, along with deep green feathers on the wings, back and tail.

Daydreaming of the Caribbean typically leads to images of being enveloped in crystalline, azure waters, surrounded by blue skies, lush green forests, and a symphony of mingling accents, animal chatter, and island rhythms. Named after the Carib Indigenous people originating from the Lesser Antilles and South America, the Caribbean region consists of over 7000 islands, islets, reefs and cays framed by the Gulf of Mexico, North, South and Central America. A biodiversity hot-spot, the Caribbean supports a range of rich ecosystems, many of which are threatened.