13 July 2005
Ecotourism for the cuckoos
I adore travelling, always have. I'm always up for somewhere new and different to go. While trawling through travel sites, I found this place. Hands-down, it wins the prize for originality, if not sanity.
Green Magic Treehouses (yup, that's what it's called), is an ecolodge in the rainforests of Kerala, India. The "rooms" are treehouses, built 100ft up in giant banyan trees. There is no electricity, no phones, although there is solar-powered cold running water. There are no navigable roads, so you have to walk the last 4km to the base camp. No plastic products are allowed.
Huh?!? Doesn't really sound like a holiday to me, more like Indian boot camp. But it gets better. Here are some of the special "features" of the place:
---Room service: call like a cuckoo and tea will be hoisted to your treehouse on a tray
---Cleansing plant extracts provided: red sandalwood and turmeric for the face, waka bark for the body, rice charcoal for the teeth
---One treehouse has a water-operated lift--turn on the tap for ten minutes to fill a large counterweight-bag for a controlled descent--while a second is connected to the cliffside by a hanging bridge
Seriously. I can just see my husband leaning over the balcony going "Cuckoo, cuckoo--we want some tea!" Nice.
The cuisine is another interesting aspect. It's all vegetarian, which is fair enough. Vege food can be really good.
"Vegetables are grown in an organic garden on the hill, cooked with local spices and served with rice, lentils or roti-bread using a plantain leaf for a plate. Green banana with roasted coconut paste, a ratatouille of onions-tomatoes-ladies fingers in curry and mustard seeds..."
Sounds yummy. And then I saw the rest...
"The dishes are cooked over a gobar-powered fire (that's dung-gas to you and me-- from the lodge's 6 bullocks, naturally)."
No thanks. Not only do I not want my food cooked over shit, I especially don't want it cooked over shit when I'm living next door to the provider of the shit. Eeew.
In case you're still mulling it over, did I mention that there are leeches? Yup, big hungry leeches waiting to attack your ankles whenever you are mad enough to get your feet near ground level. All this for only $200 per night. Flights not included.
I think I'll just stay home and poke my eyeball with a pencil. Probably just as much fun, and a lot cheaper.
posted by Julie at
8:53 PM
3 Comments:
But the sleeping in a treehouse part sounds FUN!
Sounds like a reoccuring nightmare I have....:)
I don't get it...why would this be fun?
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