Are you supporting eco friendly and community lodges/camps?

Community lodges/camps are quite significant in the tourism market because they are a channel used to boost and uplift our local communities in Kenya.They ensure sustainable tourism practices with these lodges/camps being run by either members of the community or support the community members by either having local projects that build developments such us schools or women help groups or even simple acts such us employing people from the community to work in the lodges and camps.Therefore, every time you are booking a lodge/camp you may consider finding out if your payment is any way beneficial to the community where you are visiting!

Another important factor is whether or not the lodge you are staying in is Eco-friendly.What we are saying is that for sustainable tourism to continue, it is important that lodges/camps have safe practices that will not destroy or alter our environment. The world is currently struggling with fighting environmental pollution and if lodges are not careful they could easily destroy our Eco system.Take an example of a lodge situated in a game reserve where they have painted their outside structure orange, then they dispose their garbage (including plastic bags) into the reserve,plus their sewage has open pipes leading to the river where animals drink water?What do you think this practices would lead to?Soon or later the animals will die the river become polluted and the whole reserve would probably collapse!It is therefore quite important to support Eco friendly lodges/camps.

Borrowing the values of Ecotourism Kenya, it is important for a lodge/camp to:
1.Respect the environment
2. Respect the local people and their cultures
3. Equitable sharing of responsibilities and benefits