Ecotourism reserve offers visitors traditional experience

(16 Nov 2019) LEAD IN:

A community project run by locals in Costa Rica is teaching visitors from across the world how to produce organic food.

It's part of a growing ecotourism trend as tourists seek to lessen the impact of their holidays on the environment and learn sustainable practices.



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Deep in the Juanilama Rainforest Reserve, one can get lost in nature.

Visitors can observe an abundance of wildlife in the Costa Rican rainforest.

The reserve is being looked after by the local community, who took it upon them to conserve their land for future generations.

"We do not want to get lost because it is the only thing we have, it is 19 hectares and for us it is very important. So we began to take care of it for love," says Yamileth Soto of the Juanilama Agroecological Association Foundation.

"After taking care of the reserve for five years, we had the opportunity to think about the development of tourism, but it all started by taking care of the flora and fauna."

The Juanilama Reserve tourism project began as a conservation project 19 years ago.

It aims to protect the area's secondary forest from illegal logging and poaching.

The local community of Juanilama in San Carlos de Alajuela organised to defend the small forest by asking the government declare it a forest reserve and offer them training in nature conservation practices.

They wanted to encourage their neighbours to be self-sustainable and learn to manage their resources so they would not be forced to migrate.

The government provided them with training in creating trails in the reserve, ecotourism, organic and sustainable agriculture, production of organic and biodegradable products such as soap and banana paper.

"In this community we are seven families and we all take care of our property, nature. We are organically sustainable and we are responsible for the use of resources and if each person hears the message and each community gives the example: I think that at some point we will make the difference to combat climate change," says Soto.

When the project first started out the community only received about 5 or 6 people a year, but these days more than 2,000 tourists from around the world visit the reserve.

The project is managed by the women of the community.

"They are teaching the people that are coming here how to be self sustained, what you can do in your own garden instead of supporting the huge companies that are producing using pesticides, what you can do in your own house, that you can grow your own vegetables without pesticides, without any chemicals," says tourist Paulina.

Tourists are also taught to dance in the Tico style and cook traditional Costa Rican food.

There are no hotels, tourists sleep in the families' homes.

"The project it's very, very good. It's very good for the locals and it's very good for us to be involved with people and see the real Costa Rica," says another tourist on the project, Judi.



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AP Archive,4239878,2299fe673ab54bb796529dfaf034da7b,HZ Costa Rica Eco Tourism,Costa Rica,Central America,Latin America and Caribbean,Lifestyle,Environment and nature,Business,