Watering seedlings
Construction crew taking a break
Ila Safari Lodge - A True Eco Lodge in the Making What does it mean to be an ‘eco lodge’? This rather vague term came to light around the 1990s and has been touted by all manner of establishments worldwide. But what does it actually mean? And what must you do to claim it? An ‘eco lodge’ would be defined by its method of construction and operation. In line with these methods the lodge would deem itself ‘eco’ based on its treatment of the natural, built and social environments. Unfortunately there are no clearcut guidelines of what you ‘have’ to achieve in order to make an ‘eco’ claim. For us at Green Safaris what it boils down to is harmony, respect and honesty. Our first lodge, Ila Safari Lodge, is based in the pristine Kafue National Park. For Ila, we don’t just want to make the ‘eco lodge’ claim, we want to live and breathe this ideology. 18
TRAVEL & LEISURE ZAMBIA
Let’s get specific. What are Green be operational on opening. We’ll Safaris actually doing? be running our own water treatment plant on site for both grey Building We are using an eco friendly sand- and black water recycling, as well bag building method combining eco- as using eco friendly amenities beams and excavated earth for our and cleaning products throughout main boma area. By inference this the lodge. Our black water recymeans we use a minimum amount cling captures methane produced of concrete and avoid the transpor- when human organic waste is tation of building materials to site. broken down. Biogas production Beyond this we are also using local- reduces the need for bottled gas ly sourced hardwood where possi- to be transported into the lodge. ble because of its beneficial carbon We’re the proud owners of Zamdioxide absorption properties as bia’s very first electronic Land compared to soft wood. During con- Rover (eLandy) and our electronic struction we build around the local boat (eBoat) is on its way to us. flora, and wherever possible, incor- Using these modes of transport porate it into our finished product. our guests will be able to experiWhere impossible, we’ve uprooted ence emission free ‘silent safaris’. small trees and plants to repot them. Further to this we have a commitThey are stored in our greenhouse ment to be Carbon Neutral. Refuse is sorted on site and reready to be replanted. turned to Lusaka for responsible Operations Ila Safari Lodge runs on 100% solar disposal. Biodegradable waste is power (we do have a back up gen- composted and redistributed. All erator for emergencies). Our biogas of our appliances are A-rated for plant is under construction and will energy efficiency and we’re in-
