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Whilst planning the Islands of Siankaba the local Chief had one particular request. - To employ as many people from the area as possible! The closest industry was 15km away, and the area was badly in need of increased employment.
This was not an easy task to undertake, as the local people were generally unskilled and inexperienced in the hotel industry, but extensive training took place to teach the people various skills within different departments of the lodge.
Since the opening of the lodge only 5 employees have been hired from outside the area and many people have been trained. Currently the Islands of Siankaba employ over 30 staff, all of which are now fully competent in their jobs.
We are proud of the fact that over 60% of the local construction workers were retained to work full time in the lodge.
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The Local School at the village of Mandia has some 300 children in total. It is a government primary school that relies on frequently inadequate government funding.
There are seven classes with children ranging from 6 -14 years. The majority of the children are aged between 6-9 years in grades 1- 4.
Mandia School’s reliance on limited resources hampers it in many ways with regards to improvement and basic needs for both the school and children. The Islands of Siankaba arrange regular visits to the school and take guests on educational trips throughout the area, during which these lack of resources often come to light. As a result, many guests have kindly volunteered some form of donation to the school to help improve the situation.
To monitor this generous funding the Islands of Siankaba formed a committee consisting of members of the school parent / teacher association and members of lodge staff who have children attending the school. This enables gifts to be monitored carefully and ensures that help is given to the areas most at need within the school.
Donations to date have mostly been in cash but some guests have offered to give stationary and books, which are always in need. These kind gestures are greatly appreciated and go far to improve the quality of education for the children.
The Islands of Siankaba promotes any form of aid to the school, as education is the key to our future. The lodge promotes strong environmental policies and we hope that an educated future generation will help to preserve our very special environment.
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The rate of deforestation is escalating rapidly throughout the world, and Zambia is no exception as large numbers of trees are felled to make way for more human consumption.
Management have noticed a substantial decline in the number of large trees over the last several years, and to offset its own ecological footprint the Islands of Siankaba have introduced a tree-planting project to reintroduce the growth of indigenous hardwood trees to the area. Guests are invited to support this project by planting a tree of their own. The Islands of Siankaba will provide a seedling and aid in it’s planting which we hope will leave guests feeling that they have left part of themselves in Africa and will be a great asset in the future of our environment.
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The islands of Siankaba are situated close to Chief’s land where local villagers traditionally rely on a subsistence way of life. As in most parts of Zambia, maize cultivation and cattle herding are the primary forms of subsistence farming. The staple diet of the people is a finely ground maize meal, known in the local language as Nshima. This is similar to couscous or fine oats and forms a porridge-like mixture when cooked with water. Nshima in one form or another goes to make breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Traditionally maize was pounded with a large mortar and pestle in order to crush the maize to the correct consistency, but this was back breaking and time consuming work, usually carried out by women. Today this work is often done using an electric or diesel maize mill, but upon starting the construction of the lodge it was noticed that there were none in the area. Women were forced to walk long distances to mill their maize and feed their families. In consultation with the local village headman the Islands of Siankaba provided and installed a maize mill on the mainland base for the use of the local community. The mill was handed over to the headman in 2001, and is now part of an established community operation.
The directors were determined that the mill would remain a sustainable community development project, and again in close co-operation with leading members of the local community the Islands of Siankaba sponsored the construction of a cattle dip. It was decided that a small charge would be made for milling, and some of the income raised would be used for the purchase of the medicines for the dip. Dipping could therefore be done at no charge, hence encouraging all individuals to dip their cattle regularly. Previously the closest cattle dip was 30km away and was therefore never used by the local people of this area. The herds of cattle in the area were at risk of viral infections, thin and often diseased, a problem which has now been largely overcome.
The overall community project has worked well, with all operational responsibility having now been handed over to the headman and the local committee.
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| It is hoped that with the tree-planting program in full progress it will ease the difficult task of changing a long tradition of tree felling to a more cautious and alert practice. The start of this practice will begin with the current employees at Siankaba. As the staff are all from the surrounding areas management intend that through this programme they will take their own action by starting to replant trees which are utilized for their daily needs. Trees are used mainly to make charcoal, which is a form of coal used for cooking and warmth by the local people. This is one of the main causes of the current decline in our forests. Should Siankaba succeed with their endeavors to combat the high rate of deforestation in this area, we will not only prevent severe cases of soil erosion but will change people’s attitudes and views on good environmental practices. |
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| Due to the lack of any form of medical facility in the local and surrounding communities, the lodge assisted with the construction of the Mandia District Health Clinic. The Clinic was opened in 2004 and now successfully services the communities surrounding the lodge. Interested guest have the opportunity to visit the clinic on the cultural village walk. |
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| Starting in the New Year, the lodge’s management will all partake in extracurricular tourism classes at Mandia school. The directors are most hopeful that by educating the young children in the community, they will truly understand the benefits of tourism. We may also kindle a desire in some of the children to take up tourism as a profession in the future. |
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| The lodge has recently joined forces with the British based “U” Foundation, (www.theufoundation.org) to assist with the building of a nursery school for the people of the area. It became apparent that education levels were suffering as children only started any form of schooling after the age of six or seven years old. To assist with this the”U” Foundation and the lodge sponsored one of the lodge employees to attend teachers training college and after two years Mr. Malindi Lubinda graduated with flying colours. He returned to the community and is presently teaching over thirty 3 to 6 year old pupils in an out building of the local church. The “U” Foundation kindly assisted with desks, chairs and teaching materials. The last two years have seen many fund raising efforts and we now have enough money to build a custom made pre-school. The Chief of the Siankaba area has kindly allotted one acre of land to the building of this school and work is planned to start on this in mid 2009. |
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| The founders of the lodge were Mr. Laurie Smart, and Mr. Paul Harrison, both longstanding Zambian residents who first discovered the islands on a boating trip in 1997. They were completely enthralled by the natural beauty of the setting and set out to encourage international visitors to share their experience by developing a lodge on the site. To this end talks were started with the local people to find out their feelings on development within their area. |
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All the local headmen were called for a meeting where some interesting facts emerged. The local tribe (Toka-Leya) were actually starved of any commercial enterprises and relied totally on a subsistence way of life. They felt that they were being left behind by their neighbours both upstream and downstream, where other lodges had been operating and the local people were benefiting from the upsurge in international tourism. It emerged that they were very keen for some form of employment opportunities and the chance to interact with the outside world and show their rich culture and beautiful lands. Once the support of the local villages was established Laurie and Paul approached the local paramount Chief (His Royal Highness Sekuti) who was also extremely keen for development within his area. He was most insistent that the local people should benefit directly and that all employment should take place from the immediate area. After those assurances were agreed the Chief Sekuti gave his written permission for the government to grant a lease on the land.
After exhaustive market research into traveler's needs and current market trends, architect's plans were drawn up. It was established from the outset of the project that environmental awareness would be a key factor of the lodge. It was decided that a ‘non permanent’ feel to the camp would be important, therefore a combination of wood and canvas was decided upon for all the lodge structures.
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| Commercially grown non-indigenous pine was used for all structural construction as well as all walkways and decking. Hard wood was only used where aesthetically needed and then located from sustainable commercial forests; the lodge would also replant hardwoods within the area to compensate for this (Community Development). To alleviate the difficult subject of thatching, it was decided that even the roofs of the chalets would be of canvas, once again adding to the non-permanent feel. It was decided that there would be no compromise on the cutting down of trees on the islands and indeed, this was maintained throughout, even to the point of changing original plans to accommodate indigenous trees. |
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| Some of the chalets in fact had to be altered to actually fit around a tree or two! Indeed, only a few tree branches had to be trimmed throughout the entire project, a fact that the directors are extremely proud of. A rope bridge, with the smaller of the two islands housing the accommodation chalets, links the two islands. Once guests cross this bridge they do not actually set foot on the island, as they walk upon a raised walkway in the tree canopy, this ensures the delicate riverside environment is completely protected. In fact, the tree theme follows right through the lodge, the chalets all being named after local indigenous trees. The island’s nature trail also promotes tree protection with a superbly detailed description of all the trees and their local medicinal and traditional uses. Once the lodge construction was near an end and it was clear that all of the director’s wishes were complied with, the lodge was awarded with its Environmental Certificate by the Environmental Council of Zambia. |
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Even though the lodge is located on true islands within the river, it has been connected to the National Grid for its electricity supply. The directors felt that as the electricity supply is generated at the hydro/electro station at Victoria Falls, this was the most effective way to power the lodge. Low wattage geysers have been used throughout the lodge along with low wattage long life light bulbs to ensure cost saving and lack of wastage.
The lodge’s water is drawn directly from the river, filtered and treated on site, thus ensuring there is no effect upon the local water table. As with current hotel policies, guests are given the option as to how often their towels and linen are washed. Locally produced bottled mineral water is available for guests drinking requirements in every room. |
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| As the directors of the company are proud Zambian residents they feel that ‘green washing’ of the product serves little or no purpose. They are committed to the sustainability of tourism in their area. This requires a very honest attitude to both community development and environmental issues as the two most definitely go hand in hand. The local communities were very uninformed when it came to tourism issues and so the directors are extremely keen to promote a responsible attitude towards correct development for those people. Headman Siankaba, (the village headman responsible for the immediate area of the lodge, and from whom the lodge took its name) and his people are extremely proud of their way of life and the area they live in, and the directors do not wish to change or tarnish this attitude, but rather nourish it as a tangible demonstration of local life and culture. Small groups of interested guests, accompanied by a local guide, may visit the villages on foot to get to know the people and their traditions as they really are, unaltered by commercialism so often seen elsewhere. The aim of the company is to develop a long running successful business with the help and support of the local people, mutually beneficial to both parties and the environment as a whole. |
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