Tarangire Holidays

If you want to make a positive impact while you explore Tanzania, just by staying at a Lemala camp or lodge helps to fund many community projects. Lemala has a strong sense of corporate social responsibility, their whole ethos is about giving back and they’re passionate about respecting local cultures and the environment. However, in this part of the world, it’s not about donating a bit of money and hoping for the best – they have to make sure they’re helping in the most efficient way possible.

If you want to make a positive impact while you explore Tanzania, just by staying at a Lemala camp or lodge helps to fund many community projects. Lemala has a strong sense of corporate social responsibility, their whole ethos is about giving back and they’re passionate about respecting local cultures and the environment. However, in this part of the world, it’s not about donating a bit of money and hoping for the best – they have to make sure they’re helping in the most efficient way possible.

One of the best ways to uplift communities is by providing employment and training opportunities. Of the 335 staff, only five percent are from outside of Tanzania, the rest are from towns and villages near the camps and they’ve also employed staff from a homeless centre in Arusha. People often arrive unskilled and are trained to work in various roles – the guide training school is very successful. They’ve had long-serving members of the team who started as room attendants or cleaners and have since become safari guides or camp managers.

They also run an annual Leadership Academy where they invite speakers such as accountants, businesswomen and guides to talk to young people in their communities. The aim is to inspire kids and give them realistic career options. They are especially keen to champion women in the workplace and six out of seven members of the management team are women. They now have two fully-qualified female guides including Tanzania’s first, Mary Milanzi, who now leads tuk-tuk tours in her hometown of Mto wa Mbu.

Your stay funds a number of other projects including a women’s shelter called Pippi’s House and a reusable sanitary pad scheme where they provide pads for girls in need. This scheme has expanded and they now work with a woman to educate about sexual health.

Eco-awareness is very important to them too. All Lemala tented camps operate 100 percent off-grid and are completely sustainable. They’ve invested a lot of money in solar power systems and reverse osmosis water treatment plants, which provide safe drinking water for guests and surrounding communities. When they build a new camp, they use recycled steel where possible and decking that has been made from recycled plastic bottles. In just one year they saved around 300,000 plastic bottles from going to landfill. They also work with a scheme that employs local women to make biodegradable banana boxes for guests’ packed lunches.

You can also be sure that when you stay with Lemala, the cultural excursions they offer are ethical. For instance, they run private, authentic visits to Olasiti Village in Tarangire, where they have an extremely close relationship with Chief Lobulo. In exchange, they support the chief’s passion for education, helping to fund his school programmes. Guests can even donate a school desk and chairs made from recycled plastic for $135. When you visit the boma, you can buy hand-made curios straight from women. In a country where you can feed someone for less than a dollar a day, your $5 makes a big difference.