Intelligent Travel

Cozumel's Cruise Ships Go Eco

We were heartened to hear last week that Cozumel had signed a groundbreaking partnership to help support eco-friendly practices in the popular cruise ship destination. Over the past year, Conservation International has worked with Mexico's tourism board, the city's local government, and 17 cruise ship industry leaders to hammer out the details of an initiative that will promote sustainable practices in the region. IT Editor Janelle Nanos spoke with Seleni Matus, Conservation International's advisor to the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative, just a few hours after she returned from Cozumel. Still a bit tired from her hectic week (and an overnight flight) she was kind enough to fill us in on what's in store for the initiative.

What are some of the big issues that you're looking to tackle with this initiative?

One issue in particular was to improve or enhance the awareness of cruise ship visitors about Cozumel's natural heritage. We also recognized that [tour providers] themselves needed to work more diligently to promote the importance of protecting their natural assets.

What are some of the ways that you plan to do this?

We've developed a 30-second video that we've negotiated to have shown on all the major cruise lines destination channels. It's a message from the Cozumel community to tourists showing the highlights of their natural heritage and inviting them to protect it by leaving a light footprint. It's already being aired on Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Celebrity cruise lines. We also plan to create "passeos"–interpretive corridors that will serve as a passageway to the cruise terminal and airports. They’re transforming open areas into passageways containing targeted conservation messages and powerful images. And all tour operators decided to tackle waste management issues, working with municipal government to create onboard recycling programs for tour boats and marine sites. That extends to training the staff, installing the bins, and incorporating the [recycling] message into the message they give visitors. Now that they have started these small projects, they're motivated to tackle the larger issues.

This is a big step for Mexico, as no initiative of its kind has ever been signed before now. Can you give us a sense of the feelings you saw down there?

I think at the event, when they saw the breadth of the work that they had all done...on a local level, they were all frozen. They could see people stunned and inspired at themselves when they took at step back and really understood what they had accomplished at the event itself. For the cruise industry in Cozumel, they feel they have broken down the barriers that have kept them working in their respective silos. The private sector and government tend to have very divergent views on what the problems are, it's hard to find a common ground. It was pretty inspiring actually.

Read More: Check out IT's coverage of Mexico, the Carribean, and Central America. Catch up on several recent posts which look at the cruise industry's best and worst practices.

Photo: courtesy Conservation International

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Tour Guide: UN Guide to Guides

Here's a useful tool: Friends of World Heritage has a list of community tour operators in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America that have been approved by the UN World Heritage Foundation.

Tour operators include the Shampole Community Trust in Kenya (offering eco-friendly, luxury accommodations which we wrote about here), the Talamanca Initiative in Costa Rica (a biodiversity conservation group that focuses on reducing poverty) and the Bunaken National Marine Park Management Advisory Board in Indonesia (which offers homestays and eco-friendly lodging on Bunaken Island).

One hundred percent of funds raised through the Friends of the World Heritage Fund will go to World Heritage projects. Likewise, Expedia and the UN Foundation frequently match and triple the amount already raised.

Leave Your Heart in Guatemala

I've always been enchanted by Central America, so when two of my friends returned from Lake Atitlán raving about the magic it held, I knew it was a place I had to check out.

Traveler's assistant photo editor Krista Rossow and I headed to San Marcos La Laguna, a serene village in Guatemala's Highlands populated by indigenous Mayans and New Age hippies. For just $5 apiece, we were whisked out of Antigua, a European-esque town about a half-hour drive from Guatemala City, and dropped off in the dark four hours later. "Oh, just follow that path to your hotel," said our driver, pointing us down a winding dirt road. So Krista with her rolling suitcase and I with my backpack started off down the path with no flashlight and a lot of wild dogs. We arrived at our hotel white-knuckled and ready for an evening of sleep.

Waking up in our gorgeous, treehouse-like Hotel Aaculaax the next day, we felt rewarded for our efforts. The hotel is just a short stroll to Lake Atitlán's shores and is built into the living rock of the hillside using adobe, recycled glass and plastic. Off our room was a flower-lined terrace, perfect for watching the sun rise over one of Atitlán's three volcanoes.

Mexico Works to Protect Monarch Migration

Every year like clockwork, monarch butterflies in Canada pack their bags in September and head to Mexico for their winter break. The annual migration is a huge tourist attraction, and Mexico is working to further support it by expanding their nesting areas and curbing illegal logging in the region. The AP reported:

President Felipe Calderón pledged 4.6 million U.S. dollars toward advertising and equipment for the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, which covers a 124,000-acre (50,000-hectare) swathe of trees and mountains that for thousands of years has served as the winter nesting ground to millions of orange-and-black-winged monarch butterflies.

Calderón said the plan would encourage tourism to an impoverished area where illegal logging has been rampant.

The logging has depleted the foliage where insects – a.k.a. butterfly food – reside. Fortunately, a staff of rangers "equipped with assault rifles and body armor," have been searching for gangs of lumber thieves, and their work has helped decrease logging in the area by 48 percent.

We at IT are glad to hear that tourism was the trigger that inspired Calderón to protect the forests - and the butterflies as a result.

Tour Guide: Eco-Lodges in Belize

We all want to be green these days, and some companies are making it even easier for us to travel that way. Manaca, Inc. offers eco-tours in more than 20 countries, from Nepal to New Zealand to Namibia. The company selects local operators, guides, and eco-lodges and asks them to sign Manaca's Responsible Tourism Pledge to ensure authenticity and sustainability.

Book an eco-tour to Belize and you'll experience the ruins, rain forests, and coral reefs that make Belize's environment unique. After touring the ancient Mayan ruins with Manaca's hand-picked guides, you might stay at DuPlooy's Jungle Lodge, located next to the 45-acre Belize Botanic Gardens. Or you could stay at the Chaa Creek, the first jungle lodge in Belize, which sits on a 365-acre reserve and employs more than 70 local staff. You can see butterfly farms and a medicinal rain forest trail, and have plenty of time to enjoy horseback riding, hiking, bird watching, canoeing, and the spa facilities offered by Chaa Creek.

Macaca's Eco-Assessment rates lodges based on what each does for community, conservation, and education. All of the lodges are tested by Manaca staff members, and while Manaca claims some lodges "vary in rusticity," they promise that "they are all quite clean and pleasingly comfortable."

Manaca's rating system makes life a bit easier when it comes to choosing what tours to go on, so they get a definite plus in our Tour Guide book.

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Beautiful Boquete

While Costa Rica has emerged in recent years as an eco-tourism destination, tucked in the Chiriqui Highlands near the Baru volcano is another eco-hot-spot waiting to erupt.

The town of Boquete, Panama, is quaint—mom-and-pop shops line the streets, offering a more Southern California feel than a Central American one. But life around Boquete is vibrant—abundant wildlife and rich rivers and forests make bird watching, hiking, climbing, and white-water rafting all readily available in Panama’s vibrant environment. And better yet—the town’s 3,000-foot elevation means it is regularly ten degrees cooler than other Panama towns.

While you’re there, be sure to check out Boquete Tree Trek, a half-day zip-lining trip through 3 km (1.86 miles) of jungle canopy. On a hot day, go to Chiriqui River Rafting for white-water rafting trips with one of the region’s oldest outfitters. For those who want an energy boost without the adrenaline rush, take a coffee plantation tour with Coffee Adventures. Visitors can hike through fields of coffee trees, meet the pickers, and get a caffeine fix in the brewer’s "cupping" room.

Boquete is a seven-hour drive from Panama City, or 45 minutes from David.

Photos: Magda Wojtyra (top); Juan Antonio Villegas (right)

Tour Guide: Peru

IT friend Lolly recently went on a tour in Peru. She raved about her guide Devon Graham (biologist and tour company owner) so much that we just had to look into the tour operator ourselves.

Margarita Tours organizes private eco-expeditions in the Amazon. While most of their tours are riverboat-based, they also have three working field stations, like the one pictured above, where many of their tours will stop for the night. (The stations are owned and operated by Project Amazonas, a non-profit conservation organization that fosters biological, medical, and environmental research in the Peruvian Amazon.)

Library Ghouls

In our continuing coverage of all things mystic, spooky, and supernatural, we wanted to share a finding from our all-star researcher Marilyn Terrell. She uncovered a list of international libraries where spooks can be found in between the stacks.

Morelia Public Library, Michoacán, Mexico. Library staff say that a “nun in blue” has haunted the 16th-century premises for many years. Director Rigoberto Cornejo said in Monterrey’s El Norte newspaper, “When I leave the building, I feel the sensation of someone following me. In fact, I can even hear the footsteps.”

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. This massive structure dates from 1856 and hosts many specters. The ghost of a female librarian named Grace keeps an eye on the children’s books in the Arts Collection, and a mustachioed gentleman protects the music stacks and piano. Poltergeist phenomena have been reported in the newspaper room. Glowing balls of light appear on the stairs. Security guards witness many of these antics after the library is closed.

 

Bonaire’s Winds of Change

Oft-overlooked Bonaire, a tiny “flapjack flat” island ringed by coral reefs in the Dutch Caribbean, revealed plans earlier this year to climb aboard the eco-mania bandwagon and become a carbon-neutral island. And they're not just blowing hot air: The substance behind Bonaire’s claims stem from a new wind/diesel project designed to provide the entire island with wind-powered electricity by the end of 2008.

The project is a collaboration of Bonaire’s local energy company and EcoPower Bonaire BV. Construction of a new wind turbine is already underway and will be installed on Bonaire's southeast coast, an area with favorable climate conditions where a defunct turbine currently stands.

Introducing: Tour Guide

Introducing "Tour Guide": IT's picks for great ways to get away. Check back in every Tuesday for new posts!

We here at Traveler love to go off the beaten track to obtain a true sense of place, but we also know that traveling can take its toll on the environment. So of course we're thrilled to find that more and more tour companies are offsetting their carbon footprints, donating to conservations efforts, and overall, becoming more eco-conscious. From Madagascar to Mexico, here are some eco-adventures that make us travel happy.

The Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance (MEA), which offers trekking tours into Mexico’s 300,000-acre El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, recently joined with Trees, Water & People (TWP) to offset all of its itineraries. MEA calculates the carbon footprint for each itinerary and then makes a corresponding financial contribution to TWP, who then re-invests the money into reforestation projects, solar heaters, or fuel-efficient stoves.

CC Africa provides refuge to nearly 90 black rhinos near five of its lodges. The conservation group has raised over 5.5 million dollars in the past 15 years to fund animal conservation projects, as well as to community development projects (they have built more than 120 schools and trained 250 teachers and 4,500 students in environmental awareness) in six African countries.