Koeye Lodge is the type of place that really makes me want to get involved in eco-tourism. The primary function of the place is to reconnect the local First Nations (Heiltsuk) youth with their homeland, getting them interested in their own heritage and educating them about the ecology of the area so that they can become the environmental stewards of the future – forever protecting their unique ecosystem from development and/or destruction.

To support this they operate a lodge and offer non-profit all-inclusive itineraries to folks from all over the world. Of course the extra bit of money helps but the main objective is that the Heiltsuk youth get a taste of helping to run an eco-tourism business (they cook the food, help with the website, lead some of the tours etc etc) and also get to interact with people from all different walks of life, and so learn something from each and every visitor.

I love the idea of this place and I really want to visit it and see for myself how it is working. We can’t go this year as it is our honeymoon, and next year we probably won’t have enough holiday as we have to go back to the UK for 2 weeks. However in 2010 it might be possible to go for a 5 night, 4 day trip and experience everything on their sample itinerary, then maybe stay around for a few days longer and do some volunteer work with them. I know that this year they are taking on lots of international volunteers to help them build the new Feast house and to help out at the Science Camp. Maybe in future years they will need volunteers to help with conservation projects in the area – who knows? It just seems like a very special and unique place, and something I feel I’d like to be a part of for a little while.

Eco-tourism/adventure tourism is a relatively new field and at the moment all the wilderness lodges out there seem to focus on providing luxurious surroundings and offering insanely expensive packaged activities, such as heli-hiking, that the average Joe just cannot realistically afford. Adventure tourism seems to be a world only for the rich and I’d like to see that change, and for more wallet-friendly wilderness lodges to exist for the curious, but cash-strapped traveller. I understand that the operating costs of a wilderness lodge are probably immense and that is why most of them charge so much, but places like Koeye Lodge show that it is possible to provide a more flexible pricing structure by offering up a mutually beneficial arrangement for owner and traveller.