We feel that we truly do make a difference in our community. When we arrived in Belize 20 years ago, we joined in by sending our children (5 daughters) to local schools, making friends in the community, trying to set a good example by not overtaxing the land. We have tried to be ethical in all of our business dealings and encourage the same in others. We've taken our turn serving on various tourism industry boards, being active in Belize Organic Producers' Association, working with local farmers, etc. We have always been promoters of conservation and right from the beginning have had an organic property, composted vegetable matter and educated our staff on conservation issues.
Guests have been kept informed of our policies and, in fact, have given great advice on many occasions. We created a botanic garden in order to conserve flora of Belize and to educate local students about environmental issues and promote conservation, as well as to provide a place of peace and quiet for people to visit and enjoy. We use the term "Eco-tourism" as a way of life, not a catchphrase. We're not there yet, but we're workin' on it.
Our electricity is provided by a combination of generator and batteries. Used vegetable oil is collected from restaurants and hotels and filtered for direct use as fuel. This serves the dual purpose of recycling used oil that would normally be put in the dump and providing a low-cost source of fuel which helps keeps expenses down.
Environmentally friendly cleaning products are used and no pesticides are used either at the lodge or in the botanic gardens. The bar serves sodas and beer in returnable bottles and dispenses purified water from five-gallon jugs. Re-useable containers are used for picnic lunches and the straw in your drink is really a long noodle.
Buildings are roofed with tile instead of thatch. Though picturesque, the palm leaf gathered to make thatch is not replanted and the leaves are gathered from the wild. Unsustainable collecting practices endanger the population of the palm. There is a farmed plot of the bay leaf palm used for thatch in the Belize Botanic Gardens for later thatching projects and to provide seed for others that would like to grow the palm as a crop that does not require the clearing of rainforest to plant. Where's the beef? Not here. We reckon anyone can survive for a few days without red meat.
Cattle are responsible for a lot of destroyed rainforest, cleared to provide pasture and to plant food for them. More land is needed to provide food for the cows than humans. The land they graze is often allowed to become over grazed causing erosion problems. (We are too polite to go into their little methane problem.) We also try to lessen our waste in general by not using disposable or single use containers and products as much as possible. We compost our fruit, vegetable and stable waste and feed it to the garden plants.
Future plans include on-site water purification, solar heated water, re-use of grey water, solar cooling and vegetable oil conversion for vehicle use. Suggestions from guests are welcome and many have been used.
We invite every traveler who books a vacation via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the vacations they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same vacation can have different views!
