There’s a growing number of savvy tourists concerned about the globe that they are trotting on, and it’s a concern that is founded on good reasoning; there’s no point traveling to the four corners of the earth, if they turn out to be full of garbage heaps, choking traffic and mundane malls for shopping and to top it off, the places you visit show little commitment towards saving the environments that their businesses bank on. We look at how Serena Hotels and Lodges, one of East Africa’s top tourist companies tackles our concern for the globe.
In the bad old days hotels and lodges would, under the guise of putting the clients' comfort and profits first, ignore the environment. Economists and financial gurus, on their part, failed to put an economic value on the environment despite it being a resource. Today, with clients dictating environmental concerns, holiday caterers are charting a way forward in responsible tourism practices.
Over the past decade, the Serena Group has invested in a range of energy efficiency endeavors to keep both clients and the globe cool. These include an innovative mix of architecture, design, partnerships, planting forests, wildlife protection, waste-recycling, pollution reduction, non-CFC use, solar and wind generation and the use of low energy devices and heat recovery systems.
Elemental Energy
Wind, water and the sun; not only does our existence depend on these natural forces, but they provide us with our energy needs. Some measures are so simple yet they go a long way in conserving a natural resource like clean water. A simple gesture such as guests being given the opportunity to re-use their towels and other linen saves up to 25% of the amount of water used in laundering. At the Mara Serena Safari Lodge, water from guest room sinks and showers drain to storage tanks and is then used for cleaning floors and pathways and for watering the gardens. This is replicated at the Ngorongoro Serena facility where collection of rainwater from the lodge’s roof supplements the borehole's supply.
However, holiday makers don’t exactly want to suffer for 'going green' and Serena’s clients pay a pretty penny to stay in comfort which means that the company has had to be innovative in its quest for energy efficiency. The lodges, being in remote places are not connected to the national electricity grid and therefore have to generate their own electricity. In the old days, it was mainly done by diesel powered generators whose CO2 output didn’t augur well with curbing greenhouse gases emission.
After investing in solar panels and later installing power-inverter systems at most lodges, the generators are shut for 18 hours daily which has resulted in reduced fuel usage contributing to less air pollution, besides reducing noise without the guests having to go on cold showers. To further reduce air pollution, all the technical appliances are fitted with air filters plus the use of energy saving bulbs at all its facilities. Most of the lodges also have heat conversion systems where exhaust heat from the incinerators is converted into energy for heating water at the staff camp.
Serena is now in the process of installing bio-digesters which will treat effluent water to allow it to be re-used for irrigation and animal consumption at the water holes. Any excess liquid released onto the ground ensures no contamination of the environment. In addition, a reduction in water usage can be expected due to the re-use of the effluent water.
Waste Management
Never before has the world faced such a waste challenge as it does today. We produce waste in whatever we do and our challenge is in managing it in a way that preserves our pristine nature. In many developing countries, recycling and waste facilities are limited. Garbage at all our facilities in Kenya is sorted out and sent back to Nairobi for handling by professional disposal companies. Glass and plastics are recycled while non-recyclable matter is disposed in the most environmentally friendly manner. Wet waste is retained at the lodges and composted into manure for use in the vegetable gardens.
Food for all
The global food crisis is expected to deepen unless small-scale organizations are given a leading role in deciding how and where foods are produced and distributed, according to the author of a new multimedia publication by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Serena encourages local civil society organizations (CSO) to get involved in growing fruits and vegetables or other goods that can be procured by the local Serena facility. At one of the lodges, a local women’s CSO has been approached with the idea of rearing pigs for sale in the local market. In return, Serena supplies the lodge’s wet waste to the women for use as animal feed.
Tides of time
The turtle has outlived the dinosaur across the centuries, but today only one in a thousand makes it to maturity. Many scientists believe that turtles are genetically programmed to return to the same beach that they were born on to lay their eggs. However, these places are often filled with holiday hotels.
The Serena Beach Hotel and Spa in Mombasa has a turtle preservation project, which protects the nesting sites of various turtle species. Until 1993, when the turtle programme came into being, it had been predicted that turtles faced extinction within 50 years on the Kenyan coast. The ambitious programme also provides turtle hatcheries and 24 hour vigilance to protect the eggs. Local fishermen report any eggs laid in domed nests to the turtle expert at the hotel who then transports them to hatcheries on Serena’s beach-front where the hatchlings are eventually released into the sea.
Another venture at this Serena facility is the butterfly farm which seeks to offer breeding grounds for Kenya's butterfly species which are under threat from continued forest destruction.
Time for tree
Trees are useful to our climate in 3 ways; they lower temperatures, reduce energy usage and reduce or remove air pollutants. Serena has established tree and shrub nurseries at all its hotels, lodges and resorts. Most of these seedlings are planted around the properties while the rest are given to neighbouring communities.
At Lake Manyara Serena Lodge, the new tree-scape has more than doubled the variety of bird species within a decade. Serena Mountain Lodge, working with the Kenya Forestry Department established a tree nursery and working with local farmers and schools have so far planted over 1.3 million seedlings covering an estimated 75 acres of land in the Mount Kenya forest. Serena’s ‘plant a tree for Africa’ programme seeks to reverse the tide of Africa's ecological destruction. It involves thousands of guests, school children and visiting dignitaries planting at least one tree each. So far more than 1 million trees have been planted.
Environmental audit
Serena commissions annual environmental impact assessments by independent auditors to keep eco-friendly tabs on its operational activities.
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