Wildlife vacations in Brazil, tailormade

In order to protect against the ever increasing ‘arc of deforestation’ to the south and add to the corridor of protected areas in Southern Amazonia rainforest is purchased by the owners of Rio Cristalino Jungle Lodge as it becomes available to manage as a Private Natural Heritage Reserve. The land the lodge is built on and some of the surrounding forest (a total of 700 ha) is in private ownership, and 7,150 ha of rainforest on the opposite side of the Cristalino River is currently being purchased. Including in the cost of the stay at the lodge is a $25 per person ‘wildlife preservation fee’ paid to the Cristalino Ecological Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation and development of sustainable practises in the southern Amazon.

Our local operator in Brazil reinforces practices considered fundamental for environmental conservation and works to inform visitors, local staff and the population in general. They are one of the country leaders in ecotourism and one of the company directors is president of the Brazilian Bureau of Ecotourism. The company was founded to supply nature studies trips for students in the preserved areas of the country such as the Amazon and Pantanal. Though the company now also has an incoming tourism department there is still a very active study trips department. They strongly believe that these trips should promote the sensitivity of students towards nature preservation, present and promote models and techniques of sustainable exploration of natural resources and stimulate the sponsorship of local projects. The contact between urban students and local communities brings a possibility of development of other social and economic relations that value cultures and, at the same time, their peoples.

For every person that travels with the company, it plants trees through The Travel Forest initiative. Depending on where they plant and the requirement of the specific area, they plant either indigenous trees or a mix of indigenous and non-native species. Planting non-native seedlings may seem counter-intuitive but doing this can often help any remaining indigenous forest from being cut down (e.g. for fuel) as some non-native trees grow much more quickly than indigenous types. They particularly aim to save ancient or older indigenous forest, through offering an alternative option for fuel requirements of local communities. In addition to this benefit, their Travel Forest initiative helps with such things as planting for water-course retention, soil erosion, shade and even food – all depending on what is planted and where. They have planted almost 100,000 trees to date in various degraded locations including the Andean mountains in Peru, northern Tanzania and Malawi. This has always been done in conjunction with the local communities who plant and then tend the seedlings. Trees are far more important to the health of this planet (and us) than many people imagine. This global Travel Forest initiative can and does make a big difference.