Lapa Rios Ecolodge in Costa Rica Fulfills the Promise of Ecotourism

A scientific study published in February 2010 by the Journal of Ecotourism and conducted by Stanford University validates the conservation and community development work done by Lapa Rios. The study tested whether Lapa Rios delivers on the pledges to promote responsible travel to natural areas, to make a positive contribution to environmental conservation, and to enhance the wellbeing of local communities. The researchers from Stanford University that spent several months in the Osa come to the conclusion that Lapa Rios Ecolodge has made impressive contributions to local livelihoods since its beginnings in 1992. It has met this goal by a concerted effort to purchase local goods and services, by providing full-time positions and by supporting education, reforestation and other community projects within the Osa Peninsula.

Interested in more details of the study? Read more here.

Do you like Cilantro?

Page rank	5

Our general manager Juan is showing off the cilantro plantation at Lapa Rios. We cook a lot of beans and the endemic “cilantro coyote” has to be in there to give it the right flavor. Hard to believe but all of the cilantro that you see in the picture is hardly enough to supply the hotel restaurant and the staff restaurant providing food for the 60 Lapa Rios employees. Oh, in case you did not know, we cook the beans on bio-gas generated by our pig’s manure that feed on leftovers. Nothing goes to waste.

The Rubber Tree

In Costa Rica the family Moraceae has two species of rubber trees. The (Castilla tunu) and the (Castilla elastica) in the Peninsula de Osa. This tree is one of the most common trees in the Lapa Rios Reserve located between the Golfo Dulce and Corcovado National Park. You can find it both in the primary and the secondary rainforest.

In the past this tree was used to manufacture al kind of rubber products. Nowadays most of the rubber used is sintethic rubber. The saps of this tree witch is called latex, is extracted by making an zigzag incision in the bark of the tree, this latex is boiled and mixed with sulphur. The tree itself also attracts a lot of birds and animals in times when it produces fruits.