Projects > Community Projects
Click the link to the right to jump to community projects supported by each partner company.
Rainforest Expeditions
Founded in 1989 by Peruvian biologists Eduardo Nycander and Kurt Holle, Rainforest Expeditions now operates three award-winning ecolodges in the Peruvian Amazon. The lodges use low-impact construction and offer spectacular views of primary forest and local wildlife, including butterflies, Macaws, and many species of monkeys.
Through a profit-sharing partnership with the nearby indigenous community, Rainforest Expeditions channels income and skills-training toward local families. In 1995, Rainforest Expeditions came to an agreement with the community to built a new lodge on their territory, called Posada Amazonas (now one of three lodges in operation by Rainforest Expeditions). The lodge infrastructure would belong to the community, and profits would be split 60/40 between the community and the company. In 2017, the whole operation would roll over to community control. Presently, community members form part of the ranks of staff and guides at the lodges, lending their own authentic local knowledge to the process of interpretation for visitors. Such jobs allow them firsthand involvement in a business enterprise designed to sustain their environment as well as their way of life.
Rainforest Expeditions supports a number of philanthropic projects in the area:
- The Infierno Ecotourism Fund supports the town's school system, building new school infrastructure and expanding academic opportunities for the region's children. A craft collective is also supported through this venture, providing local artisans with tools and training to use their traditional crafts for income generation.
- The Centro Ñape Ethnobotanical Center provides traditional medicinal services and cultural events to community members, and guided tours of the botanical gardens for visitors.
- Ecorosco Port supports the families near the visitor boat docks, who provide land and infrastructure for the transportation of visitors to and from the lodges.
- The Inala Fruit Plant bottles traditional fruit juices from the region, which Rainforest Expeditions preferentially purchases to provide to their guests. This project supports local economies that protect natural forest resources rather than depleting them through logging or mining.
To make a donation to one of these projects, click here:
Include the project name or Rainforest Expeditions when prompted to specify the recipient of your donation.
Nature Air
Nature Air began in 2000 with just a single aircraft. Through the dedication of its staff and leadership, the company has grown steadily to become one of leading national airlines of Costa Rica.
At all levels of the decision making process, Nature Air strives for sustainability, from staff training practices to the environmental considerations that go into the composition of the aircraft fleet. Conscious of their role in carbon emissions and climate change, the company took charge of analyzing their carbon outputs, and investigating offset options within Costa Rica. They then began an investment partnership with solar and wind farms producing clean energy. As a result, in January 2006, Nature Air became the world's first carbon-neutral airline.
Since 2002, Nature Air has also been supporting a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of low-income children in Costa Rica. The airline founded the organization, called NatureKids, to provide English reading and writing skills to local children. Originally housed in a single class room in the city of San Jose, the program now boasts locations throughout Costa Rica and provides classes for whole families and individuals of all ages. NatureKids is now expanding its educational programs to include water clean up projects and recycling programs, to provide small communities with the skills to work toward sustainability.
To learn more about NatureKids, visit their website, www.naturekids.org.
To make a donation to the NatureKids program, click here:
Include "Nature Air - NatureKids" when prompted to specify the recipient of your donation.
Jungle Bay Dominica
Jungle Bay Resort & Spa (www.junglebaydominica.com) is the brainchild of Dominican born property developer and sustainable development activist Samuel “Sam” Raphael. Jungle Bay’s mission is to enhance the natural environment and improve the livelihood of surrounding communities so that the region is improved in a sustainable way, while providing quality, comfortable nature-based experiences for guests.
The architectural design, planning, construction techniques and operating philosophy are based on principles of fostering social and rural economic development while preserving the culture and natural environment. Jungle Bay is the fulfillment of Sam Raphael’s lifelong dream to demonstrate the financial viability of a tourism investment that provides jobs and economic advancement opportunities for residents of Dominica while preserving the heritage and quality of life of the host community. Sam’s wife Glenda, also Dominican born, is a social worker turned wedding planner & Yoga teacher. Together this innovative couple has been leading the way in the emerging Caribbean Community Tourism Movement. Jungle Bay’s 55-acre site consists of 35 cottages perched in the rainforest canopy on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean. The award winning project has been endorsed as a sustainable tourism innovation and leader in poverty alleviation by numerous international publications.
Jungle Bay Community Fund
Donations from guests, staff and owners of the resort have gone directly to important community initiatives, some of which include:
The ‘House of Hope’: a center for social development serving the entire southeast of Dominica. It is community driven and Jungle Bay has adopted it as a priority project since the community is unable to initiate significant fundraising and did not have the capacity to manage the growth of the project. Jungle Bay owners Sam and Glenda Raphael along with several staff are committee members dedicating numerous hours and the required skills needed to develop the project. The House of Hope Center will eventually have 3 major sections as follows:
Phase I (to be complete by Dec. 2008) – A 12-bed facility for disabled orphan children.
Phase II – A facility for indigent elderly persons. Dominica has the highest number of centenarians in the world. However with HIV and other social issues there are often no family members to care for elders.
Phase III – A safe home for battered women and children in crisis.
To make a donation to the House of Hope, click here:
Include "Jungle Bay - House of Hope" when prompted to specify the recipient of your donation.
Country Walkers
Country Walkers has led customized walking tours since 1979, now visiting some 70 countries worldwide. They strive to preserve the environment and give back to communities in each of their destinations. They frequently give back to communities both on a small scale (donations to parks and museums they visit) and on a large scale – by sponsoring community efforts:
The Patacancha Dormitory Project began in 2001, when a Country Walkers tour visited with the people of Patachancha, a small village 13,000 feet in the Andes. Moved by the tremendous spirit of those they encountered, guests began asking our guide, “What would this village need?” Our guide, a Peruvian native with more than two decades of guiding experience, asked the Patacancha school principal. He suggested that a dormitory would be a tremendous help to local children in the remote Ollantaytambo district of the Urubamba Valley, the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The school draws students from five surrounding communities. With no public transportation in the region, and a challenging trek by foot amidst chilly temperatures from autumn through spring, low class attendance and retention rates are the norm.
Today, Country Walkers and its guests have donated enough money to fund a two-story, five-room building complete with a basic kitchen. The dormitory is quite modern by local standards, and doubles as a community center and health center. It has electricity (lacking in most village dwellings) and space enough for 20 students during the week. Country Walkers guests have also brought along school supplies and even hand-made quilts for the children.
As we continue to support the estimated 120 students of Patacancha, our projects have grown to include:
- Computers for students – the school has 14, and hopes to have one per student.
- Stocking the new trout farm.
- Outfitting classrooms with sufficient desks and chairs.
- Starting a lunch donation program for the entire school year.
- Starting a sustainable guinea pig and chicken farm, providing meals and valuable skills.
- Building additional toilet facilities and repairing existing ones.
- Purchasing large colored trash containers to introduce the children to recycling.
To make a donation to the Patacancha Dormitory Project, click here:
Include "Country Walkers - Patacancha" when prompted to specify the recipient of your donation.
This page was last updated March 20, 2008