Selva Negra

Many Europeans have come to the "new world" over the past centuries, and in Nicaragua many of the Europeans stayed to start businesses and assimilate into the Nicaraguan identity. This is how the story of the Selva Negra Mountain Resort began. In the 1880's the Nicaraguan government offered land and financial incentives to Europeans to come to Nicaragua to farm coffee. The current owners of Selva Negra are descendants of the German immigrants who founded the Mountain Resort. Over the past four generations, the resort has achieved international renown as a model for sustainable coffee plantations that welcome tourists.

The entire resort has been built using the inspiration of a Bavarian village, with quaint cottages and bungalows and a wonderful lagoon-side restaurant serving delicious Nicaraguan and international food, including authentic German cuisine. It is truly a village unto itself, because everything needed to run the farm is produced on the farm – from the vegetables and fruits which are grown in manure and compost made from farm waste-products, to the farm animals that provide the meat. In addition, a small dairy farm produces milk. The employees are also provided free housing, education for both adults and children, and basic medical facilities.

To the left, one of the thousands of coffee trees grown in the shade on the Selva Negra farm. Everywhere on the plantation, coffee trees were abundant. And for the adventuresome and hardy, there are 14 trails, six of which are designed for horses, plus a variety of tours. While we were there, Chuck and I just lazed around, read books and magazines and ate scrumptious food! In the early morning. I explored the stone patio, lagoon and gardens next to our cottage, which was peaceful (except for the howler monkeys!), and bright.


For more information, go to www.selvanegra.com

BTW, for those of you who were wondering where the "Picture Puzzler" of our May 4, 2008 post was from -- it is the tank in front of the entrance to the Selva Negra Mountain Resort!