Malawi & Zambia holiday, safari & beach

Planet

The company that owns the camps takes pro-active steps to ensure the properties and tourism activities are run in an environmentally responsible manner. This is important in protecting the fragile ecosystems in which they operate and that wildlife and local people rely upon for their survival.

Green Technology
Over time they are introducing the latest green technologies into all of the properties. This includes solar energy systems for providing power, solar water heaters for guest showers and the use of green design construction principles including living grass roofs, natural air cooling and the use of non-fired bricks.

The benefits are clear - the outlet of CO2 to the ozone layer is significantly reduced, along with the use of firewood and the resulting contribution to deforestation.

Water Conservation
The conservation of water is of critical importance in the environments they operate, where many local people do not have ready access to safe, clean drinking water and droughts are commonplace. They conserve water through regular maintenance to reduce leakages, fitting flow restrictors on shower heads and taps where possible, watering our gardens and grass roofs at cooler times of the day, planting only drought resistant native plants where landscaping is necessary, and implementing a guest towel re-use and water conservation programme.

Waste Water Treatment
All waste water from the kitchens, guest bedrooms and staff houses is run into a sewage systems and biologically treated as it runs through natural sand filters. The water outlets are tested regularly. In this way they can be sure that they are not introducing harmful toxins into the protected environments in which they operate.

Waste Management
All of the waste produced is recycled, re-used or disposed of responsibly. In order to reduce waste, they avoid the purchase of glass bottled and tin canned goods where possible and offer our guests refillable steel water bottles in place of plastic water bottles.

They use recycled paper in offices and in brochure production, and recycle waste paper and cardboard through local community paper-making. This has the added benefit of providing livelihood streams for our neighbouring communities.

People

The camps purchase as many locally available supplies as possible to stimulate local trade. In Zambia 80% of vegetables are purchased from local farmers. In this way they secure the freshest ingredients for their guests and at the same time support local enterprises and producers. They also contract local craftsmen for new buildings and in the refurbishment of our existing properties and support local artisans by selling their wares in the gift shops and for furnishing the properties.

In Malawi, the Nyika-Vwaza Trust has supported a number of initiatives which have benefited the local communities who live adjacent to the Nyika and Vwaza. In addition, the Nyika-Vwaza Trust employs as many as 40 local people to help implement various projects. This brings much-needed employment to an impoverished area and means that local communities are at the heart of what the trust does.

At Kawa Mawa, each room is individually designed in partnership with Katundu Textiles, a workshop set up on the island to empower single mothers. All the workforce come from the neighbouring villages and have been trained on site so are provided with jobs and a career.