Constructed in 1995, the Yachana Lodge is located in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rain Forest and accessible only by a two and a half hour ride up the Napo River in a motorized canoe. The Yachana Lodge is part of a non-profit organization that aims “to provide education, fight poverty and disease, foster grassroots community organizations and conserve Ecuador’s imperiled tropical forests.” The organization has acquired more than 4,000 acres of land surrounding the lodge. The lodge has won many awards for ecotourism including being one of three destinations selected as the best example of geotourism by National Geographic.
The goals of the lodge fit well with Missouri State University’s public affairs mission and so a group of three faculty members, Ms. Abbe Ehlers, Dr. Judith Meyer and Dr. Alexander Wait, went to visit the lodge in order to evaluate its potential as a destination for international studies. At the lodge, the three found themselves immersed in Ecuadorian culture. They hiked through both primary and secondary rain-forest and toured the local high school that the Yachana organization helps to support. One of the highlights of the trip was the interactions with the local people, which is part of the lodge’s goal to design activities that immerse its visitors in the local culture. The lodge even offers a chance to sample an indigenous meal. In fact, the lodge grows much of the food it serves.
Missouri State’s plans for the lodge are quite diverse and can encompass aspects of every major at Missouri State. “The possibilities for the sciences are obviously vast but there is also a need for students of education, health and human services, art and design, theatre, language, entrepreneurial development, etc.,” said Dr. Ehlers, who will be taking a group of students to the lodge in May for her course called “Behind the Scenes of Eco-tourism.”