Ecotravel: Greening Your Getaway

All the talk of “staycations,” reducing one’s carbon footprint, and the wastefulness of private jet travel are enough induce a guilt attack when one thinks of jetting off to New Zealand to explore Great Mercury Island (see picture) or driving back and forth to a summer house every weekend. But our friends over at The Daily Green have a different take on the impact of travel on the earth’s resources:

Why We Travel ~ Encapsulated in the Perfect Statement

By Dian Hasan | July 12, 2009

For all the global nomads out there who have been bitten by the travel bug, I came across a statement in wordpress blogosphere that perfectly captures what drives us to travel, explore and discover!

Frank Sinatra sang: “Let’s take a boat to Bermuda/let’s take a plane to St. Paul/let’s get away from it all!”

To travel is to give into wanderlust — regardless of how you define it.

You may crave a wild adventure or simply want to admire mother nature from the serenity of a hammock. You may love the thrill of jumping on the subway in a gigantic city or instead dream of kayaking down a solitary river.

In other words, “Let’s leave our hut, dear/Get out of our rut, dear/Let’s get away from it all.”

Eco Rustic ~ Pulau Macan, Thousand Islands, Jakarta Bay, Indonesia

By Unique Travel Destinations | July 8, 2009

Macan means tiger in Indonesian, and is also used to describe something magnificent, borrowing the qualities of the regal tiger. An apt way indeed to describe what is probably Jakarta’s best-kept secret, Pulau Macan (Tiger Island) Eco Resort. A tropical isle that would not look out of place in idyllic Maldives or Tahiti, sits on Jakarta’s doorstep, 1.5 hours away by speed boat.

Green & Chic ~ Khayangan Luxury Villas, Bali, Indonesia

By Dian Hasan | June 9, 2009

From the Sanskrit word for ‘Seventh Heaven’, Khayangan brings you to a place where the Gods themselves might choose to dwell: a blend of new and old, taking the romance of the past and combining it with the modern comforts and technology of today in Bali’s ultimate luxury estate.

Khayangan is a fully self-contained, private luxury estate set in 1.5 hectares of verdant tropical gardens, immediately adjacent to the Bvlgari Resort and Spa, 170 metres above the white sand seclusion of Selonding beach, on the southern-most tip of Bali’s Bukit Peninsula.

Luxury Hotels with a Heart and Helping Hand

By Joe Yogerst | www.eHotelier.com | June 5, 2008

When the Anantara Golden Triangle resort started an elephant sanctuary in northern Thailand five years ago, its creators never imagined that the project would evolve from an environmental effort and tourist attraction into a milestone of hotel-sponsored humanitarian aid.

Anantara Golden Triangle Resort, Thailand

With 160 acres of native forest and bamboo groves along the Mekong River, the posh riverside resort seemed like an ideal retirement home for elephants that were no longer needed in the nation’s logging industry. Anantara hired British wildlife expert John Roberts to create the camp and recruit the resident pachyderms. But Roberts quickly discovered that you couldn’t bring the elephants without their lifelong mahouts (trainers). And you couldn’t bring the mahouts without their families. And that you couldn’t bring the families without providing housing, schooling and medical care.

The Eco Wonders of Guayas, Ecuador

By Erica Johannson | Planet Pink n Green | October 12, 2008

The south-western province of Ecuador offers some of the top agro-tourism and eco-tourism sites in South America. Home to the nation’s largest city, Guayaquil, the region Guayas (pronounced gwī-äs) attracts travelers year-around.

The Canton of Bucay: 
Located east of Guayaquil, the Bucay Canton boasts more natural resources than any other canton in Guayas. The most visited attractions include El Bosque Humedo de la Esperanza (The Rainforest of Hope), and El Balneario de Agua Clara (The Clear Water Spa), where scenic waterfalls flow into the Chimbo river – a great place for rafting and tubing.