Shelley Seale is a freelance journalist and author.
Website: http://www.shelleyseale.com
Blog: http://tradingplacesglobal.wordpress.com/
Book: http://www.howtotravelforfree.net
Twitter: @shelleyseale
Facebook: www.facebook.com/shelleyseale
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Shelley Seale is a freelance journalist and author.
Website: http://www.shelleyseale.com
Blog: http://tradingplacesglobal.wordpress.com/
Book: http://www.howtotravelforfree.net
Twitter: @shelleyseale
Facebook: www.facebook.com/shelleyseale
The small country is one of the least visited Central American destinations, but it shouldn’t be that way. While many people have outdated ideas of El Salvador—one tourism professional says that people still ask how the war is going—the country has some of the best roads in Central America, high-end glitz and glamour in the capital of San Salvador, and a tourism industry that is creating a professional, welcoming infrastructure for visitors.
El Salvador is also following Costa Rica’s lead on trying to develop and promote sustainable tourism, both for its communities and its abundant nature life. EcoExperiencias, a division of Salvadorean Tours, is dedicated to creating sustainable tourism experiences with locally owned businesses, where profits from the tours go directly to supporting rural communities and conservation, from rain forests and the coastline to coffee farms and sea turtles.
Sea turtles inhabit all of the world's oceans, except the Arctic. They can live for 80 years, and play key roles in the ecosystem that is important not only to them and other wildlife, but to humans as well. Sadly, all seven species of sea turtles are on the endangered or critically endangered list.
On the Pacific Coast of El Salvador, EcoExperiencias works with La Cocotera Resort & Ecolodge, a small and secluded beach hideaway that takes sustainability very seriously. It is purposefully small, only six unique and luxurious thatched cottage rooms, built on the "Green Leaf" system: solar energy, biological waste water recycling, environmentally safe cleaning products, ionization pool filtration and recycling of all plastic, paper and glass.
One of the wildlife projects that La Cocotera sponsors is the Olive Ridley turtles, which nest on the beach in front of the resort. They buy the eggs from locals who would otherwise sell them to be eaten, and instead bury them for hatching, let them grow a little in their tank, and release them in a guest program.
"The locals used to sell the sea turtle eggs for $5 a dozen," says Rodrigo Moreno of EcoExperiencias. "It was a lack of education, but also—if they don't sell the eggs, their children starve. When we started the sea turtle liberation program, we educated them so that they started to see nature as an economic asset for them. We replace that income; we pay them $6-7 per hatched sea turtle."
Locals now look after the nesting turtles at night, to make sure they aren't disturbed; they are called “tortugeros.” Once the eggs are laid, the tortugeros bring them to certified release sites such as La Cocotera. There, the eggs are allowed to hatch and then the babies are kept for up to three months for guests to release.
La Cocotera guests can participate during the sea turtle hatching season, from mid-September through February. Resort manager Ricardo guides participants through the release, starting at the tank where they keep the baby turtles hatched through their program. Here Ricardo gives some basic education about the turtles, and lets guests pick their own babies to release before walking out to the beach to select a spot for release. The baby turtles should be introduced about two to three meters from the water’s edge.
"That distance is very important," Ricardo says. "That is how they memorize the beach, to come back in ten years to reproduce themselves." These tiny baby turtles, in that few-meters crawl to the ocean, hard-program an internal GPS system inside themselves that will allow them to return to this very same spot a decade later, to lay their own eggs.
Only one in a thousand of these baby turtles will survive to adulthood and reproduce themselves; they are vulnerable to many things including birds and other sea life. But their odds are greatly helped by programs such as these. Without protecting and hatching their eggs, and releasing them back into the ocean, their species would surely not stand a chance.
"When you go on a Salvadorean Tour, you are also helping the people and the ecosystem," Moreno adds. "Tourism brings wealth—but where does that wealth go? Just to the big tour companies? No, it needs to be distributed. We found that we can help a lot of people through these programs."
"El Salvador is still very unknown. With us, you will see the local people, the real face of El Salvador. Through EcoExperiencias, we promote local communities by working with them to lift them out of poverty through sustainable tourism."
Far removed from the rest of India, while still retaining the feel and culture of the sub-continent, this group of over 500 islands (only 38 permanently inhabited) jut out of the ocean in emerald-green forest mountains with pristine beaches, stunning coral reefs and active volcanoes. The capital is Port Blair on the main South Andaman island, but from there it is a two-hour ferry ride to laid-back and lovely Havelock Island—home of the eco-hideaway Barefoot at Havelock. This is where you really want to get to; because let’s face it, if you’ve come all this way to get away, you might as well do it right.
Island Life
With about 100 square kilometers, Havelock has been inhabited by Bengali settlers since the 1950s. The ferries come into Village Number 1 on the north side of the island (all towns are numbered on Havelock). Villages 3 and 5 offer a number of restaurants, shopping from vendor stalls to nice boutiques, motorbike rentals and internet cafes.
The Barefoot at Havelock resort, on the other hand, is located on the far south end of the island, about 20 minutes from these villages. But as mentioned, if you’re coming to an eco island getaway, this is the place to be. At Barefoot, you aren’t on a beach that is dotted by resort after next-door resort. In fact, you are on pristine beach number 7, rated as the best beach in Asia. A taxi or tuk-tuk can easily be taken when you want to go into town, or rent a motorbike.
Swimming Elephants and Coral Reefs
Barefoot is home to a celebrity: Rajan, the swimming elephant. Rajan is a 64-year-old prior logging elephant who is now cared for by the top-notch resort staff and enjoyed by guests, who can bathe and feed him, accompany him on a jungle hike and even go swimming with him.
Venture out and you can kayak through mangrove creeks, snorkel or dive the reefs; boat trips to nearby Ross and Inglis Islands are big draws. The pristine and unmapped waters of the Andaman Islands are one of the last frontiers for scuba diving (best from November to May). Corals abound with colourful reef fish, sea turtles, barracuda, tuna, sting rays and the occasional dugong. The Barefoot Scuba folks (he first and only PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Resort in the Andaman Islands) come every evening around 6 pm, where you can make reservations for the following day.
Yoga and Ayurvedic Treatments
Iyengar yoga is available year-round (check in the off season). Morning lessons and longer courses run in a hilltop pavilion overlooking the cottages and cove, and you can also sign up for private or group sessions with Rajendran, who runs the yoga and ayurveda programs. He is also a knowledgeable birding and wildlife guide, and typically leads the programs with Rajan.
Ayurvedic treatments, great for both relaxation and healing, are available in a bamboo and thatch pavilion looking onto the forest and lily pond, and are one of the highlights of a stay here. And if you fancy doing nothing, you can relax in a hammock or in the privacy of your cottage, admiring surreal forests and incredible sunsets. There are mats and towels provided for your short walk to the beach.
Thatched Cottages and Safari-style Tents
The 19 elegantly designed wood and thatch cottages and villas, along with six brand-new tented cottages, are hidden among seven acres of grounds and connected by winding pathways. Their hardwood walls and conical thatch roofs made of environmentally sensitive local materials, and blend into the tropical foliage. You get basic comforts (modern plumbing with hot water, and air conditioning or ceiling fans), a restaurant/bar and an exhilarating closeness to nature.
The Barefoot philosophy means a minimal environmental footprint; accommodations were built from regenerable materials like bamboo, wood and palm leaves. The resort harvests its own rainwater and only draws minimal water from a natural spring that emerges on the premises, so as not to deprive the neighbouring village. Kitchen and shower wastewater is filtered to be used to water the grounds. About 70% of staff are from Havelock island, and almost all are from the Andamans.
Barefoot at Havelock is the perfect destination for those seeking an unpretentious hideaway on one of the world’s last undeveloped tropical islands.
Reviewed by Shelley Seale