The Many Different Kinds of Eco Lodges

At this point I have added well over 300 eco lodges to the site.  They are so varied and present themselves in so many different ways I think it’s hard to think of them all in one breath, and yet they’re all on this site.  There seem to be two main types of eco lodges with many shades in between.

There’s the boutique eco resort, which caters to people wanting to be pampered and surrounded by luxury.  They’re often quite pricey as a consequence.  The impression I get is that they were built to make a nice profit albeit still promote “green” tourism.  There are many of these on this site and yet it is the other type of eco lodge that I get excited about finding.

These are the ones that might start out as someone’s dream of making a difference, or they could be a non-profit that is buying up land to preserve it and as an extension, offers lodging.  Most of the time, they are not luxury accommodations.  Instead they are more basic and less intrusive on the environment.

In Dominica recently there was a big misunderstanding that thankfully got resolved in a very commendable way.  3 Rivers Dominica (http://www.3riversdominica.com/) is one of those types of lodges that is someone’s dream of a better world.  One of their accommodations is in a tree house quite a ways from the main lodge.  It is very basic and yet allows someone to really experience nature.  The Dominican Tourism Department is very involved in having standards for tourism and in their eyes this tree hut didn’t meet those requirements.  They took the time to understand that ecotourism can be a very different kettle of fish and have reached a compromise for 3 Rivers Dominica that will enable the owner, Jem, to continue with his dream.  Of course there is more to the story but in the interest of brevity I just hit the highlights.  I think what occurred in Dominica is a very hopeful sign that rustic eco lodges trying to impact the environment as little as possible are becoming more mainstream. 

Kudos to Dominica and to 3 Rivers Dominica for pioneering the way!