Evason Hideaway - an eco-friendly resort

The Evason Ana Mandara Resort and Spa demonstrates that top-end luxury and eco-friendliness need not be mutually exclusive.

Environmental protection
The resort's buildings straggle along the foot of a precipitous, and starkly beautiful mountain face. Every effort has been made to limit the impact upon the rock face. The large cabins and spa buildings are perched on wooden platforms supported by vertical timber beams free-standing on the bare rock.

Paths and steps are built up on the surface rather than cut into the rock. Cables for ambient lighting are tucked away in crevices or covered with rough shale.

All wooden construction materials and furniture are fabricated on-site from locally-sourced sustainable timber or recycled material. No mechanical appliances are used.

Water is stored in small reservoirs high on the cliff face and supplied via natural channels.

Solid and liquid waste is treated in a filtration plant. There are no pollutants and no chemicals are used on the site. Mosquitoes are kept at bay by the use of a natural repellant sprayed across the resort weekly - fully organic and harmless to other species and flora. Apart from drinking vessels in the pool area, no plastic is used.

In addition to the usual request to recycle towels to save water, all villas have an 'eco-bag' with a written exhortation to use it to return used aerosols, dead batteries and so on to the guests home countries where they can be destroyed without damage to the environment.

All supplies, construction material and so on are carried by hand. The only means of transport around the large site is a few electric buggies.

Most supplies are locally sourced, but a large organic garden supplies most of the vegetables.

Great care is taken to protect the pristine coral reef close to the beach. Guests are briefed in advance about avoiding damage. Guests in the Water Villas, which can only be reached by boat, travel to and fro in specially-designed flat-bottomed dinghies operated by pulling along a rope.

Cultural conservation
All aspects of the resort are designed according to the principles of feng shui. The calm ambience of the resort owes much to the carefully crafted use of ying yang.

For example, the harmonious combination of rock and water feature throughout the resort.

Spa treatments are mostly based upon traditional oriental therapeutic herbs, medicines, meditation and manipulation.

Social responsibilities
With the exception of a small number of foreign managers and consultants, all staff members have been recruited locally from the area or from the poor province of Phu Yen just along the coast.

The resort operates an equal opportunity policy for all employees and provides extensive training and skill building programmes. Advancement is encouraged.

The resort sources supplies locally, and has built a large factory at the departure end of the bay where local craftsmen receive advanced training in carpentry and woodwork.