Jose Koechlin first visited Machu Picchu in the early 70s. He was struck by its beauty, but also by how little the area had been developed to receive visitors.

Koechlin with wife Denise at the Machu Picchu Peublo Hotel

As he continued to go back to explore the wonders of the Andes and Inca civilization, he began to work on a plan to develop a project that would preserve the natural wonders while giving visitors a chance to enjoy them.

He eventually purchased a 10-hectare (25-acre) piece of land in Aguas Calientes, the modern town below Machu Picchu, on which to develop a hotel built of local materials by local people. It would also be staffed by locals. Translating the idea into reality was not easy.

"I started the paperwork in 1976 and opened my doors for business in 1991," he said with a smile in a recent interview. Since then the hotel has grown to 87 rooms and continues to expand. It has also developed into a major private nature preserve in its own right.

In the meantime, Koechlin has established a lodge in the Amazon rain forests. The profits from both projects go into conservation, and Koechlin recently set up a private foundation for this purpose, called Inkaterra.

The orchid collection at his Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel is world class, and the property also protects a wide variety of other flora and fauna, including hummingbirds and Spectacled Bears, unique to the Andes.

The Andean Spectacled bear

His devotion to developing Machu Picchu and the Amazon region wisely has made him a leading citizen in the area and attracted international attention. Both the National Geographic Society of Washington and the Missouri Botanical Garden of St. Louis are collaborating with him on conservation projects, and his work has won the backing of the International Finance Corporation, a private sector investment arm of the World Bank.

Koechlin sits on the board of Conservation International, based in Washington. Most remarkable, Koechlin is a self-made man. He earned most of his money in land development and tuna fishing (selling to the Japanese) and other commercial activities.

But his heart is clearly in conservation, and his tourist projects all plow profits back into that endeavor.

He recently purchased a hotel he plans to develop in Lima, and he has already informed select NGOs that any guests they send him will stay at half price.

Roger McManus, the director of the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Missouri Botanical Garden, who is working with Inkaterra on conserving and cataloguing local flora, says Koechlin belongs to "a new breed of entrepreneur: businessmen sacrificing to do what they can do better."

"I would like my life to be of value to the world," Koechlin says simply.