"LA LAGUNA DEL LAGARTO
LODGE"
AN ECOTOURISM SUCCESS STORY IN COSTA RICA
OPENING A POOR ISOLATED AREA TO TOURISM
Presented at the 11th BELL(business environment learning and
leadership) Conference
Sustainable Technology Development & New Market Creation
July 20-22.2005, Cornell University Ithaca, New York
by
Vinzenz A. Schmack
Good morning! I feel very honored to present
this little story to such a distinguished audience. But I think
it will show that it is not always necessary to be big in order
to prove a point. The expression “Small Is Beautiful”
has still its meaning and to create 15 jobs in New York means
little, but to create 15 jobs in an isolated and remote area
can have a tremendous multiplying effect.
In 1974,I came to Costa Rica as Manager of Bank of America’s
Branch in San José. At the time, the tourism industry
hardly existed and nobody imagined that it would play, as today,
such a dominant role in the local economy as a major generator
of foreign exchange and employment. Tourism has proved to be
a powerful development instrument, although not always correctly
used. Never in my wildest dreams, did I imagine I would become
the owner of a Jungle Lodge in the northern zone, in the most
remote and most underdeveloped part of the country and will
contribute, although in a very limited way to the employment
generation and development of this poor region.
I grew up on a farm, first in East Germany, now Poland, and
then in Bavaria, where we came as refugees. I always dreamed
of owning a large piece of land that I could call my very own.
My dream materialized in 1981, when I had the opportunity to
buy 275 acres of primary rain forest. The property is located
in Costa Rica’s northern zone near a small hamlet called
Boca Tapada, about 12 Kms. south of the San Juan River, the
border of Nicaragua and 2 Km. east of the San Carlos River.
For quite some time I had little idea as to what to do with
my newly acquired land. The only way to reach it from the village
was with a 4W drive vehicle during the dry season and by horseback
during the rainy season.. Initially I wanted to cut down the
rain forest and convert it into agricultural productive land,
and plant either pineapple, pepper, cacao or heart of palms.
At that time the term “environmental protection”
had never been heard in Costa Rica and there were hardly any
restrictions on deforestation. There were only limited legal
impediments to converting rain forest into farmland.. However,
this process was rather expensive and a financial risky business,
at least for a conservative banker.
On one edge of my rainforest, there were about 5 acres of secondary
growth, which I cleared and started experimenting with the production
of pineapple and pepper.
After several years of unproductive, experimental agricultural
ventures, I still was not sure what to do with my property.
I had numerous ideas as to how to make it productive, but none
of them seemed to be the right one. At the same time, I had
to resist the temptation to sell the trees to loggers and sawmills.
For several years I basically did nothing while I waited for
a better idea to come to mind. The idea was given to me by a
friend at a cocktail party in San José. He suggested
that instead of cutting down the rain forest, I should convert
it into a reserve and make it accessible to tourists interested
in nature. He proposed that I develop some trails through the
forest to increase its accessibility and to build a small facility
for housing guests. It was now 1989 and I was about to invest
in one of the first ecotourism developments in the country.
Initially, I built a wooden structure consisting of four rustic
rooms. Because the electricity grid was still many kilometers
away, I installed solar panels.. After two years of lobbying
the villages of Boca Tapada, Santa Rita and the Lodge were finally
connected to public electricity. We now have not only electricity,
but also a phone with internet access to the rest of the world.
After two years of favorable comments from visitors, I decided
to expand my project into an economically self-sustaining lodge
with twenty rooms. I formally opened for business in November
1992.
It was not easy to maintain an adequate occupancy rate. Although
a large German Travel Agency provided 25 tourists a week for
a 2 night stay, the remainder of the week the lodge was usually
empty. Only during the last two years we were able to raise
the occupancy rate to a satisfactory level.
I now understand why Eco-Tourism is still more a myth than a
reality. Although the word “Eco” has become quite
fashionable in reality people prefer or are dragged by so called
Eco-Travel agencies, to the same old overcrowded mass tourists
resorts. The true “Off the Beaten Track” isolated
eco-lodges have a hard time to make ends meet. Many environmental
organizations have contributed to this trend by over-emphasizing
these popular overcrowded places. The best examples in Costa
Rica of these luxury eco-tourism destinations are: Monteverde,
Tortuguero and Manuel Antonio. Over the years these areas have
developed into mass tourism locations and over-development is
now threatening to destroy the natural habitat that attracted
tourism in the first place.
The building of the lodge in terms of economic return on capital
was not the prime purpose. It was my desire to make a contribution
to the development of this remote and neglected region.
In addition to the 275 acres of Rainforest I acquired additional
500 acres of pasture land and secondary forestland in front
of the rainforest and after experimenting several years as cattle
farmer, I realized that this was an expensive hobby and reforested
a part, left the larger part as natural re-growth under a Government
supervised forest protection plan, and planted 22 Ha. with “Heart
of Palms” in order not only to satisfy my agricultural
instinct but also to maintain an equilibrium between conversation
and productive use of land for the employment of the local people.
Why do we consider this story so special? First,
if I had not have bought this land, the loggers would have cut
down the rain forest. Second, if I had not built the Hotel,
I probably would not have resisted the pressure to sell the
wood to the sawmills and the rain forest would have been gone
too. But most striking is the economic impact the Lodge has
made on the area, the development of the region, its people
and the awareness of what “ecology really means”.
The Lodge employs 10 people of which five are women. All, but
the Manager who has to speak 3 languages(Spanish, English and
German), come from the nearby village. At the adjoining farm
we give employment to an additional four workers. During the
high tourist season, two part time cleaning women are hired
and during the heart of palm harvesting, about twice a month,4
additional part-time farm workers are hired. This makes the
Lodge with the farm the largest employer in an area plagued
with unemployment.
The Lodge has not only created direct employment,
but also indirect income to new small enterprises. A local fellow
bought himself two river motor boats, with our financial assistance
and we contract him for the boat tours offered to our guests
on the San Carlos and San Juan rivers. He has repaid us the
first loan and several follow-up loans and operates a prosperous
business, giving service not only to our guests, but also to
other people. The small restaurant at the border post at the
confluence of the San Carlos and San Juan rivers, practically
lives from the guests the Lodge brings to this remote place
on the boat trips. The owner of the restaurant in Boca Tapada
sold it, bought himself a Mini- Van and transports now our tourists
from the Hotel to La Fotuna. This tourist transportation business
is more profitable than the restaurant business, especially
also since many families left the village due to lack of employment
opportunities with a consequent negative effect on the bar and
restaurant business. Also the local carpenter practically lives
from the Lodge, doing furniture and repair work. All the other
small stores and bars also benefit, since the guests go quite
often to the village festivities.
The Lodge has not only opened the door for the tourists to see
the new world of a rainforest, but has offered its employees
the opportunity to see the world outside. Our cook, Adolfo,
a refugee from Nicaragua, started as a simple farm worker. By
shear accident we discovered his talent for cooking, sent him
to the next town’s restaurant for training and he developed
into an excellent cook. All guests praise his culinary art,
to the extent that a German tourist liked it so much that he
invited him for three months to Germany, all expenses paid,
to bring the “Costarican Cuisine” to the Old World.
It was an incredible experience for Adolfo who never had seen
an airplane from inside and had barely visited San Jose and
what he least dreamed was to fly once to Europe.
Another example is our first local tourist guide, Oscar, who
comes from a nearby small farm family. We sent him to San Jose
to take English lessons, then, through my Rotary connections,
he was invited for two months by a Rotary family in the United
States to improve his English and now he speaks it fluently
and has turned into an excellent tourist and birdwatchers’
guide.
For two years in a row we gave him a 3 ½ months leave
of absence during the low-season to go to the U.S.A. as trainee
to a canoeing company which met Oscar on one of their tours
to our Lodge. The third year he resigned and worked for 2 years
for this canoeing company in the USA. He then resigned, .returned
to Costa Rica and formed his own canoeing company in La Fortuna,
“Canoa Aventura” ,and after only 2 years in operation,
it is quite successful. Oscar worked with us 6 years, after
he left us we hired his brother Faubricio who went through a
similar training period and also became and excellent bilingual
tourist guide. He worked with us 3 years and left us recently
to join his brother in his new adventure. Now we are training
another bright fellow from the village who shows very good potential.
We have sent him also for one month to San José to take
an English course and the volunteers from the USA we have at
the Lodge continue to teach him with good results.
At first we were very disappointed of having lost in a row two
very good guides whom we have trained so hard and have spent
so many resources. But then we felt proud having giving two
young bright fellows the opportunity to break the circle of
poverty to become fully bilingual tourist guides and being able
to form their own company.
As already indicated, I am member of the San Jose Rotary Club
and through our connections with the Clubs in the U.S.A., we
are sponsoring five schools in this area, all of them rather
remote and very poor, lacking the most basic supplies. We brought
two years in a row a group of four Rotarian Dentists from the
U.S.A. to Boca Tapada with all their equipment to give for three
days free dental service to the people in the area.
The example of the Hotel has convinced our
neighbor to maintain 1000 acres of rainforest, so that our Lodge
is actually surrounded by 1250 acres of prime privately owned
rainforest.
As already mentioned, due to the presence of the Hotel, we could
convince the State-owned Electricity Company to connect the
village and the Hotel with the public electricity net. The Hotel
was also instrumental in improving the road, and last but not
least, our example brought a new sense of self-confidence to
the people. At the beginning, when I built the Hotel, they were
very skeptical, and thought it a crazy idea. No tourist will
come to this Godforsaken place. But when they saw the success,
the village people now come to us for advice on all kinds of
new projects they want to implement to create new employment.
They are proud, that Boca Tapada appears now on all the maps
and in most of the international tourist guides and that it
even appears on international T.V. programs. Last but not least,
a local businessman has recently built a new small Hotel not
far from ours.. This clearly demonstrates that eco-tourism definitely
can contribute to ameliorate poverty, by creating employment
and especially by bringing awareness to the people that there
exists a better way to overcome poverty than working with the
Machete. It is however absolutely necessary, that the Hotel
employs to the maximum extend possible local people and if trained
people are not available to make the effort to train them. We
would not have been able to establish such an excellent relation
with the local community if we would not have done exactly this.
However a small Hotel can not resolve the problems of a whole
region. It can only be a focal point to attract more investors.
We need the assistance of the Government to improve the infrastructure
and the schools. Not even 5% of the children of the five schools
of this area have access to high school education, some schools
are more than 30miles away from a high school and without any
bus service. Education remains the key to development. Eco-tourism
can be a door opener and facilitator but cannot resolve all
the problems. I give you two examples. At the beginning when
my main attention was on farming, I offered the son of my caretaker
to go to the provincial agricultural college and I would finance
him to get his bachelor degree in agriculture. He was not interested
and preferred to continue to work with the machete which he
is still doing today. In the other case we offered a fellow
a scholarship to go to the high school under the condition that
he would work on Saturday half a day as gardener. He did this
for a couple of weeks and then he resigned since he wanted the
scholarship but for free. If you do not have a minimum amount
of ambitions to overcome poverty there is nothing you can do.
What a contrast to Oscar and Faubricio and our cook Adolfo,
mentioned above. Probably ambition you are born with but I am
sure a lot can be acquired at or stimulated by good schooling.
Eco-tourism can adjust to the requirements of a sustainable
development but it has to remain true to its real meaning. If
tourism is polarized like in Costa Rica to few overcrowded places,
were people stand in line, like in Disney World to enter a nature
reserve then, I think eco-tourism becomes or remains a farce.
Unfortunately many ecological organizations, instead of looking
for the isolated small lodges where you can enjoy nature at
your own pace, bring the people to these overcrowded areas.
The prevailing mentality still is: you have to spent your vacation
in a fashionable crowded place with fancy and expensive Hotels.
Do not even think to go to a small isolated place relax and
recuperate your energy in community with nature. I can cite
numerous so called Eco-Hotels who charge $200.-.-and more per
night per person and get all the public and international attention.
I think true eco tourism means to go back to nature. Eco-Hotels
have to remain small, mass tourism and overcrowded places are
incompatible with Eco- Tourism and tourist have to be prepared
to forsake, at least for a couple of days all excessive luxury
and be contend with a clean and simple room. The big companies
offer their employees Incentive Tours to fancy 5 star luxury
hotels, but would not dream giving incentive tours to small
isolated nature lodges where employees would regain time to
gather strength and peace to their bodies and mind. Once this
will take place and Incentive Tours are given to small nature
lodges, Eco-Tourism will become a reality.
Mind you, I am not against mass tourism and
fancy Hotel-Resorts, the country needs and welcomes the foreign
exchange these large Resorts bring to the country. Anybody can
choose according to his taste and means but if you want to practice
eco-tourism you should also spent a couple of nights in a true
Eco-lodge in an isolated area and pay respect to Mother Nature.
We, at Laguna del Lagarto Lodge”, are very proud to have
proven how tourism can contribute to the development of a poor
isolated area, how local people, through this example, have
learned to value the richness of the rainforest and how we,
in some way, have contributed to the awareness, that to maintain
and preserve the rainforest for future generations, can be more
profitable than cutting it down and, thus, destroying its beauty
with all its exuberant flora and fauna.
We also feel very proud for having received
from the official Costarrican Tourist Board, ICT, the recognition
as a sustainable tourist establishment with level 4 out of a
maximum of 5 levels. Mind you, the criteria are so strict that
up to now only two establishments have obtained the Nr. 5 level
and only 4 including our Lodge have reached the Nr.4 level and
these are all luxury lodges we are the only small lodge who
has received this distinction at level 4.
Before closing I like to direct your attention
to “ The New Approach to Save The Rainforests Through
Ownership” which you will find in detail in : www.protect-rainforests.org
In short, what I did is to form a new company, called Bosque
Lluvioso San Carlos S. A. .and transferred the 100 hectares
(250 acres ) of rainforests to this new company as its only
asset. This company issued 1000 common shares and 1000 preferred
shares. The common shares gives the owner all the rights of
a common shareholder and the preferred share gives the holder
1000 square meters of the rainforest in ownership. These shares
are combined in a share certificate and can be acquired for
US$250.
This is a pilot project and the idea is that this project is
being imitated all over the world especially in small communities
where members own small pieces of rainforests. They can preserves
it by putting these pieces in such a share company and sell
the shares.
Thank you very much for your attention!
Vinzenz A. Schmack
LA LAGUNA DEL LAGARTO LODGE
P. O. BOX: 995 - 1007 San
José, Costa Rica
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