Step back in time at Elephant Pepper Camp, a glorious tented camp hidden in a grove of giant ebony and elephant pepper trees overlooking the Masai Mara Plains. Modern comforts are set amidst hurricane lamps, and sumptuous meals served under a ceiling of stars.

The View Out

The camp is situated in the heart of the protected Mara North Conservancy, a spectacular wilderness area on the northeastern border of the Mara National Reserve. Here now for 20 years, it is one of the original, very small and exclusive tented camps, and is located away from other lodges. With only 9 en-suite tents, this magical camp maintains the atmosphere that is usually felt only on a traditional, mobile luxury safari.

The View In

What They Are Doing

Elephant Pepper Camp was built with sustainability in mind. There are no generators, cement, or any permanent structures, making the camp completely movable. Nestling almost out of sight under its canopy of trees, it closes for two months a year to allow the ecosystem to regenerate.

The Masai Mara

Elephant Pepper was instrumental in the formation of the Mara North Conservancy, a spectacular 28,000 hectares on the northeast border of the Mara National Reserve, a core parcel within the Masai Mara ecosystem. For the exclusive use of its 12 member camps, it provides some of the Mara’s prime game viewing in complete privacy. At the same time it guarantees the more than 700 Masai landowners stable revenue, with the camps paying $112,000 a month in fixed lease payments, or $1.3 million annually. Almost twenty percent goes to conservation management with employment of rangers, vehicle surveillance, and maintenance of infrastructure.

Zebra on the Mara North Conservancy

The camp has worked with the local Masai community for nearly 20 years, with the creation of the conservancy being the latest development in preserving this vital wilderness.

Among the initiatives the camp has spearheaded and participated in: Water from Wildlife, bringing water to schools without damaging the ecosystem; it has also introduced water-catchment and -collection systems, as well as the concept of shallow wells to support the local communities.

Place of Rest

When the area surrounding the camp was designated a wildlife conservation area by the Masai, Elephant Pepper was instrumental in helping the local Masai relocate to their new homesteads. The camp also transported their building materials for them, in order to reduce the need for tree felling. It supports the Aitong Primary School, which has, since 2007, added a new classroom, kitchen, and new desks and chairs.

Guests are encouraged, whenever possible, to go on game walks instead of drives. This experience is unrivaled, especially as all of the guides have the prestigious SilverLevel qualification, making them some of the best in the country. Over eighty percent of the staff are employed from the surrounding communities.

The camp relies on solar power, ecofriendly toilets, and traditional bucket showers. Food is sourced locally as much as possible; glass is separated and sold to a recycling plant in Nairobi, all of whose funds are donated to the East African Women’s League to support a family planning program managed by the North Lake Branch in Naivasha.

A Luxury Suite at Casa Gangotena

A Detail of the Staircase

Who They Are

Opened in late 2011 in Old Town Quito, the newly restored historic mansion Casa Gangotena overlooks the Plaza San Francisco, a cobbled square rich in history dating back to the days of the Inca.  Casa Gangotena is one of the grand old homes built on the southern edge of the plaza in the late 19^th century, and was home to several presidents before it was rebuilt after a fire in 1926 by its last owners, the Gangotenas. It’s just feet away from the imposing, almost 500-year-old Church and Convent of San Francisco.

Casona de San Miguel, Quito

Now owned by Roque Sevilla, the three-story boutique hotel offers 31 large luxurious rooms with state-of-the-art technology and large marble bathrooms. Great efforts have been made to restore the original detail, such as the hand-painted tin ceilings. Its third-floor terrace is the perfect place to put your feet up and enjoy everyday life passing by. with the bell towers and spires of the Old Town as well as the Panecillo hillside serving as the backdrop.  A better seat in town for the Easter procession is unthinkable.

A Hotel Lounge Bathed in Quito Sun

What They Are Doing

Sevilla is renowned in these parts for his long record of involvement in local and environmental affairs. He has served as Quito’s mayor as well as being a past president of WWF Ecuador. He is also known to be humble about his efforts to help the community and the environment (which you can read about – albeit briefly – on the hotel’s website).

Casa Gangotena

Since 2008, while it was still just an idea, the hotel has been involved in several neighborhood projects, such as the award-winning Heritage Guardians, which focuses on community initiatives like neighborhood integration, the value of heritage and tradition, and offers ‘routes’ for visitors to take in order to meet locals and experience their lives and ways. (The hotel can arrange this for you).

A Burst of Color Outside the Mediterranean Villa

Who They Are

In the heart of Cantareira State Park, 50 minutes from Sao Paulo, Unique Garden (the English translation of the website is a bit obscure, but can be found in the lower right corner of Unique’s site) truly lives up to its name. Besides being a sought-after spa and health retreat, with 26 deluxe chalets, as much thought has gone into pampering clients as into creating the lodge around them.

The Presidential Villa

Eight agronomists work at rehabilitating the environment, the buildings curve in such a way as to avoid destroying trees, and even waste water is treated well enough to be returned to the nearby lake.

From the Presidential Villa to the Flower Chalet, the lodgings aim to indulge, even down to a ‘pillow menu.’ You can pick your own salad in Unique’s eponymous gardens, pluck your own fruit while walking through the orchards, and know that natural and organic and healthy are key words here.

In a Forest Kiosk

A wide range of exercise classes are offered, from yoga to tai chi, or you can cycle on the grounds or swim in one of two pools. At the spa, treatments are offered in the main building or in five secluded ‘kiosks’ scattered throughout the forest. The organic meals, with a slant towards Mediterranean cuisine, are created by chef Daniel Aquino and an on-site dietician.

What They Are Doing

A Suite Unique

Unique Garden, like the Hotel Unique in Sao Paulo, is owned by the Siaulys family, which is well known for its commitment to the community. Its most famous creation is the Laramara foundation, which cares for people with impaired vision. (Founder Victor Siaulys’ daughter was blind.) Over the course of 20 years, Laramara’s clients, as well as the services it offers, have expanded and diversified, so that today over seventy percent of patients have multiple disabilities (visual impairment associated with, say, cerebral palsy, deafness, or some mental illness).

At the Unique Garden, there is a conservation facility that is run in conjunction with the Brazilian Environmental Protection Institute, where wild animals that have been hurt or dislocated by human intervention are rehabilitated and released.  A community center looks after ‘the personal and professional development’ of its staff and their families, offering them courses in computers, English, music, recycling, yoga, and even bread-making.

In Their Own Words

“For us, social responsibility is not a fashion.”

Who They Are

Possibly the most astonishing thing about Ellerman House – and there is plenty to ogle here – is that so few people know about it.  Now almost 20 years old, it has succeeded by being as under-the radar as it has been reverentially consistent in luxury. The people who need to know about it do.

Room No. 7

This former residence (or, to be exact, mansion) high above exclusive Bantry Bay, is a study in refinement and peacefulness. Even though the gracious building is in the heart of Cape Town, its 9 rooms, two suites, and 5-bedroom villa, each with unsurpassed views across the Atlantic, offer the perfect amount of isolation.

Room No. 10

Below the spacious yet cozy reception rooms and large porches spreads a manicured garden and pool. The rooms throughout the property are decorated with magnificent works by South African masters, including Irma Stern and Pierneef.

At the Villa

The rooms have recently been buffed up – new fabrics, bedding, and wallpapers – although subtly enough that repeat clients (of which there are many, despite the prices) probably won’t notice. While the main residence has a more traditional ambiance, the more modern villa’s rooms – with names like Aqua and Lilac – are lushly simple. The kitchen has a glass wall that opens electronically for you to ask the chefs any questions, and across from it is a ‘pantry’ full of goodies for guests to raid at all hours and which has become infamously addictive.

What They Are Doing

Ellerman House owner Paul Harris, a well-known Johannesburg financier, was the main mover behind the creation of Penreach, which works with schools in rural communities in the north of the country. Established in 1994, Penreach now touches the lives of more than 2,000 teachers a year, working in over 900 schools, and directly benefiting more than 350,000 learners . At least ninety percent of the teachers are women.

A Painting by Irma Stern at Ellerman

Penreach has also gone beyond schools, to help fund beneficial projects such as the provision of psycho-social support to teachers, orphans and vulnerable children; the improvement of state-run feeding schemes; the establishment of vegetable gardens; the development of sport and sports facilities; environmental education, with a view to turning schools into profit centers through waste management; the provision of IT training; youth leadership development camps; and administration training. So successful has it been that Penreach is aiming to reach other parts of the country in the future.

The Contemporary Gallery

Harris, who is also a patron of the arts, has one of the finest ‘galleries’ in the country decorating the walls and rooms of Ellerman House – you can find not only every South African master here but possibly also their finest work. In 2009 he opened a magnificent specially built gallery on the property to foster contemporary artists (see News). The gallery now has enough artworks to rotate the exhibition four times annually, and the exhibition there of artists has led clients to buy their works.

Africa’s Eden was largely – if not entirely – responsible for Gabon’s rise in the last decade on the world travel map. It had not only created camps such as its flagship Loango Lodge and Evengué Lodge, but it had contributed extensively to conservation projects, including studies of the lowland gorillas.

In September, Africa’s Eden announced that the hiccups had been sorted out, and that it would be back in business in Gabon. More than $1 million is also being spent to improve the camps, extend the runway, and increase the capacity of the local school. Loango will reopen for business in mid-December.

Singita Lebombo

Is it possible for a travel destination to be luxurious, hot (as in magazine-worthy), and sustainable? If anyone proves it, Singita does.

This African-based company has properties that go a long way to show that their hearts and minds are in the right place – they care about where they are and what they are doing. Travel is their business, but a business that has to last and in a country that has to last. Singita Grumeti, in Tanzania, has virtually turned what used to be a virtual wasteland (after years of illegal hunting and poaching) into an Eden. Bordering on the Serengeti, the 350,000 acres now have as good as you’ll get animal-wise (and probably even better than) in the iconic park next-door.

Sabora Tented Camp, Grumeti

Working with the community surrounding Grumeti is as much a part of the day-to-day as it is in Pamushana,  in Zimbabwe. For years now the property, which lies adjacent to the stunning and barely visited Gonarezhou park, has served thousands of meals daily to local children. Singita’s community work dates back to 1998 already. Whether it is buying products locally, supporting a cooking academy for staff (watch the video), or contributing to local schools, the company is doing it.

At the ever-popular Lebombo and Sweni lodges in Kruger Park, South Africa, Singita has tried to emphasize low-impact design, creating stunning rooms made of glass, steel, and reeds, perched singly on a ridge. An ongoing program of monitoring the wildlife and land around Singita’s first lodges, Ebony and Boulders lodges, in Sabi Sand, South Africa, endeavors to keep the much-used park seemingly untouched.

Children at Pamushana

At each of these properties, the work with low-impact design, the community, and the wildlife goes on daily and never ends. And that Singita doesn’t forget.

Kafue River

Certain countries and hotels are repeatedly brought to our attention for the way they train locals, pay for schools, invest in local artists, buy medicine, fund anti-poaching – if it’s not Costa Rica, it’s any number of lodges in Kenya or a resort in Indonesia. But one rather unusual candidate has started popping up in recent months – Zambia.

The Bushcamp Company's Chindeni Camp, South Luangwa

Until a decade ago, Zambia was relatively unknown to travelers looking at Africa as a first-time destination. Its economy small, it didn’t have the resources to fund the kind of international tourism campaigns of South Africa or Tanzania. So it has always come across as an also-ran, second or third choice. Its best national parks, South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi, have also never had the cachet of the Serengeti or the Masai Mara.

Sausage Tree Camp, Lower Zambezi

In a way, though, this off-the-radarness might have contributed to Zambia’s charm today. There are 19 national parks, none of them nearly as crammed with lodges as Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa, with the competition good and yet friendly. The philosophy among operators seems to be less about being cut-throat than about working together towards a common goal. And the goal is to take care of the country without and within.

The SLCS on Patrol

First in a notable series of initiatives is Zambian Horizons, a group of lodges that, despite being competitors, pool their resources to publicize the country. At this year’s Indaba, the huge annual African travel-trade powwow in Durban, South Africa, these camps walked away with most Best Of awards. Working together has worked for them individually.

Inside the country the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS) keeps tabs on conservation at every level. More than a dozen camps and lodges participate, including Flatdogs, Robin Pope Safaris, and Norman Carr Safaris. (See more). Each camp often does its own work too, generating small offshoot projects, and offering trips to local communities or craftspeople. Robin Pope Safaris is a case in point.

The Victoria Falls, Zambia

As in any country with parkland and a burgeoning population nearby clamoring for land, there is a knock-on effect. Animals get poached for commercial reasons, for sustenance, or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some get shot for damaging farmers’ crops.

The School Gets New Chairs

By the early ’90’s, the Zambian Wildlife Authority was struggling to tackle the problem of increased poaching. Local tour operators and lodges offered to help ZAWA by providing scouts, whose salaries needed to be paid and who required uniforms, vehicles, and training. For this they carried out fundraising drives. And so was born the Rapid Action Team – better known as Ratz.

Planting New Trees

Over time the lodge operators and the Ratz team realized there was a lot more they could do, especially in terms of the conflict between humans and wildlife, education, and wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. Ratz became the SLCS, and its programs have expanded and flourished. In 2009, it even started a mini-marathon, which drew scouts, police, farmers, schoolchildren, teachers, and members of the Zambian Air Force. At the last event there were more than 300 runners. This year, it launched an Eco Awards program that is focused solely on local works.

Project Luangwa, meanwhile, is a charitable organization supported by five safari operators in South Luangwa – besides Flatdogs and Robin Pope, there is Kafunta River Lodge, Shenton Safaris, and Crocodile Valley Camp. It aims to help local communities improve their long-term economic prospects while also avoiding a negative impact on the environment and wildlife. By developing and improving schools, creating a vocational training center, and supporting the micro-financing of small businesses, it tries to give families the chance of a lasting and sustainable income.

Working with Chilies

Among Project Luangwa’s innovative projects is one to keep elephants and other wildlife away from crops by using chilies. Yes, chilies. The peppers are used to make fences and are also added to bricks made of elephant dung that are burned at nighttime to keep animals away. Locals are offered chili seedlings to grow themselves. Project Luangwa also builds schools (check out its website to get an idea of its range of activities).

On the Zambezi River

In the Lower Zambezi national park, SLCS’s equivalent is Conservation Lower Zambezi. Members include Sausage Tree Camp and Chiawa. For the past 8 years it has been funded largely by the Danish Embassy, which has allowed it to buy a plane and establish a base camp outside the park boundaries. From its environmental education center, it runs a mobile education unit, media promotion, and safari guide training.

That many travelers to Zambia don’t know about these projects says a lot about the lodges and operators that fund and run them. They could shout their achievements from the rooftops, but they rather focus on giving their guests a great safari, a great time, and a great lodge. Doing good things for the locals they do behind the scenes. For them it’s all in a day’s work.

- Caren Banks

A Pool in a Place Like No Other

Who They Are

The unforgettable Ibo Island Lodge lies just north of the mainland city of Pemba in pristine northern Mozambique, and the island is one of 27 that make up the breathtakingly beautiful Quirimbas Archipelago.

Ibo, 1912

Remote and untouched by commercial development, Ibo is one of the most fascinating, idyllic, and romantic islands – adjectives that easily apply to the lodge too. For several hundred years Ibo was a prosperous Arab trading post on the east coast of Africa. Three forts, a beautiful old Catholic church, and numerous ancient trading buildings stand guard over the sea.  Pirates, ivory, intrigue and the never-to-be-forgotten slave trade are a part of its rich history.

Position at Sunset

The lodge takes up three magnificent mansions, each over a century old and located right on a prime waterfront site, where dhows sail out to sea at high tide. Each of the 9 en-suite rooms is individually designed, large, air-conditioned, and they boast antiques and handcrafted furniture with marvelous wooden doors and shutters that evoke the original design. Guests can immerse themselves in the unchanged, ancient culture of Ibo and the rare chance to interact with the wonderfully hospitable islanders.

Meals feature fresh Ibo-grown organic vegetables, fruits and produce, traditional specialties, and, of course, seafood. Romantic dinners are served on the wide tranquil verandas or on the roof terrace restaurant, both with awesome views over the sea.

The Sand Spit off Ibo

What They Are Doing

Ibo Island has 4000 inhabitants, of whom only a small number had formal employment. The lodge has made a significant impact on the local economy, employing and also training up to 150 employees during the construction and development phase.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5vEjN3WKBI

Click here for more videos about Ibo.

The Main Lounge

Before the lodge’s nascence, the community had no exposure to tourism or the outside world. Few had any education and in many cases did not even speak or write Portuguese.  The lodge has provided a solid training facility with the development of the Ibo Island Community Training Centre, delivering education programs that deal with, among other things, English literacy, guiding techniques, tourism etiquette, small enterprise development, and the presentation of the unique cultural and historical features of Ibo. The facility is free to all community members.

Jewelry Made by Ibo Silversmiths

Making use of the old Arab coffee plantations that still exist on Ibo, the lodge hand grinds and open-fire-roasts its world-class coffee. Its agricultural project will focus on the production of coffee, as well as a market garden producing fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruit for the lodge.

Even the Decay is an Artwork

A marine turtle research project aims to support international research efforts into turtle biology and ecology and to protect marine turtles, and turtle eggs, from illegal and inadvertent harvesting on Ibo.

Silversmiths, part of an ancient tradition here, hand-craft exquisite intricate jewelry using old Arab techniques and tools. The key element to sustain this craft is providing high quality raw materials.  In order to do this, the lodge has set up a distribution network with a company in Cape Town called Africa Nova who will be able to provide a far greater return for the silversmiths. This jewelry is found no where else in the world and guests can observe the art and commission pieces from the lodge’s silversmith project.

By creating jobs where there were none, Ibo Lodge has had other positive influences, reducing the reliance on fishing as a primary source of income and food. Among other projects the lodge is involved in is a local Montessori school.

Rooftop View

In Their Own Words

“As the first tourism investor on Ibo Island and specialist tour operator to the Quirimbas Archipelago, the company believes that it is critical that local communities benefit from tourism development. One of the key approaches of Ibo Island Lodge has been that of supporting and creating projects on Ibo that will serve to create income and livelihoods for other members of the communities.”

One Way to Explore Atacama

Who They Are
Situated in northern Chile between the Pacific and the Cordillera de Los Andes, San Pedro de Atacama is an oasis located 8,015 feet above sea level. This area of desert, oasis, volcanoes, salt fields, and hot springs has for centuries played host to the pre-Columbian Andean cultures of South America.

The Tulur Room

The bright and airy Hotel de Larache, the base for explora Atacama, is set in the moonscape-like Atacama Desert. Recent renovations to the 50-room hotel include the addition of four handsome guest suites, two sala de exploradores, a Turkish Bath and open-air Jacuzzis, and a glass-walled, open-style kitchen.

Seeing exploration has always been at the heart of the explora experience, the sala de exploradores, covered in a wealth of maps and photographs of the area, offer a great space to consider your options for the next day – going to your destination by foot, horse, mountain bike, or vehicle – all while enjoying a drink from the bar nextdoor. The hotel also has its own observatory, for some of the finest stargazing on the continent.

The Puretama Hot Springs

What They Are Doing
Outposts of humanity are few and far between in these remote parts of Chile. Yet their impact on explora’s mission is incalculable, providing travelers with unforgettable glimpses into the culture, customs, and natural beauty. Indeed, without them a journey here wouldn’t be the same. And so, over the years, the Santiago-based travel operator, which also has lodges in Patagonia and on Easter Island, has made constant efforts to support the communities it visits.

Colors of the Nearby Village

In 2000 explora helped refashion the Puretama Hot Springs near San Pedro from a few dirty pools into an inviting destination for travelers and locals to relax and bathe, an effort that not only garnered a world architecture award but also, after being given to the Atacameños, generates $150,000 annually for the community. The money is used for the Internado Andino boarding school and other projects.

Also, explora guides teach English in local schools throughout the Atacama, including the elementary school in San Pedro and others in Solor, Talabrea, Camar Socaire and Rio Grande. The company also makes donations to Juriques, a local medical institution that aids children with physical disabilities.

Under Desert Skies

The head of explora’s Atacama guiding operations works with a clinic in San Pedro to promote health awareness, recently taking 150 locals on a walk and then feeding them. Schoolchildren are brought to the property and shown around and fed. Besides its own recycling efforts, explora will this year establish training on recycling and other environmental initiatives at schools throughout the region.

Siwa Oasis, located about 70 kilometers east of the Libyan border, has been inhabited since 10,000 BC but was re-created just a few years ago by Environmental Quality International, an environmental consulting company.  EQI’s president, Mounir Neamtalla, first visited in 1996 and was so inspired by the beauty and spirituality of this remote corner of Egypt he expanded EQI’s advisory services to include direct investments in sustainable development – and so Siwa was reborn.

Steeped in history, it is renowned for being the site of the Oracle of Amon, whom Alexander the Great consulted. Visiting Siwa today you will find it very much the same as Alexander did, featuring majestic rock formations, luxuriant groves and dazzling salt lakes throughout the oasis.

Pool at Adrère Amellal

The Siwa Sustainable Development Initiative includes three different accommodations, ranging in price from $45 to $330 per night. The most luxurious, Adrère Amellal, is 20 minutes outside of Siwa and has 40 en-suite rooms overlooking Lake Siwa and is nestled at the foot of the White Mountain cliffs.  Built with indigenous material using traditional Siwan building techniques, the lodge has a minimal impact on the environment.  There is no electricity, rooms are lit with beeswax candles. the stars light up the nights, and the swimming pool is fed by local springs.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuRcOkch25I

Shali Lodge, set in the middle of a lush palm grove in the heart of Siwa, is built of rock salt in the traditional architectural style. It has 20 charming suites that are simply but luxuriously furnished, all overlooking an internal courtyard.

At Albabenshal

Albabenshal is located, quite spectacularly, outside the jagged ruins of Old Shali, a 13th-century citadel in the center of Siwa.  A restoration of what were once rundown Siwan dwellings, Albabenshal has 13 rooms on three levels, linked through a system of alleyways and terraces overlooking the town center.

What They Are Doing

The Siwa Sustainable Development Initiative has brought significant benefits to the local community, while protecting Siwa’s delicate ecology and revitalizing its unique cultural heritage.  It has renewed Siwans’ pride in their cultural heritage, creating a wave of building in the Siwan traditional architectural style and has resulted in a decree by the governor of Matruh that all new constructions be built in the traditional style.

Siwan Woman Doing Embroidery

Most importantly, the initiative has created environmentally and culturally sustainable employment and income-generating opportunities that draw on local materials and expertise. At least 600 Siwans are employed in areas such as the supply of raw materials, production of furniture and handicrafts, transport of goods and workers, and as tour operators.

Creations of Siwa

In partnership with the International Finance Corporation, EQI is working to develop Siwa into a center of excellence for the production of organically grown produce and agro-culinary products, while improving the standard of living of Siwan farmers. The project, which hopes to benefit up to 450 farmers and 50 off-farm workers,  aims to add value to Siwan agricultural produce by promoting the adoption of organic farming and farm management systems that are compatible with international certifications. There are crop-prefinancing and cattle-financing schemes, a renewable energy initiative, and a packaging warehouse.

In August 2001, EQI launched a cottage industry aimed at revitalizing Siwa’s traditional handicrafts and promoting a culture of artisanship among women in the oasis. An initial grant from the British embassy went towards upgrading the embroidery skills of 50 Siwan women to ensure workmanship of the highest standard. The project allows women to work from home or in an all-women setting, in keeping with Siwan tradition. Within a year, the number of women participating in the project had reached 300. Siwa Creations has worked with several haute couture companies in Italy, including Ermanno Scervino and Nia Ferrante.

(Hotel View and Creations photos by Khaled Nagy.)