Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
From the owners: From the beginning we agreed to stick to certain fundamental principles and discussed each stage of the development with the village headman and the 10 families which live on our boundaries. It became apparent that whilst everyone was keen to sell the land and were pro-development, few of the villagers had a grasp of the bigger picture. I think part of our success was that from the beginning we agreed that if the village would have the faith to sell their land to us we would return that trust by making it a community project, in the sense that they would be totally involved in the construction and running of the lodge.
From the beginning we have employed exclusively from the village, builders, carpenters, you name it, up to 80 people, all from the island, who all benefit. Once we had finished the building we then retrained these same workers so that the cement mixer is now the barman and the kitchen girls are ex-sand carriers. We now employ 35 people full time, and have tried to make sure that at least one person from each hut in the village works for us, so that cash is going directly into every household every month. Saying that, we also have 5 father/son mother/daughter combinations working for us, 3 sisters in the kitchen and in one family we have 3 generations, with the 4th occasionally coming in on her mothers back. We have also never denied access to the lake by the local community, which created major headaches at the beginning but as the novelty of having a few mzungus on the beach wore off, so things returned to normal.
We also refused to put up a fence around our boundary, although it was encouraged as a security measure by the chief, instead we planted trees along it so there is a physical line which the village is aware of, and respects. Having seen the impact of enclave tourism in the Caribbean, we have successfully managed to create an amazing sense of pride and collective responsibility, to the extent that villagers look out for us and will challenge strangers who are lingering around the village.
In 8 years, with no fences, no locks on any of the rooms, we have never been robbed... this speaks for itself. We are also genuinely proud of the fact that we are the only totally solar/ wind powered lodge in the whole country. We have 3 X 500watt wind turbines, 50 solar panels, and 48 deep cycle solar batteries which powers the whole lodge including 3 deep freezers, office, computer, hf radio, sat phone, music, lights and fans in all the rooms. We also pump all our water by solar, and have installed a tap in the village which provides 10,000litres of free water and saves the women a 1/2 km walk with a 20 kg bucket on their heads 3 times a day.
Our latest project is that we have set up a community trust account called "island child" which aims to sponsor aids orphans through school. To date we have 20 kids being sponsored and our target is to reach 300 by next December. Despite all this "worthiness", the bottom line when it comes to the continued growth and prosperity of the village as a whole is the success of the lodge as a resort. We have struggled to raise the profile of our ecolodge, as it was an unheard of destination until we arrived, but slowly this is changing.
Amanda set up this adventure tour operators with her husband in 1998 because she wanted to involve local people in offering authentic travel experiences. She believes in sticking closely with who you want to work with and maintains strong relationships with her staff. As a result, her holidays offer imaginative itineraries with unusual add-ons, thanks to the interesting links with grass roots companies. Amanda is passionate about green travel and has her own travel foundation which promotes sustainability. She and her staff work hard to 'keep it real' so that your holiday leaves you truly inspired.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
