A Luxury Lab for Green Living

They say that it is the arrival that should be savored, when all the travel is behind you and adventure lies ahead. I’ve never enjoyed this sweet moment more keenly than arriving at Calanoa Amazonas in Colombia. I step off the high-speed boat that has whisked me 60 miles along the Rio Amazon from Leticia, the final-frontier capital of the Amazonas province, most spectacular at sunset when thousands of small pericos (parrots) flock to roost in Parque Santander.  

I’ve arrived at a laboratory of sorts, where owners Marlene and Diego Samper are experimenting with age-old methods and new ways to live sustainably within the rainforest, and paying guests are welcome to be part of their journey. Marlene, an environmental educator, and Diego, an artist and designer, both have a life-long passion for ecology. They opened their boutique jungle eco-lodge in a 50-hectare reserve in the Amacayacu National Park with the aim of contributing to the conservation of both nature and culture through sustainable and respectful tourism. Today, this unique retreat extends to seven cabins, designed, as Diego describes them, “as pieces of art.” Using nothing but local materials, the duo have relied much on the skills of the indigenous Tikuna people in realizing their dream. Natural artwork comprises Diego’s canvases, which he suspends from trees to soak up the environment and are formed primarily by tree molds washed down by the rain. The result is patterns in oranges, pinks, and greens that take on the surprising shapes of shells, leaves, and bark.

No two lodgings are the same and unusual architectural detail is key: There’s one with a secret, internal garden; one with a boat-like structure; another suspended in a tree; while my two-story palm-roofed cabin has a hammock-strung deck with views to the river. The cabins are built on stilts to improve air circulation (forget air-conditioning or the hope of a ceiling fan), and hot water isn’t reliable (although who needs it when it’s 90 degrees F?). But there’s no shortage of beauty and style with handmade wooden furniture, and beds are romantically and practically draped in mosquito nets. When Conde Nast Traveler added Calanoa to their Gold List, it was in recognition of the beauty of the location and design, rather than its mod-cons … so do not arrive expecting a power shower. Keeping things simply furnished was purposeful: so that your senses away aren’t distracted from the jungle surroundings. Meals are of an excellent standard, though choice is limited, and are eaten communally with other guests, which brings the chance to chat over jungle experiences. I listen in awe as my neighbor describes the sighting of an armadillo by moonlight, while I recount the joy of an encounter with an aotus — an owl-faced monkey, the smallest and shyest of all Amazonian primates.

Being so completely away from it all adds a .… 

By Kate Wickers

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