Top ten destinations for eco-minded travelers for 2014 (part 1)
There are definitely lots of potential travelers out there who want to make as little an environmental impact as possible whilst traveling and that’s why we’re making this list of destinations for eco-minded travelers for 2014, but keep in mind these are just ten of hundreds if not thousands of such destinations around the globe.
Lapa Rios, Peninsula de Osa – Costa Rica
Lapa Rios is an eco-lodge inspired by a family of scarlet macaws flying across the jungle backdrop. Going there you will experience how the flock of macaws creates a virtual river made of red, orange, yellow, green and blue. The eco-lodge looks out over the Golfo Dulce, a tropical fjord in which whales and dolphins nurse their young in nutrient-rich, blue waters.
The lodge is located in a private nature reserve which acts as a bugger for Costa Rica’s remote Parque Nacional Corcovado, made up of sixteen bungalows which feature four-poster beds, garden showers and private decks lining ridges rising above the rainforest. The place also has a great pool and a palm-thatched restaurant.
One particular feature of the lodge is its spiral staircase which leads up to a panoramic viewing platform from where you can take in the atmosphere of the canopy.
Bulungula Backpackers, Dwesa Nature Reserve – South Africa
The road of Bulungula leaves the highway near Qunu – the village where Nelson Mandela spent most of his childhood – andthen turns south into the heartland of the Xhosa through collections of freshly painted rondavels that dot the green rolling hills. The end of the road will have you meeting the Bulungula River emptying into the Indian Ocean.
The Bulungula Lodge is made up of a group of traditionally designed rondavels which are actually owned in partnership with the adjoining community. This is the place to visit if you’re looking for a place to unqind and disconnect, and stay off the grid, any grid. The place is completely solar- and wind-powered and features rocket showers – rainwater heated by lighting paraffin at the bottom of the a pipe.
