Going Green in Manitoba
You're up for something different - you want a unique adventure, but you also want to be responsible in your tourism choices. In Manitoba, we're working to put into practice the principles of sustainable tourism, both as a destination and through the efforts of individual businesses. Come and experience our varied and often pristine landscapes and our diverse and vital heritage and cultures. Unearth your Manitoba adventure here.
Go green – visit destinations with a difference. Enjoy planet-friendly getaways. Do your part while having fun.
- Get cozy at a Whiteshell eco-cabin
- Unpretzel on a zen camping weekend
- Bale out to unusually green accommodations
- Go nomad in a Manitoba yurt
- Fishing with a difference
- Minimal impact, maximum impact – Churchill's polar bears
- Golfing without guilt – your ace in the hole
- Feast on local fare and support inner city youth at FortWhyte
Get cozy at a Whiteshell eco-cabin
Gulp in a mixture of pine, tamarack, cedar—the finest air freshener on earth – as you scale a couple of easy kilometres through the rocky Canadian Shield outcroppings. Go by foot, pedal or cross country ski to reach the secluded High Lake Cabins in Whiteshell Provincial Park. Solar-powered with gravity-fed water and composting toilets, you can rest easy knowing the two eco-friendly cabins leave a small footprint. Shop local at the Falcon Lake town site for your food, and share the spectacular setting with your only neighbours on the lake—the wild kind. It could be a moose, deer or beaver.
Plan your green getaway
Unpretzel on a zen camping weekend
Assume the tree pose on a weekend of yoga and canoe camping with Northern Soul Wilderness Adventures. Find your centre amidst the meditation-inducing Manitoba boreal forest. Be sure to savour the organic home-dried produce and local delicacies while resting assured that your wilderness getaway is in tune with your beliefs. Winner of the 2008 Skål International Eco-Tourism Award, Northern Soul blends environmental practices beautifully with the wild.
Plan your green getaway
Bale out to unusually green accommodations
Choose a destination with the ultimate in green architecture—a bed and breakfast where you bunk down in a straw bale building. Feast on locally farmed bison at Room to Grow Straw Bale Guesthouse, Greenhouse and Guided Experiences, about a 15-minute drive from Boissevain in southwestern Manitoba. Go birding at nearby Whitewater Lake, a Watchable Wildlife Site, hike or canoe in Turtle Mountain Provincial Park, and savour lunch at the International Peace Garden among stunning floral displays.
Plan your green getaway
- Room to Grow Straw Bale Guesthouse
- Whitewater Lake Bird Habitat
- Turtle Mountain Provincial Park
- International Peace Gardens
Go nomad in a Manitoba yurt
Keep it simple on your camping vacation—stay in a yurt! Yes, you are still in Manitoba… not Mongolia. With no need to haul your tent or trailer to Clearwater Lake Provincial Park, you can travel light. Gaze at the stars through the skylight or laze around on the rustic log furniture. Throw a line in the water and fish for northern pike in the crystal-clear waters, or peer into deep rock crevices along the Cave's Self-guiding Trail. Pick your nomadic yurt destination from seven different Manitoba provincial parks.
Plan your green getaway
Fishing with a difference
Fly into this fishing destination with a difference. Grab a group of friends or family and settle in at your own secluded eco-chalet in the wilderness of Atikaki Provincial Park. Admire the strategically placed solar panels and composting toilets at the Great Gray Owl Wilderness Adventure Camp. Leave your environmentally friendly products at home—biodegradable soaps are provided. Jump into an aluminium fishing boat with a 4-stroke engine and land a few walleye for breakfast! Splash around Aikens Lake (right outside the door) on your own private sandy beach, then sing your heart out over an evening campfire—only the loons and the caribou will hear. Fishing never was quite so green.
Plan your green getaway
Gawk at polar bears and keep a clear conscience in Churchill
Two award-winning companies bring an environmentally appropriate approach to viewing a magnificent but potentially endangered species – all with minimal impact. Rumble across frozen tundra on the edge of the arctic on a Tundra Buggy© adventure by Frontiers North or Great White Bear Tours in Churchill. Both companies have been recognized for their work in sustainable tourism. You'll get as close as humanly possible to polar bears without affecting them. Frontiers North minimizes the impact of this amazing experience by sticking to existing trails, supporting polar bear conservation efforts through Polar Bears International, and providing education programs for staff and visitors. Great White Bear Tours strives to maximize the learning experience through appropriate wildlife viewing, while supporting the research of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre.
Plan your green getaway
- Frontiers North Tundra Buggy Adventure
- Polar Bears International
- Great White Bear Tours
- Churchill Northern Studies Centre
Golfing without guilt – your ace in the hole
Clear Lake Golf Course at Riding Mountain National Park emphasizes the "green" in golfing. Food waste is composted, and mowers are fueled by used cooking oil from local restaurants. Clippings are left on fairways to provide nitrogen for the soil, water conservation efforts are emphasized, and organic fertilizers are used to make this magnificent course among the greenest in North America. Enjoy the surroundings while you're at it – these protected forests are second to none.
Stay green at nearby Riding Mountain Guest Ranch, winner of the 2002 Manitoba Ecotourism Award. Learn green with a guided wildlife safari or nature hike, then eat green when you stop for a cup of fair trade organic coffee and yummy baked goods at Poor Michael's Bookshop Art & Café in Onanole, just south of Riding Mountain. This truly is a Manitoba destination with a difference.
Plan your green getaway
- Clear Lake Golf Course
- Riding Mountain National Park
- Poor Michael's Bookshop Art & Café
- Riding Mountain Guest Ranch
Feast on local fare and support inner city youth at FortWhyte
Feast on local bison meat, honey and fresh vegetables from FortWhyte Farms to support at-risk inner city youth in Winnipeg. You can feel good about buying produce at the FortWhyte Alive market knowing that your money goes into a creative internship program for young people to work and learn at the farm. Check out the new passive solar cold-climate greenhouse, a potential candidate for use in Winnipeg's inner city and Manitoba's remote northern communities. Walk the trails at FortWhyte and learn about bison and waterfowl, then have lunch in the café and pick up an environmentally appropriate souvenir at the shop. FortWhyte brings green to the city.
