Green Team
How Green Is
your Team?
In the first of a new series to explore the work watersports businesses in
Egypt are doing to help preserve the marine environment, BLuE checks
out Clean Sharm award-winners Camel Dive Club.
Monitoring coral reefs
Sharm el Sheikh based Camel Dive Club & Hotel in the water. Disposable plastic cups have also been banned from all
has been awarded the first-ever Clean Sharm its diving boats and replaced by re-usable mugs.
Company of the Month award to recognise its
initiatives to help the environment. The centre Eco-Tribe is headed and organised by one of Camel’s technical
developed its Eco Tribe group in September last diving instructors Cath Bates who continually updates staff on
year to help to preserve the marine environment environmental issues, news and provides education materials
and educate guests and the local community specific to the local marine ecosystem. She says such measures
about the importance of eco-friendly diving tourism. ensure factual information is given to guests about the local
marine life, as well as raising awareness about the Red Sea marine
As well as organising a number of clean-ups both underwater environment. Guest speakers from around the world, such as
and topside at places such as Ras Katy public beach, the Eco Tribe well-known shark conservationists have been invited to present
has organised lectures at St Joseph’s school in the Hadaba area to to staff and guests at the Camel Tribe Gatherings on Friday nights
educated local children about the marine environment. in the Camel Bar. These are well attended by staff and guests.
Presentations at Camel are also organised to help to inform local
‘Camel received the award for various important measures that tour company representatives about the Red Sea and how to help
contribute to a cleaner Sharm, and protection of the unique South encourage non-divers to avoid harming the environment.
Sinai eco-system both on land and underwater,’ said Clean Sharm.
Clean Sharm is an active community group, which was set up to help Much of Camel’s Eco Tribe work underwater relies heavily on staff
promote environmentally friendly waste disposal and clean-ups in dedicating their time to take part in particular projects, including
residential areas of Sharm el Sheikh. monitoring coral and underwater life on local reefs and uploading
sighting data to help marine conservation research projects around
Clean Sharm highlighted a number of green measures taken by the world.
Camel within its dive centres, hotel, bars and restaurants that made
it a worthy award winner. These include a ban on plastic bags within The Eco-Tribe actively supports and provides data for a quite a
all of its outlets and the installation of a 40-kilowat generating solar number of worldwide projects: Coral Watch reef monitoring, Shark
panel in the centre’s training pool – the first system of its kind to Trust sightings database, Red Sea Turtle Project, among others, as
be used in the Middle East. Other initiatives include the reduction well as collections of signatures for campaigns such as European
of printed paper use and a towel re-use programme, which has Shark Week.
reduced the laundry within the hotel by 30 per cent. Outside the
Camel complex, the centre has purchased four new dustbins for the ‘To receive the first-ever Clean Sharm award is recognition of all the
central Naama Bay jetty to tackle the problem of discarded rubbish hard work has given the team a real boost. It is surprising how much
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www.cdws.travel
Issue 1 Summer 2009
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