Sustainability and being responsible global citizens are at the heart of everything we do at Kapama Private Game Reserve. Our world’s natural resources are at risk, and finding and maintaining ecological balance is one of our core values. Our goal is to not only ensure our business practices are sustainable. We want to ensure that our business helps nature thrive beyond mere sustainability and become leaders in responsible, low-carbon ecotourism. To keep fulfilling the current generation’s needs without compromising the needs of a future generation. To do this we are getting a lot more practical in our solutions.

The hotel industry is responsible for around 1% of global carbon emissions. That’s the equivalent of over 80 million average households and this excludes other carbon emissions related to travel to destinations. It’s a major challenge for the tourism industry. Research shows that the hotel industry needs to reduce its carbon emissions by 66 per cent per room by 2030 to ensure that the growth forecast does not lead to a corresponding increase in carbon emissions. As a result, the tourism industry worldwide will have to adopt a range of strategies to minimise their environmental impact and ensure they meet the growing demand from tourists for low-carbon travel.

According to Skift Research, 83% of global travellers say sustainable travel is vital. In addition, industry sustainability reports show that 73% of travellers are likelier to choose accommodation that has implemented sustainability practices, helping them to improve their own environmental and social footprint.

The recent growth in the “flygskam” or flight shaming trend which has spread across Europe is a clear indication of just how important this issue of responsible, low-carbon tourism is to travellers.

At Kapama, we have taken the next step in our sustainability journey to reduce our impact on the environment, lower our carbon footprint and increase our conservation efforts, protecting valuable savannah ecosystems which in themselves are critically important carbon sinks.

We are very proud to announce that our newly completed solar plant was successfully commissioned and is the first of its size for Safari Lodges in South Africa. Engineered and installed by AME Power Solutions, the optimum size of the plant was calculated to ensure sufficient power to run the biggest of our four lodges, Kapama River Lodge. The solar plant produces close to 700 000 kW per day. This is enough to power River Lodge during the day and push additional power into the grid that is taken out again after sunset. This has resulted in Kapama being able to reduce their carbon footprint by over 32% from 2021 levels, in practical terms, this reduction in carbon emissions is roughly the equivalent of planting thirty to forty thousand trees each year!

This sizeable investment has reduced our dependence on coal power energy to almost zero for River Lodge.

“Our guests are very aware of their carbon footprint. With Kapama being a long-haul destination, implying a high use of carbon, it is important that their destination is an environmentally responsible establishment,” says Bernard Roode, Managing Director of Kapama.

Following the implementation of this solar plant and a recent Carbon Footprint Audit undertaken by ETC-Africa, it was decided to switch both Kapama Karula and Southern Camp lodges to solar power in December 2022, potentially reducing our carbon footprint by an additional 15% on 2021 levels. These internal reductions from converting to solar combined with plans for converting barren farmlands to productive savannah ecosystems as a carbon offset project could see Kapama becoming carbon neutral in the very near future.

Our drive for sustainable tourism includes numerous policies. We source food locally and carefully plan all menus. Our food waste feeds the pigs of the local farmers. We purify our water from a sustainable source and recycle used water in our gardens. We have a system to recycle cans, glass and paper, and the minimum waste goes to the municipal dumping ground. Our commitment to lowering our emissions resulted in installing low energy-consuming inverted air-conditioners and a water heating system powered by low-pressure solar water panels.

Our guests contribute towards sustainability as a result of our efforts. And our efforts include a positive impact across a broad range of global sustainable development goals. We employ more than 590 people, and our sustainability projects have opened up new work opportunities. With an unemployment rate of 34% in South Africa, every job created is essential and can feed up to eight people per household.