Responsible tourism
Creating a better future
Chobe Game Lodge won a Responsible Tourism Award for carbon reduction at WTM London last year, but that’s only one of the impressive initiatives at this hotel. Pippa Jacks visits to find out more
W
hen Florence Kagosi decided she wanted to become a safari guide instead of
going into fashion design, her family did not initially support her. Fourteen years ago, safari guiding in Botswana (AF531) was an almost exclusively male profession, and they were anxious.
“They thought that a woman could get hurt by the animals, especially if she was pregnant. They didn’t think changing tyres and spending long hours out in the field was good work for a woman,” she tells me. If she must work in tourism, she should work in hotel reservations or guest relations, they suggested. “But that just made me more determined to prove myself,” she smiles. Florence was the only woman on her safari guide course, and she came to work at Chobe Game Lodge in 2004 as its first and only female guide. She was an instant hit, with many guests insisting that they be guided only by Florence.
“I think it’s the more gentle and thoughtful nature of women, towards both their guests and the animals, that people enjoy,” she suggests. The lodge then set about offering work experience to other would-be female guides (other camps were reluctant to take them), and ultimately giving them jobs. And since 2010, the lodge has boasted the only all-female guiding team in Botswana. Johan Bruwer, general manager, has been pleased to see the so-called “Chobe Angels” inspire other women to enter the profession. “I can proudly say that Chobe Game Lodge was a game-changer, opening girls’ eyes to the possibility of making a career in guiding,” he says. “Barriers for women in Africa are gradually being broken down,
42 07.11.2018 The all-female safari guiding team at Chobe Game Lodge
it’s a very exciting phenomenon.” The women have also proven to treat their safari vehicles more carefully than their male counterparts – breaking down less frequently and using less fuel. This carefulness is in keeping with a wider focus on sustainability at this hotel.
Sustainable strategies Chobe Game Lodge was built in the 1960s, before the advent of energy- efficient design, and lies in a dry, remote and delicate environment within a national park. This, along with its relatively large size (44 rooms versus the 12-15 of most boutique camps) creates real challenges for reducing its impact. Since coming here 14 years ago, Bruwer has strived to improve in the
areas within his control. All 870 light bulbs in the hotel are now LEDs, for example, and solar panels now supply almost 8% of the hotel’s power, with a new bank of panels to be installed soon to take it to 18%. The lodge won the carbon reduction category in the Responsible Tourism Awards 2017 at WTM London, mainly thanks to the introduction of electric safari vehicles and solar- powered river skimmers.
As well as saving fuel, the guest experience is improved, since the quiet electric vehicles do not scare animals away, and guests can experience the smells of the bush instead of exhaust fumes. The initial outlay is huge ($35,000 per safari vehicle) but Bruwer and his team aren’t measuring the exact
return period in terms of fuel saved. “With all the fantastic PR and the positive feedback from guests, we feel we got our return-on- investment the moment we bought them,” he explains.
The hotel has leant upon its supply chain to help it achieve its goals, encouraging suppliers to take back their packaging, and a brewery to supply beer in glass bottles instead of tins. The boardwalk along the river is made of planks formed of recycled plastic, and the hotel sources produce locally as much as it is able to in this arid environment.
Facing challenges
New ideas aren’t always successful: a biogas plant was built but is temporarily on hold until a dedicated team is able to oversee its proper use. Bruwer has also had to compromise on bottled water: a borehole gives the hotel clean drinking water but many guests still request mineral water instead. “Some guests have asked why we don’t decant mineral water into re-usable bottles but, for now at least, the practicalities of bottling and sanitising makes it unfeasible for a property of our size,” he says. On the subject of drinking water, as on air-conditioning and fluffy, tumble-dried towels, Bruwer shares the frustrations of many an eco-conscious hotelier, that while clients might say they value green- ness, they are not keen to forego certain comforts.
But challenges aside, Bruwer is keen to keep pushing forward, aiming to have 100% electric vehicles within the next few years, and to enhance the hotel’s social and community programmes (it currently has 19 trainees from the local area, in response to an unemployment crisis).
Florence Kagosi with one of the lodge’s electric safari vehicles
Solar-powered boats help clients get closer to nature
And what makes Chobe Game Lodge’s sustainability strategy particularly interesting is that, alongside a determination to protect the wildlife that brings the tourists, and to operate more frugally and to do “the right thing”, sustainability has also become a key part of this hotel’s guest proposition. “Whether it’s electric vehicles or female safari guides or taking our guests on sustainability tours behind the scenes – it’s a case of ‘what can we do differently that will enhance the experience of our guests?’” Bruwer says. “We try to ask ourselves that question every single day.”
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