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Green beyond the golf course
By GEORGE OXFORD MILLER
"Have you seen the spring by hole nine?" the instructor asks. We bounce along the narrow ruts to a limestone sinkhole surrounded by a thicket of trees and shrubs. Emerald water fills the depression. A kingfisher flies from an exposed limb, and a flock of roosting night herons clamors deeper into the branches. Reflections of the trees and puffy clouds dance across the water's surface. In the distance, the surf murmurs. And I haven't even visited the most unusual aspect of the resort: The Indigenous Eyes Ecological Preserve, 45 acres of virgin forest that border an undeveloped section of beach. Operating on this land is the Cornell University Biodiversity Laboratory, a multidiscipline research institution financed by the resort. Punta Cana's developers had cleared a wide swath for its golf course and fairway villas and had removed much of the undergrowth, but wildlife still abounds, especially around the springs and in the hotel gardens.
The Cornell researchers report almost 100 species of birds in the area. When I returned to that spring-fed sinkhole, two hummingbirds zipped overhead and doves cooed at each other. A lizard cuckoo hopped along a limb with a lizard in its beak while several prairie warblers, winter visitors from North America, search for insects among the branches. On my first afternoon, I had checked out snorkel gear and paddled out from the beach. Even 100 yards out, the gently sloping bottom is only chest deep. Sea grass and fractured coral from the offshore reef cover the bottom. Jewellike fishes dash for cover, and a footlong spotted moray eel watches unperturbed as I float over. The currents stir up the fine sand and limit visibility to a few yards, so this isn't a prime snorkel spot, yet the marine life holds me spellbound for an hour. The resort's activity center offers offshore snorkel and dive trips to deeper water with greater clarity. But it was the wildlife preserve that attracted me, so I met with Elvis Cuevas, a naturalist for the Cornell biodiversity lab, who conducts free tours for resort guests. "The resort preserved 1,500 acres for scientific research," he told the group of guests as we walked along a path bordered with a wall of vegetation. "Transition-zone forest like this once covered the coastal plain all the way to the mountains, but most was cleared for charcoal and sugar cane. The coral bedrock forms an aquifer that feeds the lagoons. It's a great place to observe wildlife." Each of the preserve's 12 lagoons bears a name from the Taino Indians, the first inhabitants of the island. Some denote food and animals, others relate to legends. At the largest spring, Laguna Guama ("powerful chief"), we saw several palm chats, sparrow-sized birds with striped breasts. "Palm chats are the national bird," Cuevas said. "The region gets its name from the cana palm. We still build with the trunks and thatch roofs with the fronds." He stopped along the way to tell us native uses for the plants. "The forest supplied the Indians with their food and medicines. They used the latex sap from fig trees to make balls for games. The Spanish had never seen anything like it."
Even a bird study contributed to the search for new medicines: Biologists discovered that two species of birds line their nests with green leaves of certain plants to ward off mites and other parasites. With its emphasis on ecology, Punta Cana Resort differs from most all-inclusive resorts. The 18-hole golf course uses seashore paspalum grass, a hybrid from the sand dunes that thrives on saltwater. The course architect, P.D. Dye Jr., saw me birdwatching along the course and invited me to tag along while he played. He explained that the grass requires less than half the usual amounts of water, fertilizer and pesticides. "Most courses use 600,000 gallons (of water) a day. We use half that. We water with treated wastewater from the resort. It has a high salt content, but the grass loves it," Dye said. "Paspalum is going to revolutionize golf in the Caribbean." Fourteen holes of the course feature views of the Caribbean, and four play along the ocean itself. Punta Cana Resort demonstrates social responsibility by providing for its employees -- residents of one of the poorest nations in the Caribbean -- housing with full utilities and cable TV, a K-12 school with computer and science labs, an orphanage and a school for children with disabilities, a church and even a bowling alley. In a Caribbean filled with generic beach resorts with all-inclusive package deals, Punta Cana goes the extra step with responsible development. The resort so impressed Mikhail Baryshnikov, Julio Iglesias and Oscar de la Renta that they each built seaside vacation residences there. If you goGETTING THERE: There is air service from Tampa Bay to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and from there, American Eagle flies to the Punta Cana International Airport, where hotel staff pick up guests. Travel agents often offer packages with charter flights. STAYING THERE: The all-inclusive resort offers golf, honeymoon and vacation packages that start at about $120 per night during the winter season. Unlike some resorts with repetitive buffets, Punta Cana's all-inclusive package includes two a la carte lunch restaurants and breakfast and dinner buffets with chef stations for individual orders. FOR MORE INFORMATION: For resort or villa packages at Punta Cana Resort, call toll-free 1-888-442-2262, send e-mail to reservas@puntacana.com, or go to the Web site, www.puntacana.com. For a vacation planning guide to the Dominican Republic, call 1-800-723-6138 or see www.dominicanrepublic.com/Tourism. - George Oxford Miller is a freelance writer living in Clarksboro, N.J.
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