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Going Green
Changa Safari Camp is invested in reducing our carbon footprint and creating an eco-friendly safari experience in Zimbabwe.
Changa’s Clean,
Green Energy Actions
Through various green actions, we use our surrounding natural resources sustainably and with minimal wastage left behind. We continually seek innovative ways to be kinder to our environment and the wildlife we share it with.
The camp, created from locally sourced materials and with as little environmental impact as possible, blends perfectly into its natural surrounds. Old, petrified mopani logs form railings and tent supports, thatching grass provides cooling shade and woven textiles and hand-crafted basketry complete the earthy visual style.
Run by the Sun
- 8 Tents
- Spa
- Main Public Area
- Back of House
- Staff Rooms
- Kitchen
- Workshop
- Laundry
- Water Storage Tanks
- Pumps
- Fridges & Freezers
All run as silently and efficiently as possible on solar power.
There’s no shortage of sun in Kariba, and the workshop roof houses the bulk of the 60 solar panels, with energy generated stored in 8 large batteries and invertor-controlled. Separate solar panels run the borehole water system to fill the tanks for camp requirements with another solar generated water pump from the lake as backup.
A generator, tucked into the hillside, is used for back up, but is seldom required. A separate solar system runs 3 deep freezers for ice storage and another invertor system runs the managers’ tented accommodation. Hot water for staff and back of house use is supplied by solar geysers.
All solar installations throughout Changa are carefully concealed within the surrounding bushland and seldom noticed by any occupant. Our latest solar installation is a 3-strand wire “elephant-proof” fence, which protects the kitchen and pantry during the night when camp is quiet and resting and elephants might be keen to find some easy treats.
Rubbish Disposal
A full camp of twenty guests and as many staff can be cause for a considerable amount of rubbish to be generated and disposed of daily.
With ‘clean green’ in mind, Changa actively discourages, as much as possible, the use of disposable plastic. We have a reverse osmosis water purification plant to produce pure drinking water and guests and staff are encouraged to use refillable glass water bottles, which are provided for this purpose. All disposable cans and bottles are crushed on site, separated, and sent to the mainland once a week for recyclable disposal. Cardboard is flat packed and sent to Harare for recycling fortnightly. All biodegradable waste is sorted and used within camp where possible.
Changa, being situated in the heart of a pristine wildlife area, does not compost for our own organic use and do not plant introduced herbs or plants in case they become invasive and spread within the park. We do, however, use the organic material for our ‘wormery’, a grand coal-walled protected room for worms, which delight in this rich, organic feast, and which are bred on site for our fishing guests’ use. The coal walls are sprinkler-cooled on hot summer days, so the interior remains cool and at a comfortable temperature for the worms to breed.
Unfortunately, our single biggest challenge in this eco-environmental camp remains the incorrectly-titled ‘disposable nappies’ used by many of the small children hosted at Changa. They are anything but disposable – they do not burn, biodegrade, cannot be recycled, present a health hazard, and attract flies and wildlife.
