4 minute read
Ondili Lodges Investing back into Namibia
Ondili is a proudly Namibian company that has created a sustainable model of not only ploughing profits back into the business and its conservation efforts, lowering its lodges’ carbon footprint, producing its own food and building materials but more importantly creating muchneeded employment opportunities as well as empowering its employees.
Taking a holistic approach to guest operations, Ondili is able to offer an exclusive and luxurious guest experience. This is done through the creation of a self-sustainable network of employees that are responsible for activities that range from amongst others conservation, food production and logistics to the front of house staff.
Although the friendly kitchen staff, cleaners, waitrons, guides and managers are the ones the guests see when visiting Ondili’s establishments, they are only the tip of a much larger proverbial iceberg.
Employment offered outside of tourism starts with Ondili’s properties. Apart from Twyfelfontein Adventure Camp, all of Ondili’s properties were previously used as commercial farmland. Large investments and efforts are needed to restore the natural biomes damaged through years of farming activities. Some of the rehabilitation efforts already undertaken include dismantling farm infrastructure such as interior fences, reservoirs and old buildings, and clearing of encroaching bush caused by overgrazing and poor farming techniques. All these activities require substantial manual labour to create the stunning landscapes guests experience when staying at an Ondili lodge.
Debushing operations are essential to return overgrazed land to a condition that resembles the natural state it was in prior to farming activities. It allows for grass to grow in previously encroached areas, in return providing wildlife with larger tracts of grazing. The wood gained from debushing is used as firewood and building material at the Ondili lodges, while the process also provides employment. At Etosha Oberland a team of 40 labourers from the Zambezi Region is engaged in debushing.
Maintaining its nature reserves is a continuous effort and for this truck drivers, game rangers, anti-poaching units, road-construction teams and fence building teams are required.
All lodges are self-sufficient in generating electricity and hot water through the use of solar panels and geysers. Great care is taken to reduce plastic use wherever possible. Vegetable, fruit and herb gardens established at most properties are a source of employment while providing Ondili’s lodges with fresh produce.
At Ondili’s Namib Tsaris Nature Reserve a sustainable system of sheep farming has been introduced to provide lodges with a source of mutton. Nomadic sheepherders are used in the Tsaris mountains who continuously herd the sheep to ungrazed areas thus preventing overgrazing of any particular site while allowing for sufficient recovery periods. This allows these free-roaming animals to be fed on local natural fodder only, without having to rely on feed produced on plantations using non-eco-friendly practices.
Lodges require constant upkeep. Ondili employs an in-house team of upholsterers and furniture builders. They are also responsible for all canvas work at tented camps, as well as for stitching pillows, cushions, curtains and bedding as and when needed. Furthermore, for any construction or revamping of lodges, teams of contractors are used for carpentry, bricklaying and construction, welding and roof thatching.
Creating stunning accommodation establishments in beautiful Namibian settings requires a host of support staff. Ondili employs more than 200 Namibians of which 108 are permanent employees while the rest are contractors.
Apart from offering unforgettable guest experiences, every bed booked with Ondili contributes to a better Namibia through the creation of various employment opportunities for its citizens.
