Visitor center, open-air kitchen and cabin hostel in Telica Volcano
Clementine Haudecoeur | Oct 27, 2015
New touristic offer on the hillside of Telica volcsno, in the department of León, Nicaragua.
León is one of the most visited department of Nicaragua because of its cultural dynamism and its natural beauty. One of its most famous attraction is the Telica Volcano, a powerful active volcano that attracts thousands of tourists every year for the lava you can observe from the edge of its crater.
The municipality of Telica recently opened a new touristic offer in the community of Agua Fría, in the hillside of the volcano, with the inauguration of a visitor center, an open-air kitchen and a cabin hostel. This project, implemented by the Mayor office of the municipality of Telica in direct collaboration with the organization Nuevas Esperanzas, will give more options to the adventurous tourists who want to meet this giant.
The visitor center/open-air kitchen Reserva Volcán Telica will provide information about the site and offer services to climb up the volcano, but will also offer traditional food and delicious drinks made of products locally cultivated.
The cabin hostel, located more in the community, is a lodging options for visitors who want to spent a rustic but comfortable night. The dormitory has a capacity of 40 people and its actual price is US$10 per person.
The project also forecast the construction of guard house to control the access to the protected area for major security of the tourists thanks to the trained forest rangers.
Finally, a new track was created from the site to climb up to the crater of the volcano without major difficulty.
This initiative of sustainable tourism represented a real challenge for the different communities involved.In fact, they had to face the multiple challenges sent by Mother Nature as the volcano activated several times during the period of implementation of the project, surprising workers with a few explosions and the emission of gas, dust and stones. Taking into consideration those extreme conditions and the fact that the site is located in a very remote area, complicated to reach, the results achieved are really impressive. The visitor center/open-air kitchen, with its unique design, made of volcanic stones from the area, has a very nice aesthetic that goes perfectly well with its environment and allow people to fully enjoy the amazing views offered by this place.
This project was realized in order to ensure the conservation and sustainable management of the natural resources of the area as well as to have a new means of socio-economical strengthening for the communities nearby. In fact, this project enabled the creation of the Tourism Cooperative of the Protected Area Telica-Rota (COTUR R.L.) and trained a total of 30 people on sustainable tourism, tourist attention, cooking, group guidance, etc.
This initiative represents a total inversion of 182,358€ and was one of the subsidized projects of the Colonial and Volcanoes Route, financed by the European Union and the Government of Nicaragua, with the support of the Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (INTUR) and with the technical support of the Cooperation Agency of Luxembourg (LuxDev).
More information about this project here.
See gallery of photos from the day of the inauguration here.