Happy Little Animals At Avana Retreat
Watch Avana's little friends living happily in the lush evergreen
Read moreBe the change you wish to see in the world.
When it comes to taking care of the environment, we have long considered it our priority. Since the first villa was built, more than 10 hectares have been reforested at Avana and the surrounding region. We are continuing to work with the local government to reforest other empty hills in Mai Chau. We practice revegetation as a means of returning the landscape to its original state and improving air quality for better public health.
In keeping with our commitment to being true citizens of the area, we focus on hiring locally. Ninety percent of Avana’s staff are local. They often come to us with limited education. If they have aspirations for self-improvement then we provide English and skill training programs to help them succeed. Once they become a member of the Avana family we offer fair wages, health coverage, safe working conditions, opportunities to progress, and additional on-the-job training. We aim to improve the livelihood of the local ethnic communities so that residents can stay and live well in their homeland and contribute to the development of their area.
Big changes come from small actions. To reduce the use of plastic and disposable products we use glass bottles for complimentary water and reusable ceramic containers for the resort bathrooms. Sustainable items are utilized in the villa’s interior design to reduce the negative impact on the environment. Large floor-to-ceiling windows in forty-one villas, for example, are a way of harnessing natural light and helping reduce energy usage.
Shampoo, shower gel, as well as essential oils used in our Orchid Spa, feature natural and organic ingredients from local suppliers. These products are environmentally friendly and offer our guests a special connection to the place.
We offer walking and biking tours with local guides that include visiting natural areas, ethnic villages, with close interaction with local people. Our tours are designed to minimize negative environmental impact and improve the welfare of minority communities.
Hmong people cultivate our terraced rice fields. Local performances such as traditional dance, fabric weaving, and bee-wax painting demonstrations are frequently set up at Avana to allow cultural exchange between guests and local artists. Books, musical instruments, agricultural tools, and a variety of other items that showcase minority people’s lifestyles are displayed in our library and exhibition space.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted globally each year. That is one-third of all food produced for human consumption. With this in mind, we learn to use the resources in our kitchen carefully. We acknowledge that surplus food that comes from our restaurants is valuable to local communities so we share our food leftover to be utilized by locals for livestock feed. Also, to ensure that our food has been grown sustainably we source our food from local farmers and suppliers.
Please let us know if you are missing any service or if you have any request for extra services: