Eco-resort to pamper minds

Travel meets study at an ex-UCI ecologist's place.

By PAT BRENNAN / The Orange County Register

Eco-resort to pamper minds

Meeting of the minds: Hana Ayala of Irvine and investor Claus Mittermayer discuss resort plans.

Fifteen years of work by a former UC Irvine social ecology professor is about to bring something new to Panama: a tropical resort that will double as a scientific research station.

Hana Ayala wants to build a string of such facilities across the globe that has a small development footprint, strong conservation ethic and generous financial support for wildlife, habitat, geological and evolutionary research.

A German investor has agreed to place the first one - Ayala's "flagship" - on two Panamanian islands he owns called Isla Bayoneta and Isla CaÃ±as.

The islands, in the Las Perlas Archipelago off Panama's Pacific coast, are uninhabited and untouched by development.

"It's a pristine, natural treasure," Ayala said at a recent meeting with the investor, Claus Mittermayer, at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach. The two signed a development agreement last year and announced the project last month.

Ayala, of Irvine, calls her project IQ Resorts but says she wants to create far more than just another chain of "eco-resorts." She speaks of establishing an economic engine for local people, who would gain jobs and profit from their association with it.

She thinks her vision would provide a monetary incentive to preserve the tropical habitat of the region for high-end, low-impact tourism instead of filling it with homes and businesses as development pressure increases.

Mittermayer owns three islands in the archipelago. He and Ayala talk about a resort with interpretive exhibits on the science and culture of the area built into the grounds and architecture - all of it using minimal power and producing minimal waste with state-of-the-art technology.

"For some time I've been looking for the right development approach," Mittermayer said.

He had heard about Ayala's concept and gave her a call that turned into a three-hour chat.

"I was impressed with the environmental integration and harmony with nature, and also the science involved," he said. The whole essence of the IQ Resorts is a catalyst for something larger."

The other half of the equation - science - would carry equal weight, the two say.

Ayala, the wife of UCI evolutionary biologist Francisco Ayala, thinks her resort would generate enough money from guests to fund scientific research projects on the archipelago and surrounding region.

The findings from the science projects, in turn, would enhance environmental and scientific tourism. Guests would not just take guided hikes or hear lectures, but absorb detailed science as deeply as they wished from presentations woven into their day. They could even take part in the science, gathering some of the data, and would get invitations to make financial investments in specific projects.

"A spa for the body will join a spa for the mind," Ayala says.


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