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Lapa Rios Ecolodge and Wildland Adventures Story
By Kurt Kutay and Karen Lewis
Introduction to the Lapa Rios Ecolodge Story
In 1990 two former peace corps volunteers, John and Karen Lewis, an attorney and professional concert musician, abandoned their suburban lives in Minnesota, liquidated all personal assets, and used the proceeds to finance the creation of a reserve with over 1,000 acres of mostly primary rainforest, with enormous biodiversity value in the remote Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica.
To support the maintenance of this private reserve and provide sustainable economic activity to the local community, they hired an architect with a special practice in ecological design to help them create a small upscale wilderness lodge called Lapa Rios in 1993.
That is when Wildland Adventures' owners, Kurt and Anne Kutay met John and Karen when Kurt was on the Board of Directors of the International Ecotourism Society. Lapa Rios in Osa Peninsula was precisely the kind of experience Wildland Adventures offered, both in terms of the exclusive guest experience in nature as well as the environmental and social operation of the lodge.
A Model of Ecotourism
Today Lapa Rios eco lodge is one of the most renowned and successful ecotourism operations in the world. This "story" has had enormous appeal to our guests and all visitors of Lapa Rios resort. Working together, including you as our travelers and guests at Lapa Rios, in partnership we can all make an extraordinary difference in the conservation of wilderness and in the lives of people who live in and around such wilderness.
Lapa Rios not only has become a recognized name in the field of ecotourism, but also serves as an important showcase. It is a showcase for guests, who have shown loyalty to Lapa Rios as "a project" they believe in. This is demonstrated by many repeat guests we have sent there, and by the fact that most guests report coming to Lapa Rios hotel the first time because of a word-of-mouth recommendation.
Lapa Rios resort Costa Rica is a functioning model of ecotourism and sustainable development. A 1000-acre private reserve close to the Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula offers miles of trails and spectacular waterfalls. The project demonstrates that "a forest left standing is more valuable than a forest cut down," serving and teaching a remote community new life-skills and professional opportunities. The private reserve offers excellent viewing of thousands of species of trees, plants, birds (over 320 identified species), insects and mammals in Central America 's largest remaining tropical lowland forest.
Guests
North Americans make up 80% of the current market of guests at Lapa Rios ecolodge Costa Rica. Depending on the time of the year they range in the age of 30 to 65 years, during traditional vacation times accompanied by school age children. They live on the West Coast, the North East and other large metropolitan areas such as Chicago , Atlanta , Denver and Minneapolis. The remaining 20% of the current target market are made up of Europeans (mostly from Great Britain and Spain) and Costa Ricans from the Central Valley.
Guests are typically professionals, either from upper managerial positions or owners of businesses. Roughly 75% of reservations are derived by word-or-mouth recommendation by many Wildland travelers who have visited Lapa Rios in Costa Rica over the years. Most guests stay 3 or 4 nights at Lapa Rios and complete their 9-12 day Wildland Adventure with one or two other destinations for the best tour to Costa Rica.
Sustainable Tourism
Lapa Rios is working hard to be the best working example of sustainable tourism. The setting of Lapa Rios is what most people in industrialized countries refer to as paradise on earth. However, Lapa Rios has much more to offer than stunning ocean views, lush tropical rainforest and cool drinks by the pool. While staying in Lapa Rios you are able to enjoy a Costa Rica vacation in paradise, and at the same time feel that you are doing something good for the world, while having a learning experience.
By staying at Lapa Rios, we all support the conservation of the rainforest and provide direct employment and income to more than 50 families in the area. In this sense there are two equally salient identities to Lapa Rios: the project and the business. The project is about sustainable development and the business is about funding the project. Neither would exist without the other. The project reflects the "ends" goals while the business reflects the "means" goals.
Conservation
The most important goal of the Lapa Rios project is to ensure the preservation of the primary forest reserve in perpetuity. With this as the "ends" goal, the "means" to achieving it is running a high quality profitable ecolodge operation. A possible expansion of the reserve would be the next step that could be achieved in joint ventures with conservation organizations or multinational companies interested in sustainable development.
Community Development
Along with conservation of the tropical rainforest, the continued development of the local community by providing employment at the hotel and education at the Carbonara School to its members is a very important objective of operating Lapa Rios. Employees of the lodge have been and will continue to be recruited locally.
Awareness
Lapa Rios creates experiences that demonstrate to guests the importance of conservation. These guests share their "conservation epiphanies" with others and by this process new guests come to Lapa Rios for their own experience with conservation, which creates a cycle of self-reinforcing growth for the project.
