PLAYAOCOTAL, Rivas -Nicaragua's fledgling eco-tourism industry
is preparing to give Costa Rica a run for its money with the
grand opening next July of Morgan's Rock, a top-dollar luxury
ecolodge nestled on the hilltop of a 5,000-acre private finca
just north of the country's fastest-growing Pacific beach towns.
Described by French-born owner and longtime Central American
resident Clemente Ponçon as "radical eco-tourism,"
this 15 villa hotel overlooking the white sands and calm blue
waters of San Juan del Sur's neighboring Playa Ocotal is sure
to set new standards for eco-tourism in Latin America.
The elegant stone and hardwood villas, complete with mosquito
screens, porches and ocean-view bathtubs, are built, in part,
with reforested lumber to minimize the hotel's environmental
impact on land that was stressed for years by cattle grazing.
More than half of the farm has since been reforested, and 1,300
acres have been designated as a private natural reserve, complete
with trails.
"[Morgan's Rock] is not conservation, it's reconstruction
of nature," Ponçon said, referring to the reforested
hills of his finca, which were once stripped bare for livestock.
THE boardwalk leading from the reception center to the villas,
as well as the 110-meter long wooden suspension bridge, were
built in harmony with the surrounding nature, bending and weaving
around the already existing trees and bushes. Much of the construction
was done by fitting posts together with wooden pegs to minimize
the introduction of foreign elements.
Affiliated with Lapa Ríos, Costa Rica's luxurious eco-lodge
on the Southern Zone's Osa Peninsula, Morgan's Rock produces
85% of the food consumed in its restaurant, from organic sugarcane
and vegetables to shrimp raised in a modest shrimp farm. Solar
panels provide hot water for showers and the hotel's runoff
waters produced from sewage and gray waters are recycled for
irrigation in a volcanic-rock biofilter system.
The villas do not have air-conditioning, refrigerators or televisions,
but creaturecomfort lovers can still be pampered at the hotel's
spa or the poolside bar. But with allinclusive prices starting
at $151 per person per night, Morgan's Rock is not a hotel for
eco-backpackers.
THE granddaddy of Nicaraguan ecotourism is the remote, yet celebrated
Selva Negra Mountain Resort and Coffee Estate in the northern
department of Matagalpa. Due in great part to its isolated location,
Selva Negra is sustainable and eco-friendly out of necessity
as much as ideology, and has been so since before it was trendy
to put the prefix "eco" on hotel names. Located in
a cloud forest 3,000 feet above sea level, Selva Negra has lodging
options for all wallet girths, from youth hostel rooms to bungalows
and chalets. This coffee farm is 100% organic, from organic
fertilizers and gray water recycling to the production of its
own methane-based electricity. The farm offers visitors the
chance to learn about environmentalism and sustain ability,
while exploring trails on foot or horseback.
RECENTLY awarded Nicaragua's Best Eco-Lodge 2004 by the Nicaraguan
Tourism Institute, Finca Esperanza Verde in San Ramón,
Matagalpa, is also making a name for itself among environmentally
minded travelers. With solar-panel energy providing cold beers
and hot showers, this organic coffee and butterfly farm, the
sister community of Durham, North Carolina, offers lodging options
for the budget-minded traveler, from simple cabinas to campgrounds
and homestays with local families. This cultural-sustainability
minded lodge is currently in the process of transforming its
diesel powered pickup truck to run on recycled vegetable oil.
T ico T imes
Photos/T im Rogers caption: MOREthan murals: Javier Centeno
sits atop the Estanzuela waterfall near Estelí ic sugar
for consumption at Morgan's Rock.
FOR more info on Morgan's Rock, visit www.morgansrock.com.
- Tico Times May 21, 2004 Nicaragua Supplement
