 So you’ve bought your flight ticket, your accommodation is booked, and you are excited about travelling to the Philippines!
There are over 7,000 islands that make up the Philippines, many are bursting with white sand beaches, warm turquoise oceans, stunning waterfalls to swim in, gorgeous mountain views, and of course palm trees for that quintessential tropical island feel. To make your life easier, Moalboal Eco Lodge have compiled a list of essential items you need to pack for travel in the Philippines, some of which you may not have considered!
0 Comments
Are you trying to have a plastic free Christmas? Do you want to be more eco-friendly and have a green, zero waste Christmas? The easiest way is to do it yourself and have a hand-made festive season.
Christmas may be the most wonderful time of year, but not for our environment. Wherever you look, plastic is used from the tree, to the decorations, to wrapping paper. However it doesn’t have to be this way, you can have an eco-friendly Christmas and plenty of fun. It was important our first Christmas at the Eco Lodge was plastic-free, so I began researching handmade eco-friendly Christmas trees, and DIY decorations. I discovered a huge variety of options, and chose what I thought would be the most fun to make, the easiest, and what would give us the most zero waste Christmas. From dried oranges to paper stars, I enjoyed putting together our green Christmas Tree and all the handmade decorations to hang from it. Moalboal Eco Lodge share our handmade, plastic free, eco-friendly Christmas tree and decorations. 
As Christmas approaches, 2020 will undoubtedly be the strangest festive season any of us have experienced. Yes things will be different, and if you are someone who loves to celebrate Christmas, you can still do so in style, but it may require a different approach.
Choosing a more sustainable approach to Christmas is the way to a better future. If you watched Netflix’s David Attenborough documentary “A Life on Our Planet”, you will have heard his plea regarding climate change, and how we need to do something now. Every year the festive season is a time of excess; too much eating and drinking, buying so many presents people get into debt, stressing about cooking far too much food it ends up wasted in landfills. Although it is the season to be jolly, the spirt of Christmas has become lost. It’s not about how much money you spend or how many presents you buy. If 2020 has shown us anything, it’s to value time spent with friends and family more. Christmas is the season for being charitable, and after a difficult year, presents are not always the best way of showing your love. Remember that spending lots of money on a gift doesn’t necessarily make it special. Moalboal Eco Lodge share an eco friendly gift guide for all occasions; Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Birthday, or any occasion where you need to give a present. 
Orangutans are being killed. The Sumatran Tiger, Sumatran Rhino and Sumatran Elephant are dying and classed as “critically endangered”.
Deforestation in Indonesia is escalating climate change, and increasing the number of landslides and flash floods. Why? Because of the palm oil industry – a “harmless natural” oil used in over half the products on our supermarket shelves, including foods, toiletries and cosmetics. Palm oil is also used as biodiesel in USA and Europe. The unsustainable collection of palm oil is the new secret killer. The key word here is unsustainable. How? Borneo and Indonesia produce 85% of the world’s palm oil, which involves cutting virgin rainforests, then burning the land to make way for oil palm plantation. Orangutans and the other endangered animals mentioned only live in Borneo and Sumatra (Indonesia) so their habitat is being destroyed. Orangutans suffer the most, with over half their population being killed in the past 15 years. We will explain why the unsustainable collection of palm oil is killing the Orangutans, and how deforestation for the palm oil industry is contributing to climate change. Find out the outcome of Moalboal Eco Lodge's Palm Oil Free Challenge in support of International Orangutan Day. 
FACT: Switching your toiletries to plastic free or zero waste will give you more luggage space, AND reduce your suitcase or backpack weight. Great news if you are taking a trip and want to use a small bag, especially if you are travelling by plane.
In future travel, flying under “the new normal” means some airlines (such as British Airways) are only allowing hand luggage which can fit underneath your seat. If you usually take a few toiletries in your carry-on bag in case of lost luggage, moving to plastic free options will be perfect for you. Overhead lockers may be out of use in post-Coronavirus lockdown, minimising touchable surfaces within the plane and reducing unnecessary movement. However, this does mean only essentials can be taken on board such as your passport, mobile phone, hand sanitiser, face mask, pen, small snack etc. Airlines may also be reducing the weight limit for checked in baggage. The heavier the aircraft, the more it cost to fly and airlines are already struggling after months of being grounded. To keep ticket prices as affordable as possible but still recouping lost revenue, airlines have to reduce costs any way they can. By switching your toiletries to plastic free or zero waste, you will save valuable weight, save space, the 100ml liquid limit doesn’t apply, and you don’t have to worry about liquids spilling over your clothes. Moalboal Eco Lodge share how you can make a few easy plastic free and zero waste changes to your toiletries. 
The Philippines is located in the coral triangle, the most bio-diverse region in the world. When asked “what wildlife can I see in the Philippines”, with over 52,177 species of wildlife, the answer is “a lot”.
For animal lovers, there is plenty to be seen above and below the water. The most famous wildlife found in the Philippines is the whale shark, but there is also the Philippine Tarsier, the smallest primate in the world, and the Philippine Eagle, the largest eagle in the world, and endemic to the Philippines. Do you know where to find the world’s largest flower, the Rafflesia, in the Philippines? At Moalboal Eco Lodge, we are huge animal lovers, and are surrounded by nature day and night. Regardless of whether wildlife is big or small, bird, insect, or fish, we are passionate them all. In this article, we share 10 different wildlife which we feel are the most impressive for various reasons. Some of the wildlife featured are only found here in the Philippines, some are iconic, some are weird, and some are just beautiful. So for visiting nature lovers this is wildlife of the Philippines. 
Do you have a bucket list of ideas or a compilation of “things to do before you die”? Did you know that some of the most popular bucket list experiences can be achieved in the Philippines?
The Philippines is often on people’s travel bucket list of places to visit due to its abundance of paradise white sand beaches and spectacular marine life, but it also has many other bucket list activities. Scuba Diving, Freediving, Skydiving, swimming with turtles, all of these and many more can be found and achieved in this beautiful archipelago of over 7,000 islands. In and around Cebu you can have an adventure filled visit, ticking off more than just one activity from this bucket list. Cebu is an international and domestic hub of the Philippines, and if these bucket list experiences are not found in Cebu, they are a short convenient plane or boat journey away. Moalboal Eco Lodge share an exciting bucket list of ideas and experiences you can have in the Philippines. 
As travel resumes following the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine and lockdowns, extra precautions will need to be taken. Living a “new normal” life will include more thought and preparation if we are to remain safe and healthy, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of our planet.
Single use face masks, small hand sanitiser bottles, latex gloves, polystyrene take-out containers, plastic bags – it’s already polluting our planet and having catastrophic effects on the war against single use plastic. Disposable masks and gloves have been found on beaches which are washed into the ocean during high tide, and have been discovered littering nature trails, park-lands and green areas. Sustainable practices often take a back seat in times of crisis, but for people who wish to travel responsibly, we have to continue fighting. Until a vaccine is found we will all be living with the threat of COVID-19, but staying safe during Coronavirus doesn't mean more plastic. The way forward is not to disregard all we have learnt about zero waste and using less single use plastics, but to continue with the good practices already in place. YES YOU CAN BE PLASTIC FREE AND ZERO WASTE DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. Moalboal Eco Lodge want to help you travel eco-friendly after COVID-19 quarantines, so here are our 12 plastic free and zero waste travel tips during Coronavirus. |