What is the connection between Bristol and Costa Rica? They have both won prestigious green awards for their environmental activism. Last October, ecotourism in Costa Rica received a boost when the country won the first-ever international Earthshot Award from Prince William and David Attenborough. The prize was inspired by John F Kennedy’s ‘Moonshot’ pledge in the 1960s, to get a man on the moon within a decade – which catalysed the development of new technology. And in 2015, Bristol became the UK’s first ever European Green Capital, in recognition of its work to make the city a leader in sustainable, low carbon living.
Article Contents
Earthshot Award
Prince William created the Earthshot challenge last year – to focus on finding new ways to save our planet over the next ten years. He said at the award ceremony last October, “The Earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice: either we continue as we are and irreparably damage our planet, or we remember our unique power as human beings and our continual ability to lead, innovate and problem-solve.” The prize will continue to be awarded over the next ten years.
Costa Rica received the Protect and Restore Nature prize, one of five categories, each winning £1 million. A few decades ago, over half of its vast forests were devastated from deforestation. The land was used for agriculture, raising cattle and other farming. However, in 1997, the government launched an innovative project, raising funds through taxes on diesel and gasoline, and paying local citizens to protect the forests and plant trees. This resulted in a phenomenal revival of the rainforest ecosystems, making this small Central American country a global role model for environmental stewardship. It also led to a boom in ecotourism, contributing $4 billion to the economy.
Ecotourism in Costa Rica
I recently visited Costa Rica – and on my travels around this beautiful country – I could see the amazing results of reforestation. One of the things that immediately struck me was the lack of litter or pollution. I’m so used to seeing upsetting photos on social media of coastlines strewn with plastic, that it was a shock to see how clean the beaches are in Costa Rica. Even on a visit to a local waterfall on private land – there were recycling facilities.
As well as winning prizes for reforestation – the country is renowned for its biodiversity, and the president has also pledged to be the first country to become carbon neutral. It’s no surprise that ecotourism in Costa Rica has become so popular – the lush forests, clean air and focus on environmentalism has made it a destination for eco-lodges, plus yoga and healing retreats.
Farm of Life
I spent several weeks staying at Farm of Life, a wellness retreat centre in Southern Costa Rica. It’s perched 2000 feet up in the mountains, with jaw dropping views of the Pacific Ocean gleaming in the distance.
Owners Brian and Jody Calvi first visited Costa Rica for their honeymoon, and fell in love with the beautiful rainforests and teeming wildlife. They decided to follow their dream of opening an affordable healing centre, and so quit their jobs. Jody worked in public health, and Brian was a teacher and tennis coach. They bought 36 acres of land, which had been a cattle ranch. It was overgrazed – reduced to grass scrubland and bare earth. Over a number of years, they set about recreating a paradise of fruit trees, vegetable and herb gardens, with wooden cabins for guests overlooking the valley and ocean. Their dedication paid off, with birds and animals returning to the gardens – monkeys, toucans, humming birds, and a colourful array of song birds have made their home in the trees.
My day in this paradise would start at sunrise – the warm rays pouring into my cabin. Then a walk up the hill to yoga, followed by a green juice. In the mornings there was a trip to the beach, local farmer’s market, or a waterfall to swim in the warm fresh water. Nauyaca, voted by the National Geographic as one of the top 10 most beautiful waterfalls in the world, is a 20-minute drive away. After fresh fruit and salad for lunch – there was often a cacao ceremony or ecstatic dance in the afternoon – or time to lie in my hammock. Just after sunset, we would eat a mouth watering supper prepared by the vegan chef, followed by a few rounds of bananagrams and an early night.
Healing journey
The couple’s inspiration to create a healing centre came from their personal experiences with illness. When they first met, Jody was undergoing treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. She met Brian at a party, when he was in the process of curing himself from fibromyalgia, through a raw food diet. Their love and care for the guests is ever-present, and is at the heart of the farm’s success. Whether over a green juice in the harvest house, a communal kitchen and lounging space, or sitting around the table over dinner, they are always on hand to help guests with questions about health and lifestyle.
Jody explained their unique ethos, “Some places are £10,000 dollars for a week. It’s so important that the average person can afford to come here, such as fire-fighters, cops, and school teachers. So many people are looking for health solutions – we are here to share lifestyle knowledge and experience – to spark a person’s healing journey. Some healing retreats offer one strict protocol, but we’re not dogmatic – we believe it’s not the same solution for everyone. We give our guests space where they can heal – with clean air, fresh spring water, fruit from the trees, and vegetables from our garden. While diet is important, true healing is about reducing stress, getting enough sleep, healthy relationships and a purposeful life.”
Personal stories
Some of the guests are suffering from illness, such as Marta, who was in the next door cabin. She had come from Spain to do a 21 day cleanse, to help her body heal from an ovarian disease. Then there was Rosalind from Florida, on her second visit to the farm. On her first stay, she did a coconut water fast, and when she arrived home, her oncologist confirmed that she had got rid of nine cancerous tumours in her bladder. Rosalind shares this experience on u-tube. However, the tumours gradually returned, as she started to eat processed food again. She is now back, on the coconut water fast for another 40 days, and has already lost 22 pounds.
Other guests seek to immerse themselves in the farm lifestyle – travelling from Louisiana, mum and daughter Barbie and Kaila, and Jaeda from California visited for a month, enjoying the daily harvest of tropical fruit and vegetables, plus rainforest walks. And around the dinner table, Rex from the mid-west was always entertaining us with his stories. At the age of 66, he realised his lifestyle of junk food, smoking pot and no exercise was taking its toll. So he committed himself to eating raw vegan food, and doing yoga for 30 days – and he lost 30 pounds during his stay.
My time at Farm of Life was a unique experience – the peacefulness and beauty of nature – meeting like-minded people on a quest for health and wellness – makes it one of my favourite places to stay.
Ecotourism pioneer
My next stop was Hacienda Baru Wildlife Reserve, on the coast near Dominical, to meet Colorado-born Jack Ewing, a leading environmentalist. Jack was arguably a key player for inspiring the government to adopt policies which support ecotourism in Costa Rica, and made it a world leader in rainforest conservation.
Jack, a graduate in animal husbandry, and his wife Diane first travelled to Costa Rica in 1970 – on a nerve wracking flight in a propeller plane with a herd of cattle. This was the beginning of a life journey, which saw him change direction from cattle ranching, to setting up a national wildlife refuge and eco-lodge.
But Jack didn’t always have a passion for conservation. In his first years in Costa Rica, he worked on a ranch, and then fattening cattle for a meat packing company. In 1976 he became a partner with the owners of Hacienda Baru, an 800 acre farm on the Pacific coast.
Rewilding
Jack explained, “The inspiration to let farmland grow wild happened gradually, and not all of the decisions were related to the environment. Some were purely economical and others a matter of circumstance.”
He gave a number of examples of how the rewilding process evolved. “In 1979, I realised that one of our pastures on a steep hill was costing more to maintain than it was worth. I had heard about reforestation, and decided that we would be better off growing trees there, rather than spending money to chop weeds and fix fences. I was advised that the hillside was too steep for a conventional tree plantation, and that I should let the forest come back naturally. The results were impressive.”
He explained that another area left to grow wild was the cacao plantation, a decision that was also purely economical. “In 1985, the price of cocoa on the international market dropped so low that it was no longer profitable to maintain the plantation. So we let Mother Nature have it.”
Jack describes how the tropical climate helped the rainforest grow back quickly over the cattle pastures, “What surprised me was how fast the wildlife moved in. Before the secondary growth could even be called a forest, we were seeing peccaries, pacas, monkeys, ocelots, margay cats, and quite a few other animals. Even the sloths moved in fairly quickly!”
Wildlife corridors
Jack explained that his love of nature was steadily growing, and he was thinking about wildlife habitat, and biological corridors to help rainforest animals move between areas of forest. He was a founder member of a group called Asana who, in 1990, started the Path of the Tapir along the Pacific coast.
“A large percentage of the tapir population in Costa Rica was killed when the forests were chopped down. Tapirs had been spotted at the ends of the corridor. The goal was to rewild enough land for the tapirs to come back. It’s been a tremendous success –and I believe we will have them here in 10 years time.”
The Costa Rican government started promoting biological corridors in 1996, to connect all of the major nature reserves, and wildlife refuges. The corridors make the area available to wildlife ecologically much larger, and support biodiversity. Costa Rica is now one of the few countries where biodiversity is actually increasing.
Jack explained, “Animals that haven’t been seen for 50-60 years, are now returning, because we have a habitat for them. When I came here there was only one species of monkey, now we have four. We didn’t have pumas, but now I see them on the trail cameras in our reserve.”
National refuge
In the early 1990s, Jack became financial partners with Steve Stroud, who was equally keen on conservation. Together, they let most of Hacienda Baru return to the wild. In 1994 they petitioned the government to declare it a National Wildlife Refuge, and a year later that status was granted by presidential decree. Today only about 40 acres out of 815 total, less than 5%, is not a natural habitat. This is where the eco-lodge and guest cottages are situated, and wildlife tours can be taken through the park.
Jack said that he feels positive about the future. He believes that the best way to protect rainforests and their wildlife is to make it profitable to do so. “At Hacienda Baru we have done this through ecological tourism. If we didn’t have the income from the tourists who visit us, we would not be able to continue to protect the natural habitat.”
The success of Jack Ewing’s initiative at Hacienda Baru has inspired land owners across the country, to combine tourism and conservation. This has made ecotourism in Costa Rica an example recognised globally. The travel magazine Wanderlust published this guide to eco-lodges and ecotourism in Costa Rica.
Manuel Antonio
My next destination was Manuel Antonio National Park, an hour up the coast from Hacienda Baru. It was described by Forbes magazine as one of the world’s 12 most beautiful national parks. I stayed in an idyllic small hotel, and took a day trip into the park itself. A group of us were led by a naturalist, with binoculars, who showed us close up images of blue crabs, a night jar and sloths, hanging high in the trees.
The park operates strict rules, to prevent the wildlife getting stressed out by us humans. It is open six days a week, from 7am to 4pm. Bags are checked at the entrance, with any food being confiscated, to make sure no sweets or crisps are fed to animals in exchange for a selfie. Park rangers and wildlife guides monitor all the pathways to make sure no-one strays off track. One section of the path goes over the swamp land – where crocodiles roam.
Capuchin monkeys swing through the trees by the beach, trying to get into people’s bags to get food. Did I mention the beach? It is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever visited. It is so quiet and clean, with clear warm pristine waters. and no-one trying to sell drinks or souvenirs. Outside the park – there’s a public beach – also very clean – where thrill seekers can jet ski or parasail. I did that in Mexico in my 20s, and have since developed a healthy fear of heights, so that’s not me in the photo above!!
Other places
Even though Costa Rica is a small country – it is big on places to see and things to do – and I will definitely visit again. The coastlines are long, with sweeping surf beaches along the Pacific coast, including quirky Dominical in the South, and idyllic Nosara and Guanacaste to the North.
On my list for next time are the calm tropical bays of Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side. Then there are the majestic volcanoes, including Arenal and Poas, and the cloud forest walkways at Monteverde. Plus more beautiful national parks throughout the country. One could happily travel around for a few months – and still not see everything! I can’t wait to visit again!
Travel
Ecotourism in Costa Rica has become so popular in recent years – that there is a huge choice of airlines flying there. I travelled with British Airways, who have a direct 10 hour flight from Gatwick a couple of times a week. Travelling around in Costa Rica is fairly straightforward – with comfortable Mercedes buses linking most destinations.
