Dispatches from the Field & Project Summaries
Project Summary: Rios Tropicales, Costa Rica
June 4, 2010
Ríos Tropicales, one of Costa Rica’s leading rafting companies, has been a pioneer in sustainable tourism and ecotourism since long before they became buzzwords. The Ríos Tropicales Lodge, located in the scenic Pacuare River Gorge, is built to harmonize with its natural setting. Most Ríos guests arrive and leave by raft, the majority on two- or three-day packages that include lodging and meals. Others do the whole trip down the river in one day.
Rafael Gallo, the founder and president of Ríos Tropicales, is a native El Salvadoran who fell in love with river running while studying in the United States. He came to Costa Rica in the mid-1980s and began building the Ríos Tropicales Lodge in 1990 after purchasing the land from Dina Fuentes, a local woman who raised her family on the banks of the Pacuare River and in the nearby community of Bajos del Tigre (often called simply El Tigre). Fuentes now manages the Ríos Tropicales Lodge, and several of her children work as guides.
The lodge itself is an oasis in the tropical forest, with the rushing river providing the backdrop for a relaxing stay far from roads and other signs of modern urban life. Rooms are simple but comfortable, and meals – served in the thatch-roofed dining pavilion overlooking the river – are delicious, buffet-style spreads.
For Fuentes, the coming of Ríos Tropicales changed her family’s life completely. Before Ríos the family struggled to get by, clearing the land for farming and living by other subsistence activities. Ríos provided not only a good job for Fuentes herself but also expanded the educational and employment opportunities for her children. The family has been an integral part of Ríos Tropicales from the start and is proud to contribute to the conservation of the Pacuare Gorge area. One of the first projects that Ríos initiated was the reforestation of areas that had been cleared. “We had to reforest everything that we ourselves had cleared,” Fuentes says with a laugh, “but everything we had done was out of necessity.”
The sustainability ethic pervades everything Ríos Tropicales does. Ríos guides and staff monitor the protected areas along the river for poaching, deforestation, and other illegal activities. On rafting trips, the guides make very sure that no garbage is left behind at the picnic lunch stop, where guests are asked to separate compostable waste for regular trash. The company is also working with the community of El Tigre on a wide range of sustainable community development projects. Located at the top of the Pacuare Gorge, El Tigre is home to about 25 families that previously made their living through agricultural and hunting activities that had a negative impact on the environment. Ríos Tropicales has worked with the local school to improve school restroom facilities and promote recycling. The company is also working to set up a town-wide waste management center and recycling program. Previously El Tigre residents would simply burn plastic together with other garbage.
A key element of Ríos Tropicales’ work in El Tigre has been helping to develop sustainable local sources of income that benefit the local community and provide incentives for protecting, rather than destroying, rainforest resources. El Tigre resident Javier Mora is the sustainability manager for Ríos Tropicales. He says that sustainability was a new concept for him but that the efforts of Ríos have breathed new life into the community. Mora now works with Ríos on projects such as reforestation, forest protection, waste management, and sustainable tilapia farming. Ríos has also helped build an Internet café to provide a source of income for Mora’s wife, Patricia González, and their daughter, Helen. The Internet café will also provide El Tigre residents with a way to connect with the broader world.
Down the rutted road from the Internet café is the Sepentarium, another Ríos-supported project. The project is run by Carlos González, a young local man without formal higher education whose interest in snakes caught Rafael Gallo’s eye. Although not yet fully complete, the Serpentarium will house more than 130 species of snakes, with interpretive signage and glass display cases. More developed is the Pacuare Butterfly Garden, where Ríos Tropicales has helped Mario Achoy Vega combine his two passions, butterflies and plants, into a business venture that is already drawing tourists from local ecolodges. Butterflies fly free inside the enclosed garden and are raised for sale to collectors in the nearby laboratory.
Rafael Gallo believes that El Tigre can serve as a model for sustainable community development elsewhere. In fact, with grant support Ríos Tropicales is already working with the country of Bhutan on developing similar projects there. The idea is that when financial and environmental sustainability go hand in hand, everybody benefits.
Central America Expedition 2010: Day 3 – Rios Tropicales, Costa Rica
March 7, 2010
Wet is the word that best describes Day 3 of our expedition to Costa Rica. With as much water coming at us from the sky as from the rapids, we set off in rafts down the Pacuare River together with guests of Rios Tropicales. Most Rios guests raft in to the lodge, the majority on two- or three-day packages that included lodging and meals, although others do the entire rafting trip in a one-day excursion. Together we all set off from the Rios Tropicales lodge shortly after 11 a.m.
The Pacuare River boasts mostly Class III and IV rapids, and the water level was fairly low at this time, making many of the rocks more prominent. I grabbed a paddle and joined a group of Polish travelers in a raft under the command of a guide named Henry. 
The steady rain didn’t matter much in terms of rafting, except after lunch when we all got a bit chilled, but it did make things extra challenging for the rest of the team, who had to keep their camera equipment dry as they filmed our descent of the river from the back of the two gear rafts rowed by Rios Tropicales guides with oars. Somehow the guys managed it well enough that the cameras were still intact at the end of the trip. Along the way they got some great footage of the Rios Tropicales guests (and me) charging through the rapids.
About halfway through the afternoon we stopped for lunch on a beach. The crew flipped over two of the rafts to create tables where they laid out quite a spread of bread, cheese, sandwich meats, vegetables, fruits, and other snacks. In keeping with Rios Tropicales’ sustainable tourism philosophy, the guides made very sure that no garbage was left behind, even going so far as to separate out compostable waste from regular trash.
We arrived at our takeout point near the town of Siquirres late in the afternoon and were taken to the Rios Tropicales office, where showers, coffee, and cookies were available. It felt great to get back into dry clothes after a full afternoon of soaking, but we were exhilarated after our whitewater adventure and impressed with the high quality of the whole Rios Tropicales operation.
Central America Expedition 2010: Day 2 – Rios Tropicales, Costa Rica
March 5, 2010
What do a local school, an Internet cafe, a snake exhibit, a butterfly garden, reforestation, a waste management center, and a sustainable tilapia farm have in common? They’re all projects that Rios Tropicales, one of Costa Rica’s leading river rafting companies, is supporting or developing in the community of El Tigre, located at the top of the Pacuare River Gorge.
We visited El Tigre on Day 2 together with Rafael (“Rafa”) Gallo, the founder of Rios Tropicales and a pioneer in sustainable and ecotourism since long before they became buzzwords. Unfortunately someone forgot to tell the weather gods that it’s supposed to be the dry season in Costa Rica, so it rained just about the entire day, slowing us down and making it difficult for us to visit some of the projects Rios Tropicales is supporting. Nevertheless, we had a busy day of filming at several sites, beginning at the local school, where Rios Tropicales has been helping to improve the facilities. Next we headed down the road to the house of Javier Mora, sustainability manager for Rios Tropicales and a community leader in El Tigre. With support from Rios, Javier is building an Internet cafe as a source of income for his wife, Patricia, and daughter, Helen.
We also visited two tourist attractions that Rios Tropicales is helping to develop: the Serpentarium, where Rob got a kick out of handling a smallish boa constrictor, and the Pacuare Butterfly Garden, where Mario Achoy Vega has created a peaceful oasis around his two passions, butterflies and plants. Rafa and Rios Tropicales hope that El Tigre will become a replicable example of sustainable community development; in fact, Rios Tropicales is currently working with the country of Bhutan on developing similar projects there.
By the time we had visited the butterfly garden it was getting late in the afternoon, and Rafa wanted to make sure we had time to hike down through the jungle to the Rios Tropicales lodge before it got fully dark, so we headed downhill through lush rainforest along a well-maintained trail. Although no wildlife crossed our path, it was quite an experience to hike through the darkening forest. 
Just as we could no longer avoid turning on our headlamps we emerged at a suspension bridge across the Pacuare River. Crossing over we arrived at the ecolodge, where the scenic riverside setting, comfortable rooms, good food, and the constant sound of the rushing Pacuare River made for an excellent night’s sleep.