Top 10 eco-friendly lodges in Africa

Posted on 2 April 2014

For four years author and environmentalist David Bristow scoured the continent in search of eco-friendly lodges in Africa. These are his 10 favourites and they are guaranteed to take your breath away.

Natureways Canoe Safaris in Northern Zimbabwe, one of the top responsible safari destinations in Africa.

David Bristow and Colin Bell’s quest to identify the sectors of the safari business that are out of step with local communities and emerging conditions, and also unjustifiable in the light of modern, sustainable thinking has led to the publication of Africa’s Finest – a coffee-table book featuring the most sustainable and responsible safari destinations in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands complete with spectacular colour photos and in-depth reviews. This is a selection of the top 10.

Visit africasfinest.co.za to find out more.

Top eco-friendly lodges in Africa

Venda Village Lodge

Leshiba Wilderness, South Africa

Who knew the Soutpansberg mountains, peering out as they do over the arid savanna of the Limpopo catchment, was one of the hotspots of biodiversity in South Africa; or that it had more tree species than any other comparable ecosystem in the country, including the famed Kruger Park; or that it was part of the vast Vhembe Biosphere Reserve?

Leshiba Wilderness is located at the summit of the range and surrounded by lush vegetation and massed rock strata. The focal point is a lodge that is very different from any other, maybe the most unique in all of Africa. It could be called a living artwork and was created on the site of a ruined Venda village, the work being overseen by acclaimed Venda artist Noria Mabasa. Using much the same materials as would have been used in the original village (where some of the builders and current employees once lived), it seems to have risen from the ground (the principal building material is clay mixed with crushed termite mound).

The gardens are festooned with Venda sculptures, but it’s the buildings and interconnecting structures that stand out; entering the place is like walking into a kind of African Narnia, with virtually living forms there to greet you. And beyond that is the game-filled mountain wilderness.

What to expect at Venda Village Lodge

Self-catering or catered accommodation. Explore the Soutpansberg on a dozen self-guided walks, on a mountain bike or astride a pony. Self-catering from R700 a person a night, full-board from R1 600 a person a night sharing. www.leshiba.co.za.

Chole Mjini

Chole Island, Tanzania

One of the first films I recall watching was Swiss Family Robinson, about a shipwrecked family who build a log- and palm-thatch home on some remote desert island, complete with a roof that lifted to reveal the night sky. Chole Mjini is pretty much that house.

Just off Mafia Island, the story of the lodge is a long one, as the best always are. Medical specialist and adventurer Jean de Villiers discovered the place on a sailing-diving trip in the early 1990s, but what interested him most was the island’s declining dhow-building culture. He ended up constructing the lodge to help sustain the local community.

And what a lodge it turned out to be. Built in and around giant baobab and strangler fig trees as well as around the ruins of a German fort from the 1890s, the thatched tree houses are virtually on the beach. Air conditioning is courtesy of the sea breezes as everything is open to the elements and the only electricity is solar (the lodge also helps to power the local school’s computer centre).

The locals live by the ebb and flow of the tides, the coming and going of the Kusi and Kaskazi trade winds and the dawn call of the muezzin. There are no cars, no TV and no running water.

For divers, the best news is that the deep-water anchorage of Chole Bay is also a multi-use marine national park where traditional fishing is allowed as one sustainable use, so the sea life is prodigious.

What to expect at Chole Mjini

A grown-up daydream of towering tree houses against giant baobabs, piping-hot garden showers and swimming with whale sharks. Full-board from $220. www.cholemjini.com.

Etendeka Mountain Camp

Damaraland, Namibia

‘This isn’t a fast-paced safari, but rather a privileged introduction to an environment that holds many of Namibia’s unique natural attractions. Here you are reminded that we are all guests of Mother Nature.’

Sun-weathered Dennis Liebenberg made sure there was as little disturbance as possible to the environment when he built his lodge, and while it’s not certain exactly where sustainable tourism started in Namibia, this camp set in the folds at the base of the Etendeka escarpment is generally considered to be the blueprint.

Everything about the place, which was founded in conjunction with the local community, speaks of care and conservation.

Although cement and local stone was used in the construction of the main buildings, sleeping units are safari-style canvas tents with only the slightest touch on the ground. The en-suite bathrooms contrast stone with plastered, ochrecoloured walls and reed and wooden screens add a sense of privacy.

A low-tech, drip-evaporation charcoal cool room greatly reduces the need for refrigeration, all power comes courtesy of the sun, and cooking is done on gas, a small open fire or in a solar oven.

What to expect at Etendeka Mountain Camp

Ten comfy safari tents and outdoor bucket showers in a tranquil wilderness. Full-board is from N$2 050. www.etendekanamibia.com.

Delta Camp

Okavango delta, Botswana

Since my first visit to the Delta in the 1970s, I’ve watched with a sense of horror and loss as the Okavango’s simple log-and-reed camps morphed into what I call the gold-taps-and-pink-cocktails safari palaces. This inevitably leads to the question of how much you need to make a safari appealing and comfortable.

Delta Camp provides the answer. It’s one of the oldest camps in the area, built when rough mopane poles, canvas, reeds and thatch were the only materials available. It hasn’t changed much, but add to that assemblage updated linen and modern cuisine. The individual sleeping units are built among and sometimes in the trees of a small island on the Boro Channel, the main waterway.

Owner Peter Sandenbergh created a local controversy when he declared the channel around his camp motorcraft-free, but today most people appreciate this decision. All other activities are also non-motorised: a mokoro poler is allocated to you on arrival to be your guide for the duration of your stay.

All exploring is done at your pace and choosing, unlike the vast majority of game lodges that run a strict schedule of up at five and eat to the drum beat, then leave some days later shattered by lack of rest or time alone. At Delta Camp, you go out each day by mokoro, land on larger islands for a game walk, or even take supplies and go camping.

What to expect at Delta Camp

En-suite chalets with hot and cold running water, plus a tree house perfect for couples. June to October is best for game-viewing. Fullboard from $450 to $785. www.deltacampbotswana.com.

Madagascar Island Safaris

Nosy Be, Northeast Madagascar

I won’t kid you, this operation is owned by an old friend and I’ve done more than one of these dhow safaris, but that doesn’t mean it’s not one of the coolest, bluest, greenest holiday options anywhere in or around Africa.

You sail, you swim, if a whale shark comes by you jump overboard, you snorkel, you paddle a kayak, you explore, you read, you chill, you fish for your supper. Or you just watch the panorama of ocean and archipelago of islands go by.

Anchor at one of the operation’s three land camps and enjoy fresh fish, sticky rice, fruit and whatever else the chef has cooked up, listening to the forest sounds of whatever species of nocturnal lemurs is out and about. Then you go to sleep and ready yourself to do it all again the next day.

The simple overnight camps have been built on the beach. At Lokobie, four modest-sized tents are set on a terraced hillside alongside a lemur-filled forest reserve. This camp has the best ablutions with running water and flush loos. Russian Bay, on a steep hillside, consists of chalets on raised platforms and has the most basic ablutions. Pick of the lot is Mahalina, which has four A-frame chalets set among coconut palms (but no running water means a long-drop loo).

It’s certainly the best holiday I know and I’d do it again in a flash.

What to expect at Madagascar Island Safaris

Sail by dhow on invitingly warm water by day, sleep in rustic camps on islands or mainland at night. Packages from R13 900 a person, including flights. www.madagascarislandsafaris.co.za

Mike’s Camp

Lamu Archipelago, Kenya

Mike Kennedy was puttering around his home country by motorbike, having given up on marine engineering, when he found a spot to place his stick in the sand, string up his hammock, and say ‘home’.

He didn’t exactly drop out the rat race. He built a tourism camp out of tide-delivered timber and palm-frond or makuti thatch at a place called Kiwayu Munira, or ‘beautiful moonlight’. It’s a small island hiding among the mangroves and coral reefs of the Lamu Archipelago in far northern Kenya. Even the floors are made from makuti mats that must be replaced each year.

Next to a simple safari tent, this has to be the most sustainable way of building ever. There are no windows, everything being open from about waist height to the roof overhang, so you get 360- degree views from the camp on the island crest.

It’s a most beautiful place. Especially when the sun rises over the ocean and paints the water and beach in shades of copper and gold. Or when the moon sinks over the mangrove waterway and wraps the creek below the camp in aluminium foil.

It’s Mike’s place and he runs it as he likes, which is both simple and savvy: solar and wind power (he’s an engineer, remember), water drawn from the island well by donkeys, fish from the waters around … everything seems to be so natural and casual because it is.

When it comes to things to do, you won’t have to do much more than wade out from the beach and drop onto a coral reef.

What to expect at Mike’s Camp

King-sized beds in seven en-suite bandas (rooms) set under tortilis trees on top of a dune. The pristine beach setting screams for island paradise activities – waterskiing, diving, snorkelling. Full-board from US$200 to US$300 a person a night, excluding transport costs. www.mikescampkiwayu.com.

Natureways Canoe Safaris

Northern Zimbabwe

It was the legendary Zimbabwean guide Garth Thompson who started Natureways Canoe Safaris back in 1987. A decade later he handed it over to protégé James Varden in whose good hands it continues to paddle the turbid waters of the Lower Zambezi River.

Unlike a land-based safari, on a canoe trip you see only those people on the river with you at the time. Natureways promises that its safaris offer you a chance to follow in the footsteps of the original explorers. ‘Step back in time and see the Zambezi River that so enthralled the explorers and adventurers of yesteryear,’ proclaims the website. ‘Experience the river as David Livingstone once did.’ Sort of.

It would be hard to find a safari with less of an environmental footprint than a canoe safari. It doesn’t even leave the droppings of a horse safari. Although you could argue that the droppings are compost and therefore a good part of the natural cycle.

To cover themselves both ways, the Vardens also run horse safaris (www.vardensafaris.com) on time-worn elephant paths in the Mavuradonha Mountains in the far northern corner of the country.

What to expect at Natureways Canoe Safaris

Tailor-made packages on canoe or horseback, in luxury or basic adventure camps. View game from canoes, open vehicles and on foot. From about US$393 a person a night all inclusive. www.natureways.com.

Mwaleshi Camp

Luangwa Valley, Zambia

Remote Africa Safaris runs three rustic lodges: Tafika, a trails camp in relatively popular South Luangwa National Park and Mwaleshi, a bush camp in seen-by-few North Luangwa. All three hit the bell on my green safari index, but Mwaleshi took the melktert for its amazing location.

North Luangwa National Park has seen more than its fair share of action and controversy, at one stage being ground zero for elephant and rhino poaching in Africa. But today, it’s among the best-protected reserves on the continent.

The northerly park has only a short tourist season (access is by light plane or heavyduty 4×4) and each year the camp has to be completely rebuilt using poles and thatch. The footprint is negligible, the Luangwa River washing away all traces during the wet season.

Mwaleshi is one of three safari camps operating in North Luangwa, so you’d be one of maybe 200 people a year to visit the 4 636-squarekilometre reserve.

The owners go to great lengths to share the spoils, being major supporters of the North Luangwa Conservation Fund and the Tafika Fund, which assists in uplifting the local communities.

What to expect at Mwaleshi Camp

Rustic reed huts, very temporary, very much like camping – as a safari should be. Open from 15 June to 31 October and accommodates six to eight people; book early. Explore on foot – keep an eye out for the resident lions! Full-board from US$520 a person a night sharing. www.remoteafrica.com.

Nkwichi Lodge

Lake Niassa, Mozambique

There were once two brothers who had a dream, to escape the English winters and build a cool eco lodge somewhere as far off the grid as they could find. It had to be wild and warm and a place of great natural beauty. The lodge also had to be a catalyst for social change and a focus for conservation in the area.

The place they finally settled on was Nkwichi, a remote spot on one of Africa’s Rift Valley Lakes. Most people know it as Lake Malawi, the ‘lake of stars’ (in Mozambique, it’s called Lake Niassa). It ticked all the boxes and today stands as one of the most remote, most honest ecotourism projects on the continent.

The lodge is built among the rocky boulders above a beach so pure the sand squeaks when you walk on it. All the materials used were obtained locally, with care taken not to damage the site or use non-renewal resources.

Around it they created the 120 000-hectare Manda Wilderness Community Conservation Area, where wildlife is slowly making a comeback after decades of war and environmental devastation.

Each of the 12 chalets has a unique character, some built around rocks, others around trees, but all are spacious, shady and breezy – which you’ll appreciate greatly on hot summer afternoons. And each has a very generous four-poster bed made of old tree trunks (fallen wood, of course).

What to expect at Nkwichi Lodge

Open-air driftwood bed on an untouched beach, private familyfriendly houses, and stone and rough timber chalets built into a granite koppie which are open to the fresh air. Explore by canoe, snorkel in the crystal-clear fresh water, or have a picnic under a 2 000-year-old baobab. Full-board from US$220 a person a night sharing. www.nkwichi.com.

Zarafa Camp

Selinda Private Reserve, Botswana

You may think Zarafa, set on the edge of mysterious Lake Zibadianja that links the Selinda Spillway and Savuti Channel, is typical of the upmarket safari camps virtually littering the wild places of this region. But a closer look reveals something much darker going on … dark green, that is. To my knowledge, it’s the first such camp designed from conception to completion to be 100 percent eco-wise and ultra luxurious.

Although constructed entirely of canvas and sustainably grown timber, the camp is sumptuous in the extreme: Persian carpets, antique furnishings, lots of leather and brass and outdoor showers that once graced a Parisian brothel.

The owner, Great Plains Conservation, has ensured that every facet of the camp is just, perfectly, right. Each of the four guest suites has a top-end camera for the occupant’s use, and with vast swathes of canvas roofing over Zimbabwean teak decking and lots of drapes between, they’d make even a wealthy sheikh very happy.

The staff is extremely proud of what they call the Zarafa ‘oil field’ – ask and they’ll show you the solar farm that supplies the camp with all its power (it was the largest installation of its kind when set up).

What to expect at Zarafa Camp

Four exclusive, private canvas tented suites with copper baths and outdoor showers. Elephants on your doorstep. Full-board from $1 550 a person a night sharing. www.greatplainsconservation.com.

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Top 10 eco-friendly lodges in Africa