Almonds and Corals mission is to provide top quality accommodations while being close to nature, enjoying its wonders at its fullest while disturbing nature as less as possible. This is why all the activities and tours in and around the hotel are oriented to the same goal and are guided by the staff of the hotel, which has been trained on the values and policies that the hotel has regarding the strong protection of the environment.

The Making of an Environmental Hotel

The area where Almonds and Corals hotel is built belongs to the National Wildlife Refuge of Gandoca-Manzanillo in the southern Caribbean coast, Limon Province. Costa Rican laws for the protection and regulation of the wildlife refuges, national parks, forest and biological reserves, and even private natural reserves, all of which contain 25% of the total area of Costa Rica have been very strict since the National Park system was established in 1960's. Hence, the construction in or around and the use of these areas is similarly strict and in some areas totally banned for construction. The project to build a hotel that was going to be placed amidst the borders of a wildlife refuge took a lot of planning and constant interactions with the governmental ministry that sternly protects fauna and flora in Costa Rica, which is the MINAE (Ministry of Environment and Energy).

After long planning, re-designing, and a lot of hard work from the owners Aurora Gámez, Marco Odio, and everybody else involved in the construction of this 100% sustainable tourism complying hotel, it was finally open for business in December of 1993. Certainly, the journey to build this beautiful exemplary hotel was long and hard. Initially, when the legal paperwork was handed to the MINAE, there was a lot of skepticism from their part regarding the possibility of a hotel being built inside a refuge that will not damage the fauna or flora. But after a lot of commitments were made by the owners and experts were brought in to check and supervise the construction, a perfect environmentally safe hotel inside a wildlife refuge was finalized.

The final product resulted in a hotel that occupies, 17% of the total area, less than the allowed 40% for construction that the government grants, built with environmentally safe materials, and using the local architectural style of the Afro-Caribbean.

Sustainable Architecture

The whole structure of the hotel is built with treated pine wood and some hard wood that was legally purchased in the surrounding areas outside of the refuge. The style of each bungalow is built so that there is a maximization of the ventilation, isolation from the heat, protection from the humid climate, and enhancement of the natural elements of the rainforest such as view, sounds, and breeze.

The layout of the bungalows, the reception, and the restaurant was established accordingly with the oldest trees from the rainforest, as the MINAE's building regulation instructs. Each and every of these trees were left untouched so that the buildings were designed to fit within the spaces between each tree.

The extensive use of open structures and open windows with screens are used to maximize the ventilation. The shape of the roofs and the materials provide isolation in each bungalow, all of which minimize considerably the need for electrical appliances to cool them inside. The rest of the electrical appliances inside of the bungalows are also minimized so that there is enough comfort inside of them provided by the appliances, without these producing an undesirable level of noise that could disturb the natural surroundings.

All of the buildings at Almonds and Corals hotel are lifted on stilts. This feature is multifunctional serving as an enhancer of the ventilation and the view of the rainforest; it also helps to keep away the humidity from the structures and to avoid interrupting in any way the natural drainage patterns of the pluvial water of the land.

The colors used for the buildings have also been carefully picked as to avoid disrupting the natural scenery in any way. The roofs have been chosen a natural green if they are canvas, light brown if the roofs are made of dry palm leaves, and the natural brown color of the wood has been kept on the rest of the structures.

Conservation of the Natural Surroundings of the Hotel

The entire hotel is embraced by the rainforest. Grooming of plants and trees is only made when these start to intrude into the walkways or buildings. The rest of the rainforest has been totally left untouched. Absolutely no exotic species of fauna or flora have been introduced into the rainforest to avoid alterations to the ecosystem. The gardens of the hotel consist of the natural gardens that have been rampantly created by the rainforest.

The extraction of any species of plants, animals, or any other natural element from the rainforest is banned.

Environmental Management

The owners of Almonds and Corals hotel have worked with ecotourism most of their lives. Their experience along with their strong values about the preservation of nature have made them important advocates of the protection of the environment and has given them knowledge on how to maintain a safe and healthy natural environment while establishing an eco-tourist destination; specifically in the Costa Rican Caribbean where they have spent most of their time. Hence, Almonds and Corals Lodge has a strong policy regarding pollution of any kind in or outside the wildlife reserve. Inside the hotel biodegradable soap, detergents, shampoo, and conditioner are the only type allowed within any area of the hotel. No chemical fertilizers or weed killers are allowed within any range of the hotel. Garbage is separated into organic matter, recyclable, reusable, and non recyclable or reusable. Each is properly collect and disposed.

A special custom made sewage treatment system was designed by a sanitation engineer for the hotel. And a strict control of the treatment of the residual water is kept by the hotel and monitored by a sanitation engineer periodically.

Promoting Sustainable Community Development

The owners of Almonds and Corals have always been interested in the well being and development of the community surrounding the hotel, and so the involvement with the community has been strong. When the hotel was established in 1993 there was no garbage collection system available. The owners along with some friends from the community decided to organize and finance a garbage collection system that is still currently used.

Most of the personnel from the hotel come from the Manzanillo community. Almonds and Corals have made a lot of efforts to provide proper training to the local personnel, organizing the petition to bring representatives from the National Learning Institute of Costa Rica (INA) to give waiting, cooking, and other hotel management courses. The entire personnel have been trained to be proficient at all the positions in order for them to be able to rotate when needed; increasing in this way the curriculum, and therefore the development, of a lot of people of the Manzanillo community.

Almonds and Corals owners have also been involved, along with other tourism representatives of the area and hotel managers, in the establishment of better police surveillance patrolling on bicycles which enable them to move around the area more freely. Therefore, providing a more secure environment for the local community and to its' visitors.

Currently Almonds and Corals is involved in the Blue Flag Program that consists of keeping the beach shores clean and unpolluted. Over the years they have been working with the schools of the community organizing activities with the children to clean the beach shores periodically. They also go to the surrounding schools and give speeches on the importance of having a clean environment, thus promoting an environmental conscience from an early age.

Almonds and Corals owners have also been pioneers in the national and international promotion of the Costa Rican Caribbean as an eco-tourist destination.

Promotion of Sustainable Tourism to Almonds and Corals Guests

Almonds and Corals as an eco-friendly hotel that not only presently protects the environment around it, but it also promotes an alternative way of life and a way of construction that is comfortable, energy efficient, safe, and aesthetically in harmony with the environment. At Almonds and Corals we do our best to permeate our guests with the environmental conscience needed in this era where so much destruction is made to our magnificent and unique planet. By showing our guest all the wonders of nature and providing them with the close encounter with the rainforest we expect to be training them to be future active advocates of the protection of nature.