A Brief History of the Kasbah Du Toubkal by Mike McHugo

The highest peak in the High Atlas mountains in Morocco is Jbel Toubkal (4,167m) and is only about 80 km from Marrakech, the imperial city in the south of the country and a centre of commerce and tourism for over 900 years.
The original inhabitants of North Africa are the Berbers or Amizgh meaning Freeman in their dialect. Marrakech is a Berber city and the end of the trade route from the Sahara to Europe. As successive invaders – the Phoenicians, the Cathaginians, the Roman, the Arabs and the French colonised the countries of North Africa the Berbers retreated into the high mountains and eked out a subsistence living in this harsh environment.
In 1978 Mike McHugo battled his way up a dirt track for 20 kilometres to reach the Berber village of Imlil where he met Omar Ait Barmed a mountain guide. !0 years later Mike’s brother Chris met Omar in Imlil.


The following year they were both visiting Omar with their mother when they noticed a derelict building in a commanding position. As the management of a small UK tour operator with an overseas property in France another in Morocco seemed a small step.
Whilst not knowing what they might do with such a base the McHugo brothers felt they could be a safe pair of hands to help tourism to develop but with the local community – their 10 year friendship with Omar and other villagers – at the core of any initiative.

This pragmatic approach to tourism development has led to the acquisition and renovation of the ruined building, by small incremental steps, to becoming the award winning Kasbah Du Toubkal which Conde Nast Traveller said had the “ …. Finest rooftop views in North Africa” and the Cadogan Guide says “ It is worth flying out to Morocco for just one night in this remarkable hotel” and National Geographic Adventure lists in its Top 50 Ecolodges.


The Kasbah Du Toubkal now has 14 en-suite rooms and 3 Berber salons (dormitory / family rooms. It is open all year round, has a small conference room, 2 steam baths, no swimming pool and no road access. It charges a 5% supplement to its published prices which goes to the Village Association to provide rubbish clearance and incineration, 4x4 Ambulances for Imlil and the surrounding villages, a community bathhouse and improved flood defences.

All the staff at the Kasbah have been trained in house and the permanent staff now number 44 with additional guides and muleteers numbering over 50 on some days.

Many visitors to Marrakech come to the Kasbah for a day excursion arranged through their hotels concierge.

For those who like walking but do not like the roughing it out at night the Kasbah has 3 additional rooms in a remote valley 4.5 hours walk away. But don’t confuse the rooms when booking as 4.5 hours is very different from 15 minutes.

To see the Kasbah Du Toubkal listing in Eco Hotels of the World, click here

Eco Lives: Howard Carter

I have always been fascinated by travel and from a young age became engrossed with books on travel and any sort of program or film on exotic locations. Then later as an adult whenever the opportunity presented itself off I went exploring all sorts of exotic locations and meeting all sorts of wonderful people along the way.

These days, like everyone else, I'm much more aware of the necessity to reduce air travel and these days I travel much less frequently and embark on train journeys when possible. This HAS led to a whole new and dare I say it, even more adventurous journeys and all sorts of exciting expeditions. For example traveling throughout India by rail as I did 3 years ago is truly both a humbling and simultaneously an exhilarating experience.

In fact it was during one of my extended traveling expeditions that I developed incognito - the one product that every eco conscious traveler should not leave home without! I developed this after contracting both malaria and dengue while using the 'recommended' chemical products and medication THAT did not protect me. So, I came up with something that is kind for me, my kids and the planet and best of all it works brilliantly. Just using the spray (along with other incognito products), following the tips I wrote on the 'Avoiding Bites' and 'How To Use it' Pages on my website is a fantastic way to prevent mosquito and insect bites and stings.

In fact incognito is now being used by all sorts of travellers in the know from Charley Boorman to the England Cricket team. Best of all is when people re-order having used it the year before or on their last expedition -as in the case with Charley. It's the best satisfaction of all and makes throwing in the towel in my marketing career worth it. Try incogntio and see for yourself.

www.lessmosquito.com

Eco Lives: Christopher Minnes

If you met me, you might not think that I run the green hotel, 968 Park. You might suppose instead a former marine or NYC police officer. Many of those looking for a job with resumes long with coffee shops, hemp stores or organic food markets seem equally surprised. Green is no longer a thing of the hippy subculture or granola eating vegans.

I have a bumper sticker that reads “Animals Taste Good”. It was my way of quietly protesting in the town in which I was raised in Vermont. The town was so liberal it was legal to be naked in public; and people exercised that right. Today I find myself choosing organic coffee, going to the local coffee shop, skipping over the chain. I’ll run back to my car to grab my travel mug instead of using a disposal paper cup. Why? It makes sense. I support the local guys, they’re my friends, so it helps my town. I drink organic coffee; it’s better for me and use my own cup…well because it saves me money.

This is why green is becoming mainstream. It just makes sense.

Each day in the operation and development of 968 Park Hotel we are challenged to find new ways to adapt our needs to our mantra, “Everything must be organic, natural, reused, recycled or sustainable.” For example our business cards were printed on recycled paper. The next batch will be printed on seed paper that when tossed away will sprout into wild flowers.

Our front desk and much of the furniture and décor around the hotel is constructed of reclaimed wood. The old paint remains on much of it. The distressed material is older than me. It has wisdom and stories to tell. It gives the newly remodeled hotel soul. The guests feel it too. The moment they walk in the door you see their gears switch. They’ve been on the road from San Francisco for four hours, in rain and snow, over mountain passes and chain control checkpoints. But everything changes in that moment when they step into the lobby; they see the warm glow of a fire burning denatured alcohol, distressed wood, and a glass of organic wine waiting for them.

After they’ve checked in we see them again. They are there to tell to brag to us about their beautiful room. Soon they’ve become friends. They’ve gone from being guests at a hotel to feeling like guest in our home. Some have stumbled upon us at just the right time when we sponsor a party at one of the nearby nightclubs. And there we all are, the front desk, housekeeping and maintenance staff, investors, myself and hotel guests dancing until 3:00 in the morning. Not your typical hotel experience.

And when the morning comes, the old distressed wood will have new stories to tell and will proudly be part of this new mainstream green movement as a part of 968 Park Hotel.

Christopher Minnes
General Manager
968 Park Hotel

Eco Lives: Mark Philip-Sorensen

Maybe I was born eco! Since I was a child my family surrounded me by animals and nature which made me always aware of the impact I (and others) had on our environment. Despite my love for all things green, I went into a more conventional career, but after spending fourteen years in the corporate world I decided it was time to try something different. Years of driving around the UK in a suit was taking its toll on both family and home life and I wanted more for my wife, three children and myself. Both my wife, Lizzie and I agreed that we wanted to run a business which would enable people to become greener and give our children a future they could believe in.

For my family, the seeds of www.moreeco.com began with an interest in buying the best, nutritional and quality food, which, after research, we found to be local and organic produce - without the chemicals. After sourcing organic and natural cleansing products for our children, Lizzie quickly turned her attention to her own facial products and cosmetics and became a fan of brands such as Lavera and Beauty Without Cruelty. We also became more aware of the environmental issues associated with buying organic products and soon realised there were social factors too and wanted to consciously buy from smaller and independent retailers.

Both Lizzie and I wanted to get the children involved in a greener lifestyle too - not turning them into little green radicals, but being given an opportunity to educate them through practice so that it became second nature. Even now, whenever I go to the recycling centre I usually take my kids with me so they understand what I am doing. They take it all in their stride and think that it's a great afternoon out!

As we talked about what we were doing for the planet, such as switching our car insurance to a green supplier at no extra cost, a lot of our friends began to follow suit. Even Lizzie's sister who used to throw everything away is now separating her waste and recycling it. It's like school and peer pressure. Slowly and almost sub-consciously people change their choices. The key is for it not to be led by marketers who make money out of the being moreeco concept and then rapidly ditch it.

It was this point we thought we had the idea for www.moreeco.com. As a couple we were both avid online shoppers and keen to be rewarded for our loyalty but we realised that there was difficulty in finding decent online eco shops in one accessible place. Within a year and just before my 35th birthday, www.moreeco.com was born.

Our aim is to bring together and reward the conscious consumer and eco, organic, ethical and natural retailer. By shopping through www.moreeco.com you can save more money and be rewarded for your loyalty.

Our business is not purely about a guilty-free purchase through a simple carbon offsetting process from the typical high street shop. Instead moreeco offers a choice of true (often smaller and independent) companies with being moreeco at their core. Then we reward their members for their moreeco loyalty with some fantastic rewards.

I think it is never too late to change your shopping habits, and hope that moreeco shopping will become popular and an instinctive way of life for many. Small steps by a lot of people make a big collective difference.

Traveleco readers can get 700 free points instead of the standard 500 when they sign up to www.moreeco.com. Please enter travel09 in the promotional code box.
To find out how you can become greener and make small steps to a better life for you and the planet, why not visit our blog at www.bemoreeco.com

Eco Lives: James H. Spear, Jr.

I have been resident in China since January 1986. In the Spring of that year I first came to Mutianyu Great Wall as a casual visitor. I was entranced by the dramatic, craggy mountains and the impossible construction of the Wall. Exploring the pine forests, orchards, and tiny villages in the area was the perfect antidote to downtown Beijing, where I lived and worked. On one visit to Mutianyu in the early 1990s I sat on a rock to rest after walking down from the Wall. A local guy selling tee-shirts struck up a conversation with me. I think he wanted me to buy a tee-shirt but I bought a house instead.

Actually, as we were chatting I told him how much I envied him to be able to live in such a beautiful natural environment with fresh air and blue skies and that one of my dreams had always been to be able to live under the Great Wall. He immediately said, I'll help you find a place. And he did. As a "laowai" I would never have found my way into a Chinese village to acquire a home but it was just this accidental, magical encounter that changed my life.

For many years our house in Mutianyu was a weekend retreat but some years ago when our kids were off to university my wife and I decided to live full time in the village. The first thing I did was rebuild our peasant's house into something suitable for year-round living. I finally got my Great Wall view study and a view shower to boot. Friends liked the house and one thing led to another and now I've designed and built over 20 homes in the area for foreigners and Chinese alike, including the guest houses we are now able to offer as The Schoolhouse Rental Homes.

I'm afraid to say that we got into the tourism business just as accidentally as I found my house here. When I moved out here full-time the village mayor sat me down and told me that in case I hadn't noticed the village folk were having a hard time. Jobs were scarce and the community with 500 years of history was being pulled apart as the young people just moved away. He told me they had welcomed me into their village and that it was about time for me to give something back. He said I was a rich foreigner and I should make an investment in Mutianyu. So I had to be kicked in the pants.

With the unanimous agreement of the village council we took a long-term lease on the abandoned village primary school and have revamped it into an art glass worskshop, and art gallery, and a restaurant. Over time we've added two other restaurants and a lodging business and also are spreading our projects into other nearby villages. We didn't start out with a big philosophy but over time we're developing a very concrete sense of what it means to be sustainable in the context of a local community. We've gotten a lot of attention and support from the Beijing government as the authorities here are grappling with how to deliver better life chances to rural folk without the countryside emptying out, a dilemma that recurs all over the developing world.

Anyway, I've always believed that the perfect is the enemy of the good enough so we are simply perservering and making incremental improvements in our approaches to social and environmental sustainability. The process of getting certified with 3 Green Stars by Eco Hotels of the World gave me ideas how we can continue to do better, so now we're shooting for 4 stars!

You can see Jim’s property here.

Eco Lives: Nicola Alexander

The birth of Daisy Green Magazine

by Nicola Alexander

Last year, whilst on holiday in Scotland, my husband Roy, asked me a challenging question “Why do you read these glossy magazines when they have nothing that relates to you in them at all?” to which my response was, “there aren’t any decent alternatives.” “So why don’t you have your own magazine?”

And just like that, the seed for Daisy Green Magazine was firmly planted. Now, being a teacher and Special Needs Coordinator, running a magazine was about as far away from my comfort zone as I could get, but hey I had nothing to lose.
Within the next week, the now newly christened Mr Daisy Green, had arranged a meeting with a local web designer, who helped me write my business plan and complete all the necessary market research into online magazines. Simultaneously, I had started to blog my experience and thought processes, and Daisy started to take over my life.

Business Link funded, they liked my plan, and so I applied for a grant to get the website built. My best friend, Suzanne, was roped in (she has retail experience and also an MSc in Environmental Science) and we decided to do this thing for real.
We managed to wangle a stall at the Green Festival in Newcastle, and talked to a couple of hundred people about what we were trying to do. Notably, at this event we met two of our contributors, one of whom, Sallyanne is the third arm of Daisy Green Magazine.

Like a giant snowball hurtling down a mountain side, Daisy kept growing. By October 2008 we were ready to launch properly. 200 people in attendance we hosted a fashion show and swap party which was thrilling. There, projected upon the wall was Daisy in all her glory. 6 months from concept to reality.

And she just keeps on growing. This month, over 5000 people will hit our magazine, which is staggering. We are just normal women who want to lead by example and encourage everyone to do their bit. Because it does all add up.
Our plans are ambitious; make Daisy Green Magazine a household name, and given what she has achieved in such a short time, it may just come true. Being green is fun, Daisy Green can show you how.