Eco Lodges Around The World To Indulge For A Unique Stay
Leading a normal is what each and everyone deserves. They want a peaceful life down by the countryside with a nice little house sitting on the patio and watching the sunset. Well, life does have another side to it. There is another kind of life you can wish to enjoy. Like a coin has two sides so does living life has two sides. There are some who prefer to enjoy a nomadic life, a life not with security but with thrills and enjoyment. Traveling comes with responsibility with a conscious impact on the local people and environment sacrificing the urban comforts and staying in rustic places in the lap of nature.
Around the world, there are various offbeat corners of the globe. Certain eco-luxury accommodations around the world also offer incredible travel experiences helping to be committed to the planet. Just imagine in the silence of the forest, one can hear their own heart beating and somewhere in the distance, there will be two shining eyes which will be moving swiftly searching for its prey. Deep in the wilderness, there may be a village that had been abandoned by all but there are just five people searching for wild boars and porcupines who usually threaten their crops. There may be a situation where you may get leopards and wild animals lurking outside for company. Trust me the experience can be totally extraordinary.
Here are some of the exclusive yet indulging luxury adventures set right in offbeat corners of the globe. Stay in these eco-luxury accommodations around can offer incredible travel experiences helping you to be committed to the planet.
1. Bali Eco Stay: Bali, Indonesia
Now drop the idea of staying in a popular resort and switch to staying in a sleepy little village where there are rice farmers overflowing with tourists, villas, and traffic as well as sad patches of rice paddies. But if you wish to see the Bali of your dreams then the best option is surely Bali Eco Stay in Tabanan. Savoring the best of Bali can be experienced here.
So many things here of the native will remind you of real Bali– endless rice fields, village folk who do not lock their doors, mountain spring water tasting better than bottled water.
Enjoy hiking on the southern slopes of Mount Batukaru, try spending some dreamy days here by hiking along rice terraces and cacao plantations then feasting on the delicious and organic farm-to-table Balinese food searching for fireflies very late into the night. There you can get a private waterfall all to yourselves which will effectively power nearly 60% of the lodge’s clean hydroelectric power!
These bungalows at Bali Eco Stay are built by local craftsmen with the use of recycled timber. There is own permaculture garden as well as organic rice paddies which will run a garbage collection program in various 3 local villages as well as trains staff from surrounding villages.
2. Grand Oak Manor: Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary, India
The Grand Oak Manor is the proud mother of Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary. This estate was bought by Henry Ramsay, the British Commissioner to Kumaon in the middle of the 1800s. He also had some other pieces of land for his friends. He then declared the forest area protected where no one has been allowed for buying land or build since. This eco-friendly estate will offer glimpses of snow-capped Himalayas right from the terrace and eat delicious traditional Kumaoni dishes which are rare to find even in Kumaon. Enjoy hiking with a local guide to the friendly forest villages of Binsar and be surrounded by nothing but dense forest.
Grand Oak Manor is powered by solar energy and most of its growth from its produce again gives training and hires staff right from villages of Kumaon. You can also enjoy multi-day village walks near Binsar along with overnight stays at traditional Kumaoni home stays by village families.
3. Black Sheep Inn: Andes, Ecuador
There are very few places in the world where there are nothing but the mountains and you at this exclusive place. Driving off in Chugchilan, a remote outpost at over 10,000 feet, you can truly feel the mountains. Hike along precarious and panoramic ridges right along the crater of the stunning Quilotoa Lake in the mountain meadows with local shepherds.
Enjoy shared moments at Black Sheep Inn, a place to enjoy blissfully disconnected from the modern world. This Black Sheep Inn literally brought tourism with employment opportunities. The lodge gets its power from solar and winds energy with a zero-waste policy along with dry-decomposing toilets.
4. Forsyth Lodge: Satpura National Park, India
There are various types of wildlife lodges right around Central India but the stay you can experience at Forsyth Lodge in the buffer zone of Satpura Tiger Reserve will surely surpass them all. To focus on the tourism in the Satpura National Park, this lodge was built with earthy luxury with inspired architecture which drew right in. One can spend days walking, canoeing, cycling with sloth bears and leopards with highlights like drinking ‘mahua-tinis’ right under the starry night skies and enjoying the stories of the wild.
Just 10% of the land in Forsyth Lodge is used for building and it has effectively worked over the years for transforming various barren acres with shrubs and trees. Right from the produce, the local farmers and various support staff are trained as well as employed right from the villages.
5. Limalimo Lodge: Simien Mountains, Ethiopia
One of the exclusive memories of Ethiopia is hiking right through the exclusive Simien Mountains and spotting gelada monkeys and also white-headed Ravens and then sharing homemade beer and injera with locals with round eucalyptus on the rural countryside. The contribution to all this goes to Limalimo Lodge contributing significantly to tourism in remote Limalimo village. Seek solitude at the edge of the escarpment where there is the lodge and enjoy the rugged cliffs in the fascinating country.
This exclusive Limalimo Lodge is built with the use of rammed earth and other local eco-sensitive building techniques. Here wastewater is reused with solar energy powers as part of the lodge with the local community closely involved.
6. Tsermang Eco Camp: Ladakh, India
Given all thanks to irresponsible tourism, Leh has succumbed to trash and traffic. But right on the outskirts of the city, in the backdrop of the beautiful Stok Kangri peak is the environmentally-conscious oasis which is called Tsermang which is popularly set up by Frenchman Laurie. It was the first stop where you should stop in Ladakh with the altitude with tea right on the shores of the pristine Indus River giving a beautiful picture of the Ladakhi village right next door giving an idea about how water is conserved in the cold mountain desert.
Tsermang Eco Camp is a summer-only camp where there are no permanent building materials. Right from bedsheets to food, there is almost everything which is organically sourced with the luxurious bathroom designed with water conversation in mind.
7. Gal Oya Lodge: Gal Oya National Park, Sri Lanka
Just imagine experiencing a situation where you can imagine wild elephants swimming from island to island in a river in Gal Oya National Park. You will surely love to visit that place. This is one of the fascinating reasons for visiting this remote part of eastern Sri Lanka. Get up close and meet the last generation of indigenous Vedda people who grew in caves deep in the forest with so extraordinary power that they can smell the coming of an elephant in the wind.
This exclusive lodge hires some of the most notorious poachers right as their staffs who know not only the forests better than anyone but act as the park’s guardians as their living depends on it. These are a brilliant chance to protect wild Asian elephants.
8. Lakshman Sagar: Rajasthan, India
Eco-luxury in India is not much favored but with Lakshman Sagar, it is surely an exception. This place is not like the touristy bits of Rajasthan but instead is a 19th-century hunting lodge that uses the zero kilometer concept to source everything right from building materials to interior designs collected from the surrounding villages of Pali which are luxurious yet comfortable. Here lies a big rock pool which is excellently carved of a single rock. Now if you a fan of rich and spicy food indulge in traditional Rajasthani food. The rocky terrain of the Aravalis is waiting for you to be hiked with watching the wild peacocks dance right on the roof on the once Zenana ( women’s quarter).
These lavish cottages are built with locally sourced wood, stone, and mud preserving the culture of Rajasthan is intact. The architecture will surely marvel at you.
9. Feynan Eco lodge: Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan
The Bedouins community has fast evolved in recent times. Meeting the new generation of them in Wadi Rum is certainly not the same if you are to be hosted by traditional nomads deep in the stark as well as barren Dana Biosphere Reserve. The exclusive lodge Feynan Ecolodge offers an exclusive opportunity to one and all with the exclusive Milky Way and starry skies which still date remain a compass for these nomads which you can ponder sipping tea right in the temporary tent home of any local Bedouin family. Spend a day at leisure with waterfalls in remote canyons helping you gather some of the fondest memories of Jordan.
