Author: Feynan Ecolodge

Founded in 2009, EcoHotels is a privately owned Jordanian company that provides escapes embedded in beautiful natural areas, with a rich local culture, and offering unique memorable experiences. Based in Amman, EcoHotels is a pioneer in the ecotourism sector dedicated to creating and managing ecolodges in remote areas and taking travellers on exciting journeys into nature, culture and themselves. The company is dedicated to sustainability and promises its guests a guilt free travel experience through its holistic perspective of business that encompasses people, nature and ensures a sustainable future for both while providing unique and authentic experiences. Feynan Ecolodge is EcoHotels’ first project in Jordan. The company manages and operates the ecolodge in a unique private sector/NGO partnership with its owner the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN). Away from the masses of tourists, Feynan Ecolodge offers a rare opportunity to disconnect as you reconnect with nature and reacquaint yourself with the simplicity of life. Feynan has 26 unique guest rooms, all with ensuite and lit by candlelight at night. The stay at Feynan Ecolodge includes an exciting mix of activities and ensures you get a true taste of life in Feynan. There is plenty to see, do and experience around Feynan. Whether you are into a physically challenging adventure, a leisurely stroll, a deep cultural experience, time off from the hectic life, oneness with nature, or learning something new; Feynan has something for everyone. We have developed a unique ethos for the lodge that rests on 5 pillars: 1. Unique and Authentic guest experiences: We offer our guests a plethora of unique and authentic experiences engrained in nature, adventure, culture, food, history and astronomy. Each day we offer our guests a varied program of interpretive guided experiences that include various nature hikes, canyoneering, mountain biking, stargazing, cooking classes and local community cultural experiences. 2. Contributing to conservation: Being in Dana Biosphere Reserve, a sizeable portion of the revenue from the lodge goes to the RSCN for the conservation work they do in the reserve. 3. Community benefit: The 26-room lodge directly benefits around 100 families from the local community, in one of Jordan’s poverty pockets. 100% of the income stays in Jordan, and 50% of it in the immediate local community. All 25 staff members are from the immediate local community. 40 drivers provide shuttle service for our guests in their free time (the lodge is located 5 miles from the closest paved road). 17 families participate in the cultural community experiences. 100% of the money paid by guests for community experiences and services goes to the community providing that service. One local women runs her own bakery business from her goat-hair tent with one client: the lodge. We have helped community members establish microbusinesses to service the lodge and its guests. The lodge houses candle and leather workshops employing 4 women from the community that produce products used by the lodge and sold to guests. Most food purchases are from a 40 mile radius around the lodge to keep the benefit local. 4. Minimal environmental impact: The lodge is the greenest site in Jordan, totally off the grid and generating the limited needed electricity through a Photovoltaic system. Electricity and water are measured and controlled. Water is solar heated, single use plastic bottles have been eliminated (20,000 bottles eliminated from the environment annually), waste is recycled & grey/black water is treated and used in irrigation. For space heating, we use jift (olive pit charcoal- a waste by-product of the annual olive harvest), instead of wood in our fire places, saving 4.5 tonnes of trees from being felled. 5. Interpretation and education: All our experiences are interpretive and we share our pioneering ethos with our guests, staff and community. Guests attend a 20-minute presentation after dinner every night, that explains the ethos to help our guests become better more responsible travelers, with the aim that in future travels, they will seek places similar to Feynan that give back to conservation, the local community and conservation at large. Our commitment to sustainability is being recognised with numerous international awards and accolades, click here to view what we have earned https://ecohotels.me/reviews/awards