Zanzibar beach bungalows and hotel

All employees are from the local community. Management is from the local community and members of the local community have 50% shareholding in the hotel. Managers and employees benefit from profit share and commissions based on hotel performance. We procure all products from the local market in Stone Town with the exception of certain electronic and plumbing goods where we need to import these from South Africa. Absolutely all the services we use are local except for the occasion where we had a swimming pool design from a Kenyan. The actual construction was local however.

To preserve fresh water, we use a combination of brackish, fresh and treated salt water. We only have showers and no baths. We pay locals to keep the beach clean. The hotel uses local organic materials where possible. We use the naturally occurring traditional coral stone building material wherever possible for building materials. All furnishings come from local woods and artisans. We have removed plastics as far as possible and have stuck to the local woods and stone. Roofs are local “makuti” (thatch).

We use energy saving light bulbs and we have a geyser and air-conditioning policy whereby these appliances are switched off by staff when guests are out the room. We also use generators to supplement the unreliable energy supply. We have an organic garden and produce some of our own vegetables such as spinach and limes. We use organic waste mulch to supplement our nutrient poor and salty soil. We collect fresh and rain water in 3 large subterranean tanks and supplement this with the fresh water supply and also a natural brackish water well. There are no refuse collection services in Jambiani, so we have to burn and bury. There are no recycling facilities available so we purchase goods with little to no packaging from the local organic market. We continually clear plastic water bottles and other items from the hotel and surrounding grounds.

We have 50% local equity and 100% local staff compliment. We have a hotel sponsored international training scheme. In agreement with the international hotel school in Johannesburg, we fly out students from the school to Zanzibar to share the education they have received at the hotel school with the local staff. We do not take cuts or sell any services or crafts provided the locals. We take our guests to the locals so they can trade with them directly.

We provide funding towards several initiatives, including religious festivals in the village and educational drives. We also provide funding for water pumps that the hotel and the community are able to use. We have provided funding for the repair of village roofs damaged by strong winds. We pay local villagers for clean-up efforts.

We provide a comprehensive tour service that incorporates activities such as snorkeling, fishing, hiking to the caves, sightseeing to the various attractions of the island such as the old slave market, marine snorkeling and diving safaris, mangrove swamps etc. We provide tours into the village and provide guests with information regarding what services, shops and restaurants are in the village. We provide comprehensive information regarding local customs/language/appropriate dress etc. on our website, our management also advise the guests accordingly and we issue regular communications regarding the above to the travel companies we deal with.