Ecotourism Vilcabamba Ecuador

Ecotourism, finding ways for people to respect and live harmoniously with nature

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Las Palmas
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Cabaņas Rio Yambala are dedicated to promoting Ecotourism in the Vilcabamba area, a tourism compatible with the area and benificial to the local community and ecology. To date our projects for this cause have included:

• Designing and constructing our cabins that they be in harmony with nature, using local materials, construction methods and labor and minimizing the use of non-renewable construction materials.

• Aiming to work with the community offering jobs, training and responsibility.

• Encouraging nature based activities by producing a folder of self-guided maps for local hikes in the rio yambala area.

• Compiling amature bird guides for the Río Yambala and Las Palmas Areas

• Constructing an educational relief map representing the Vilcabamba watershed.

• Promoting day horsetrekks and eco-adventure trips, using local guides and their horses.

• Encouraging visits to places of local and cultural interest.

• Our biggest project has been the purchase of the Las Palmas farm, 400 hectares of primary cloud forest, adjacent to and part of the Podocarpus National Park. The farm is in the process of being declared a "protected forest" to ensure that it's cloud forest, it's flora and fauna, will be preserved forever. The area helps provide a buffer zone for the Podocarpus park, which is largely unprotected in this region, thus closing access to hunters, loggers and destructive farming methods, thereby also protecting the Vilcabamba watershed.
  In order to provide the income to maintain this reserve it has been opened to tourism. We have trained and capacitated locals to act as guides and encourage them to rent their horses for excursions, thus providing a new source of income within the community.
  To encourage conservation and research initiatives, the reserve is open, free of charge, to research scientists in exchange for educational material, presented in a form that we can pass on to our guests, that they leave with a better understanding of the local environment and culture.
  In order to promote the area initially our equiptment and guides were provided free to anyone wishing to visit the area. We have improved trails and bridges to improve access to the area and have constructed an ecolodge for our guests. Materials used in the construction of the lodge aim to balance both ecological sensitivity with creature comforts.
  We hope that an increased interest in the area will help check the destruction in lower parts of the valley and eventually bring in revenue for the Park.