By Christina Newberry

The British Columbia town of Harrison Hot Springs (so named because of its natural hot spring pools) has an unexpected draw each autumn and winter. The bald eagle, that iconic symbol of America, is a major presence in this Canadian village—just an hour and a half drive from the major metropolis of Vancouver. In this lakeside town, eagles far outnumber the 800 or so permanent human residents when they come to feast on spawning salmon in the Harrison and Fraser Rivers.

In November of each year, the Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival celebrates the arrival of the eagles—and the salmon—with loads of free events and an eagle count. This year’s count topped 2,600 eagles along just three kilometers of the Harrison River.

That number may sound staggering—that’s close to a thousand eagles per kilometer of river, after all—but once you’re on the river, you believe it, and you’re blown away. At certain points along the river, each tree is spotted with close to 100 birds, and the gravel shorelines where salmon are most abundant are literal feasting grounds, with a seemingly impossible number of eagles congregating to gorge on the abundant fish.

The eagles can be spotted from land, if you head to the right spot. Sandpiper Golf Course is one such option for land-locked eagle viewing. Lunch at the course-side River Edge Restaurant offers the chance to spot a few eagles right from your dining table, with a warming fire in the fireplace to boot.

But for the real spectacle, you’ve got to head out on the water. Several local companies offer eagle-watching boat tours leaving from the dock directly in front of the iconic Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa. Harrison Eco Tours has an office right in the hotel and offers packages for hotel guests. Just a couple of hours on the river in a covered, heated boat allow you to spot hundreds of eagles, with guides knowing just when to cut the boat’s motor so you can get close to the eagles without disturbing them.

Even with the heaters, after all that time on a chilly river, there’s nothing better than a soak in the town’s famed mineral hot springs, which some claim have healing powers. Resort guests have access to five indoor and outdoor natural mineral hot springs pools. For those on a tighter budget, the town has a public hot spring pool that’s less romantic but just as warm.

If you go
Harrison Hot Springs is located less than two hours’ drive east of Vancouver (three hours from Seattle) in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. For those wishing a more direct route, several major carriers fly to Abbotsford, about 45 minutes’ drive from Harrison Hot Springs. Eagles flock to the area starting in November, with peak viewing time in January and February.

Harrison Hot Springs Resort offers packages including two nights’ accommodation, access to the resort’s hot springs pools, full buffet breakfast, and a two-hour eagle watching tour with Harrison Eco Tours starting at $249.50 per person based on double occupancy. For each package sold a donation is made to an organization that supports wildlife programs.

Rowena’s Inn at Sandpiper Golf Course offer packages including one night’s accommodation, $50 credit for River’s Edge Restaurant, and access to the resort’s riverside designated eagle viewing area from $175 per room. They can also arrange boat tours.

For non-resort guests, the Harrison Hot Springs public pool offers access to an indoor hot spring pool for $9 per adult/$7 for children and seniors, and Harrison Eco Tours offers two-hour eagle-watching tours for $99 per person.

By David Perry for ChinaTravel.net

What's hot in world travel? Two things top the list: China and anything deemed "green," from hardcore back-country ecotourism adventures to environmentally conscious luxury resort stays.

But mention "China" and "green" in the same breath, and most travelers are likely to look at you like you've been huffing diesel fumes. After all, the media is full of stories about the huge environmental costs of China's breakneck economic growth. Most Westerners are more likely to think of dams, smog and booming megacities than pristine mountain streams, lush jungles and indigenous cultures living in balance with nature. And for many recently affluent Chinese travelers, the emphasis remains on mass tourism with a façade of luxury—if it's not conspicuous, shiny and crowded, it often seems it's not worth doing.

But that's all changing, like everything in the world's most dynamic country. And if China has anything in abundance, it's surprises. For many newcomers to China travel, the biggest surprise might be the growth of green travel in the Middle Kingdom.

For some, "green travel" may mean trekking in remote regions of Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet; others may prefer to pay a premium to stay in small eco-lodges or boutique hotels; still others may prefer the familiarity and comfort of conventional hotels but with an environmentally aware twist and easy access to nature reserves and parks. Regardless, the goal is a shared one: to protect and preserve the environment while enjoying the best it has to offer.

This doesn't just mean saving rare species, either. In this age of global warming and rapid resource depletion, it means understanding how one person can affect the environment and everything in it, from the local to the global level—and accepting responsibility for helping to make things better.

With all that in mind, we're debuting a series of green China features with a few tips for earth-friendly travel in China. In the near future, we'll spotlight regions, destinations, resorts and hotels that get high marks for environmental friendliness. We'll continue to do features on the subject, ranging from roughing it to luxury ecotourism, and we invite you to join the ongoing conversation in ChinaTravel.net's new China Travel Environment and Ecology Forum. If you have your own recommendations, stories or photos, let us know!

Green Travel in China

Carbon-conscious conveyance

In this age of global warming, travelers are becoming increasingly aware of their "carbon footprint," which is shorthand for the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses emitted by burning fossil fuels that can be calculated as being your individual share.

One popular option is carbon offsetting. An easy-to-use carbon calculator can help you calculate the climate impact of your flights and other travel activities; you can then contribute to an organization dedicated to various emissions-reducing actions, from protecting rain forests and wetlands to planting new trees to developing new low-emissions technologies.

You can also calculate carbon offsets for any bus, car or train travel you do. Of course, students and budget travelers may not have the extra money to do so. Regardless, you can choose lower emitting options over higher ones—take a bus or train instead of splurging on a private car; walk or ride a bike instead of hopping in cab; plan your trip carefully in advance to minimize the chance of often costly (and energy-gobbling) last-minute travel changes. As a bonus, you get a much more up-close-and-personal look at China by traveling in slower and more old-fashioned ways, whether in big city Beijing or the laid-back countryside around Guilin or one of Yunnan's top destinations.

In addition to carbon offsets, a number of travel businesses are experiencing something of a green awakening, making it easier for concerned consumers to act. For example, Chinese online travel giant Ctrip.com has recently made it possible to use accumulated travel points to help Shanghai Roots & Shoots plant more trees or to support environmental education in China by purchasing a reusable bag from GECKO.

Green hotels in China

If you're in a big city, the idea of a "green hotel" might seem counterintuitive, but even in the heart of Shanghai or sprawling outskirts of Shenzhen, you'll find accommodations that have gone green to one degree or another. International chains like Novotel, which recently teamed up with environmental certification organization Green Globe, are upgrading their facilities to save energy and reduce waste while maintaining high levels of quality and service, and for many first-time travelers to China, brand familiarity can be important. Novotel Peace Beijing and Novotel Atlantis Shanghai are good bets both for comfort and for you conscience. If an international chain isn't your thing, the green trend meets the boutique hotel in hotels like China's "first carbon-neutral hotel," URBN Hotels (despite the plural, they only have one at present though more are planned across China). In addition to centrally located urban hotels, a number of green alternatives

Sure, purists may raise an eyebrow at the mention of "ecotourism" in connection with developments like the Interlaken Shenzhen, designed to evoke an alpine Swiss village on the outskirts of the booming city in a semi-tropical park-like development, or the gee-whiz futuristic design of a development like the "sustainable" five-star Songjiang Hotel outside of Shanghai (see illustration, slated to open in May 2009). But when it comes to the nurturing of an environmental consciousness in development-happy China, the thought does indeed count for quite a bit: awareness is the first step toward action, and an eco-friendly hotel, even if less crunchy granola (or stinky tofu, for that matter) than status-conscious arugula and latte, raises awareness in both consumers and businesses.

There are also an increasing number of green getaways suitable for a long weekend escape from China's urban centers. If you've had enough of Shanghai, try Naked Retreats, which manages a selection of properties in the popular Moganshan area. Guangzhou boasts the Crosswaters Ecolodge and Spa in the bamboo forests of Nankunshan to the west of the city. The Beijing region offers unique options like the Beijing Crab Island Green Ecological Resort, which grows its own organic produce and seeks a high degree of sustainability, including the "coexistence of crops and crabs" as well as more mundane eco-goals like use of renewable energy and water reclamation.

Then there's Chengdu with its proximity to the forests and mountains that are home to China's poster animal for ecotourism, the giant panda. Because of the recent Sichuan earthquake, the situation in and around Chengdu will likely remain uncertain for several months—look for Sichuan updates on this site as well as more information on other popular ecotourism destinations throughout China, especially in the south and west, where remote and rugged lands have remained relatively untouched by development.