Nkwichi Lodge has been recognised as a pioneering eco-tourism establishment and been awarded many accolades, including Africa's Leading Responsible Tourism Company and Best Small Hotel/Accommodation at the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards. To prove why Manda Wilderness - Nkwichi Lodge can comfortably claim to be a responsible tourism project we have answered 10 questions which clearly define what our project entails.
Yes - The Manda Wilderness Conservation project has 3 aims:
Tourism investment to build and run an environmentally friendly lodge with minimal impact to the environment and built in such a way that if the lodge were to be removed the area would return to its natural condition within 2 years.
Conservation in partnership with local communities to set up a conservation area of 250,000 hectares and a lake reserve of 4 hectares.
Sustainable Development with communities that form this conservation partnership to help build a more secure future and better living conditions for local populations.
The Manda Wilderness Project has partnered with community leaders and assisted in gaining land titles for their land from the Mozambique government. The communities have committed in setting aside a portion of land within the 120,000ha Manda Wilderness Commuinty Conservation Area for conservation, to establish a wildlife reserve and to use natural resources in a sustainable manner.
The Manda Wilderness Project regularly monitors the area for wildlife poaching practices and works together with local communities in solidifying a notion of conservation within the villages. A local NGO calculated that the salaries paid to locally emplyed staff at Nkwichi Lodge filters through to approximately 11,000 people living in the vicinity.
Nkwichi Lodge employs:
56 local staff - 11 women and 45 men
3 expatriate managers
Setting up of the Manda Wilderness Community owned Conservation area. The Manda Wilderness Agriculture Project has also been running for 9 years and has trained over 50 indivuduals from 5 different villages in surrounding areas on sustainable farming practices.
By the end of 2011 roughly 40% of the produce is sourced from local areas. A range of fresh vegetables and fruits are produced at the Manda Wilderness Agricultural Project, which in turn has increased knowledge of agriculture in the area and diversified crops grown within the borders of Manda Wilderness. There is still room for improvement, however, and the majority of produce (mainly dry food products and meats) are sourced from outer areas. It is still a big improvement from the 20% figure in 2005.
'Grey water' from sinks drains into a pit that filters through extra fine sand. Toilets drain into 'eco-composting pits'. Once they are full they are closed and a tree is planted on top. Dead wood is collected from a large area around the lodge and used to heat the water in the chalets. The lodge is entirely solar powered. All lighting, office computers, all refrigaration and freezers (including an ice-machine) and solar ovens are run on solar energy.
All Nkwichi staff come from local communities. They are friendly, open and chat with guests on a regular basis. Guests often visit some of the 14 villages that Nkwichi is involved with. Guests are told to respect local customs, ask permission before taking photos and not give money. Nkwichi also explains to the locals the benefits of tourism.
Yes they are and all of them are proud of taking visitors to their villages to meet local dignitaries and their own families. These guides recieve training and over time gain qualifications (such as the Local Nature Guide Qualification from the Field Guides Association of Southern Africa).
By staying at Nkwichi guests automatically help to pay the wages of up to 56 local staff. Each salary supports approximately 15 family members. This means that by staying at the lodge guests have positive impacts on 750 lives. On a longer term basis guests can volunteer to stay and work on Manda Wilderness's Community Conservation Projects, we do have a well established vounteer program (for more information e-mail mwct@mandawilderness.org). Another way in which visitors to the area are able to contribute is by bringing along useful items for the project in their luggage through Pack for a Purpose.
To stay in touch progress done by the Manda Wilderness Community Trust, the community development arm of Nkwichi Lodge, follow us on our Facebook page.
Also in this section:
Responsible tourism | Meet the team | Press
Awards & Testimonials | FAQs | Links