'Pretend there are no limits, what do you ideally desire?'
Okay...you asked for it.
During '94-'96, I worked running eco-tours in the Amazon. My background was in aviculture (I raised / studied endangered birds for a zoo in the US)and my prior experience working for the Appalachian Mountain club earned me the chance to run a company at the age of 24 yrs.
Since then I've learned that while eco-tourism has it's plusses, many companies preach but don't practice conservation. Little to no effort is made to compost / recycle / conserve - without gettting into a rave, ecotourism has its dark side.
On the plus side, ecotourism generates awareness and provides income for a limited number of locals who either work for these companies or sell products to the the company or their passengers. My opinion is that it simply doesn't provide enough economic benefit to the local folks to make a concerted effort to conserve and protect their amazing living resource - The Amazon Rainforest. The same could be said about our efforts here in the US (ironically).
I'm raving....let me get back to my grand vision....
The bottom line for me in my book of 'things to do before I croak' is to develop a lodge/research center that not only provides a great wilderness experience for interested travelers (tourists), but also to have a fully functional, self sustaining research facility. I'd even like to somehow get the whole project on to a streaming on-line website - sort of a JungleVision type deal where people could see real time what we're doing, animals we're seeing. Even a live chat where people can ask questions about the forest, conservation, etc.
The focus of the research would be both the education and study of the flora and fauna, but also the development of businesses that are environmentally sound and provide a more consistent and wide spread economic benefit. Perhaps even develop an international organzation to help operate the facility, rather than trying to do this as a private entity.
I have lots of ideas, but not nearly enough capital to go forward with all of them at once. So, at this point in time, I think if I start small by just getting power to the site, I can expand relatively quickly from that point on.
This post has really grown beyond my greatest expectations - THANK YOU! I want everyone to know that I'm still considering everyones input on this as I have time to make / change my mind on which approach to go with. So, please keep writing and asking questions.
Just so everyone knows, my time frame is to build my first cabin by April 1st 2006, then get power put in by June. From there, I will add a 'guest' cabin every few months then eventually a central facility that will include a large kitchen / dinning room and study/research lab.
During the construction period, I hope to invite 'experts' and others willing to lend a helping hand who have time and knowledge to contribute towards the construction.
At some point, if you all wish to continue to discuss the details of this idea, should we start a new post?
