HISTORY OF A ROAD
ECOTOURISM: to know in order to love. To love in order to RESPECT
This is the story of the path that brought our destinies together. The Explora Natura path. A journey filled with initiatives, achievements, hard work, and dreams.
Exactly three years ago, I met Antonio Pestana, Pes to his friends. We were chatting about our things; always nature, activities, workshops, animals, and children. Over a drink, Antonio pulled out a piece of paper, very folded, well-worn, old, and handwritten. This, he told me, is an idea I've always wanted to put into action, and I jotted it down on this paper quite some time ago. It's a school for naturalists. A school where children can enjoy fun environmental learning. I read it, he explained it to me, and my reaction was more than positive. This is an idea that had been floating around in my head, though vague, undefined, and unconcrete. But as soon as I heard about it, I knew it was the idea I wanted.
So, we started defining clear objectives to make it happen. Antonio told me he would take me to meet some friends at a very special place. That's how I discovered Posada La Niña Margarita, the most magical place I've ever been. That day at the inn, I met Silvia, Tano, Bárbara, and Paco. They told me that this idea didn't come out of nowhere, but that they too had already been working on it. As the El Amonite association, they had been altruistically carrying out workshops, activities, training, and various conservation efforts, sharing their passion for learning, their love for the environment, their knowledge of our nature, and Andalusian culture—with its gastronomy, rich language, and long history—wherever they could.
One meeting led to another and another and another; and these resulted in the launch and execution of photography workshops, language immersion, art, fairs… All of this surrounded by an aura of enthusiasm, work, get-togethers and lots and lots of friendship.
But it didn't end there, as more friendships and collaborators grew around this small group of friends. Enrique Triano, a great specialist in ethnobotany, Marcos and many graphic designers... many more people who have enriched our projects.
As work increased and we specialized in children's activities, we needed to find additional instructors. That's how we contacted Carmen, Javi, Paulinha, and Bernardo. We needed exceptional individuals: dedicated, highly trained, and with outstanding expertise in their respective fields. We also needed trustworthy and responsible people whom we already knew from their work experience. This is how they joined the Explora Natura team, becoming the cornerstone of our company. They work tirelessly to ensure children have fantastic days and learn something meaningful, gaining valuable experiences that foster awareness of their own actions and promote positive habits through an understanding of their environment.
Explora Natura channeled its own clear objectives, developing content that was very different from other companies, in order to offer something different and impactful at an educational level.
All these activities create a continuous feedback loop, as we reinvest in Posada La Niña Margarita, located in the village of Los Villares de Priego de Córdoba, to make it a unique space for knowledge, creativity, ingenuity, and talent development. The inn now offers not only tourist accommodations but has also expanded its mission to include environmental education, cultural workshops, language immersion programs for international groups, and scheduled ecotourism and birdwatching tours, among other activities.
Given our location in the center of Andalusia, we offer both cultural and nature packages throughout Andalusia.
This is an example of how, starting with a specific location, creating synergies, enjoying the work, and bringing together a multidisciplinary team, we can develop tourism and learning programs that benefit the regions themselves, as we attract more and more visitors to the area. Part of our profits are invested in conservation programs in the geographical area we work in. We collaborate on a hacking program for owls to be released into the wild in the Cabra region; we work with the Montagu's harrier on the SOS Cenizo platform to raise awareness among farmers about the challenges this species faces when breeding in Spain; and we collaborate on the conservation of the great bustard at the Ojuelos estate (Seville) by protecting its habitat and establishing observation and photography points. The tourism focused on observing the great bustard itself contributes to its conservation. We talk about tourism and learning because, for us, ecotourism is based on the idea of getting to know, learning about, and respecting the places we visit. Live a natural, gastronomic, cultural and experiential journey with the people of the places visited to learn sustainable and respectful lifestyles in our environment.
Since then we have not stopped working, developing projects and transmitting values to new generations who will be able to contribute their bit to the future of our planet, our management and our lives and our children.
