Our Hideaways’ property, Camp Kuzuma, Chobe, is built on the foundations of eco-travel – conscious and environmentally beneficial decisions made from the ground up. The lodge operates as independently as possible, self-sufficient in electricity, water and food, ensuring each and every element is recycled and reused where feasible.
Arriving in a remote and off the grid destination evokes a mixture of emotions, from initial trepidation of feeling disconnected from everyday life, to relief of connection to the wild. Understanding the importance of environmental impact of solar powered, off the grid properties truly invites one to surrender and celebrate eco-friendly infrastructure, lodge design and sustainable projects.
The entire camp is run on solar power. The energy collected operates the lodge; all appliances, the kitchen, water heating as well as two boreholes. The one borehole services the lodge itself, the other – the waterhole. Nature itself is benefitting from our solar panels, providing animals with water all year round, supporting conservation. Botswana gets extremely dry and water becomes an issue with such pans becoming a life-source for wildlife.
Being remote instills a sense of organic experience; immersed in the wild, void of daily human activity and sound, distanced yet fully engaged in one’s surroundings. Speaking organic, Camp Kuzuma built its own three chambered compost system, utilizing and recycling any kitchen waste to create rich and nutritious soil for our vegetable garden. This delicious and fresh produce is then used in our menu, a farm to table and self-sustainable process. Elephant dung and leaves from surrounding trees are sometimes used to quicken the process, a resourceful use of organic and natural materials as fertilizer.
This resourceful, efficient and eco-friendly food production strategy provides the lodge with fresh and highly nutritious herbs for the kitchen, while simultaneously saving water – more for the elephants!
There are plans in the pipe-line to implement a hydroponics system in the garden. Having attempted an aquaponics approach, the team were facing challenges due to the climate affecting the fish. The fish could not keep up with the rate of bacteria build up in the pipes due to the heat, causing constant maintenance and unhappy fish! Hydroponics eliminates a variety of challenges – such as soil borne diseases, water stress, arable soil, weeding – as well as provides the benefits of high yields of vegetables, efficient water usage, no pesticides and fungal infestations among other advantages. This resourceful, efficient and eco-friendly food production strategy provides the lodge with fresh and highly nutritious herbs for the kitchen, while simultaneously saving water – more for the elephants!
Each eco-tourism element has been implemented through conscious and careful planning, ensuring life-changing travel experiences while looking after our environment, the most precious resource of all.
