Commitment to responsible tourism

"Hifadhi Mazingira Kijiji Cha Bashay" Foundation:

Nature Heritage of Bashay Village Foundation:
We have all come across a situation where we've said "if ... I do my part to change things". If you had the time, the means, the support needed. That's what happened to us too. In rural villages, people use wood charcoal for cooking. Trees provide this basic need, but Nature takes time to restore its balance. That's why we decided to give Nature a bit of a jump start..

"When you cut a tree, plant another one". This sentence is the driving force behind the project that was born with the Basrah Hifadhi Mazingira Kijiji Cha Bashay Foundation: Conserving the Bashay Villages Environment. In 2012, Denis Lebouteux, the director of MKSC, established the Foundation with Daniel as head. Joined in 2015 by Catherine, they have worked since then together to carry it out. For the task is not small: thanks to their work, 30,000 young tree seedlings have been propagated and replanted by families each year in the entire area of Bashay. Each family is entitled to 20 plants per year, which they get from the Foundation for free. The 973 households of Bashay are listed in Catherine's notebook which keeps a count of the trees given out throughout the year. However, these are not the only beneficiaries of the project: a hospital, three schools and village gardens receive more than 1000 plants per year as well.

The risk with a project like this is that after a while people do not find it interesting and it falls by the wayside. But what's great is, that from the start, all those involved were volunteers for replanting. Having been informed about the project at its outset, the inhabitants came independently and year after year, have been at the heart of suggesting changes to the species planted. Catherine and Daniel take their requests into consideration and adapt their production as far as possible. Between nine and sixteen different species are planted each year.

The main target is timber and wood fuel trees, Olea africana or Grevillea robusta, for example, but there are also trees like Leucaena Leucocephala used to feed livestock, or fruit trees like papaya, avocado, orange and guava.

Moringa seed (Swahili 'mlonge' or sponge), known for its nutritional and medicinal properties, also sometimes responds to the call. Depending on the species, it can take between four months and a year before the plant is ready to be distributed.

Interview :

Hello Catherine, hello Daniel, can you explain a little bit about your work? What are you propagating right now?

Daniel : We grow our plants in a mixture of mature manure, sand and soil which is all put in polybags. After we water, sometimes adding a natural fertilizer that is prepared with water and manure, and then keep the plants in the shade. We do not have any particular problem growing our trees and we do not use any chemicals.

Catherine : All you can see there are 17,000 plants. We group them by species and at the moment we have ten different ones.

How do you obtain twig cuttings or seeds for sowing?

Daniel : Generally we go three to four consecutive days a month in the bush to find what we need. I have moringa seeds that we brought back not long ago, I can show you them just now. There are only two of us working on this project, besides the guard, so I ask four other people to accompany me and Catherine stays at the foundation.

Do you give training? Do you have visits?

Catherine : Yes, we have students from Rhotia Valley College who come about four times a year for a full day to learn what we do. Then there are groups of 30 to 50 people from overseas, usually Europe or America. We also have young people from a primary school who come occasionally and we raise awareness with them of the importance of trees in conserving the soil and the environment. Just behind you there, you have illustrations on the wall that explain our project; we use them during these presentations, it allows us to better illustrate what we are trying to achieve.
Other than this, we do not have very many visitors, sometimes we receive MKSC guests, but not very often.
We are always happy to receive anyone, so welcome! Karibuni !

Interview with Pascal, Jumanne and Raphael :

When did you start working here?

When MKSC started to get involved, that is, since September 2014. One of the first things they did was put a fence around the whole area, to prevent the dump from spreading. They also provided sorting cages to be put in place.

How often do you receive waste from MKSC camps?

Every Sunday; there are also about fifty other lodges that drop their garbage here, some of which make the effort to sort too. It makes it easier for us to work, unlike the municipality's truck that comes five times a day to drop mixed garbage. Here we try when we can separate the metal, the glass and the plastic, into the big cages that you see there. This is difficult and dirty work.

If you take the example of plastic bottles, you must receive huge quantities, how do you manage them all?

Before we had problems because the company that was supposed to remove them did not come when expected, so MKSC decided to undertake this as well. When one of their trucks is available and empty, and we have enough plastic bottles to give them, it returns to Arusha to deliver them to Swiss Bottlers. Even if there is no rule, we can say that on average it is done every three months.

We heard that you made cardboard briquettes, can you explain how?

When we receive cardboard, we put it in this big container of water until it's completely full. Once it's full, we take it out and compress it with the pressing machine. We need a full container like this one to make 50 briquettes.

At a time when ecological and health concerns are merging in all areas, "eating" is becoming a central theme. Is what I eat healthy? Healthy for me, healthy for the earth, healthy for the person who produced it? At home we are responsible for the choice of products we cook. But in restaurants, when travelling, in hotels, we put this responsibility in the hands of the host, who usually doesn't know where the cooked food comes from.

The Mount Kilimanjaro Safari Club has chosen to know and control where its vegetables and fruits come from and it makes the decision to keep its guests informed so that you can feel reassured when you join us on the Tanzania adventure. Let us guide you through the history of our vegetable garden with papaya leaves and pepper seeds.

In 2013, MKSC acquired a piece of land at the foot of the mountain to drill a well. Since the land was much bigger than we needed for this use, we decided to plant some fruit trees there. But nature abhors empty space, so more plantations were created on our small piece of land. We enthusiastically planted some of everything, including artichokes and strawberries. After some failures, we finally decided to concentrate our efforts on a smaller number of vegetables and to organize ourselves better. The vegetable garden was born.

From pumpkins to avocados, aubergines, leeks and lemons, our organic vegetable garden now supplies three of our lodges, Olduvai, Maweninga and Bashay Rift, with more than twenty different types of vegetables and fruits. In order to guarantee their freshness, every three days an employee is responsible for picking up the products. With this vegetable garden we want to achieve self-sufficiency with the majority of the vegetables. Therefore we have decided to double the area to 2.8 acres in 2017. We hope that it will then be possible to supply two to three more lodges in the very near future and subsequently all seven lodges.

On the production side, our gardeners work on hillsides with crops that they mulch during the dry season to limit evaporation. Since organic farming is now the norm in our region, no chemicals are used! Gardeners practice crop rotation, spraying natural homemade products, relying on cats that eat mice and nets that prevent birds from pecking at the delicious chard leaves. We are also making progress on the fruit side. Following the tradition of a multi-level permaculture garden, shrubs and banana trees provide shade and shelter for the many birds, passion fruit plants green the metal fences and protect the plants from wind and dust.

To save water, we have installed a drip irrigation system, which allows us to achieve regular production all year round.
To complete the installation there are also compost bins and a nursery where most of the seedlings are prepared under cover.
Growing our own vegetables was a first step for us, but with the desire to go further in order to comply with our principles, we decided to go organic. You can learn more from the interviews with the gardeners who have made this transition.

Interview with the gardeners:

Where did the idea of moving to organic production come from originally?:

Julius: When customers were informed of the presence of the vegetable garden, the first question they asked was often "It is organic? " That's where the idea of going into it this approach originated. We were apprehensive before we started, we had never done agriculture without pesticides, but with the management of MKSC, we said "we'll try and if it does not work, we will return to chemicals". The first step was the annual Arusha Agricultural Fair. We stayed there for 10 full days, we learned a lot about organic farming. This year MKSC has also sent us on a two-week training in Permaculture in Morogoro. We have gradually put into practice here what we learned there.

What difficulties did you encounter at first?

Julius: Insects! This is always the main challenge. Almost all the yields went down when we stopped our chemical treatments; especially the tomatoes! But MKSC management continued to encourage us. We started to make our natural treatments, such as nettle manure, to plant carnations, which are repellent flowers against certain insects. Little by little we have learned and progressed.

Emmanuel : The rainy season is also a problem when you are going organic. Before we used pesticide products that limited the cold and other problems that could occur during the rainy season. But with organic, we had nothing, so it was difficult AND it's still difficult!

Which vegetables are you most proud of?

All four: We are proud of them all! But there are vegetables which the transition to organic has not changed, they seem to do as well either with or without chemicals: white cabbage, spinach and aubergine (eggplant). The ones that cause us a lot of problems are tomatoes and green peppers ... and cucumbers too.

Today are you happy with what you have accomplished, by going organic?

Julius : At first we really did not think we would get there, but we were supported and encouraged, so we made the effort and it paid off. Now we have a good production, and without any chemical help. So, yes, I can say that we are happy when we look from where we started off, but it's still difficult.

Do you want to say a word to customers who will read this interview?

Julius : Now you can be sure that when you eat our vegetables at the lodges of Bashay and Maweninga they are fresh and without any harmful toxins or other herbicides not conducive to your health.

Charles : If you spend a night at Bashay Rift Lodge and you have the opportunity to visit the garden, we would be pleased to welcome you and show you our handiwork - Karibu sana!

Interview with Harald:

Hello & "Jambo!" Harold, when did you start work at MKSC on the solar panels?

I started in 2013. Since the Camps were set up without any connection at all to the national grid, the solar panels were installed before my arrival as a Consultant. When I started what was already in place was good but since 2013, MKSC has really increased its commitment to the photovoltaic installations, investing totally in equipment and training.

Could you tell us a little about the training?

This is an aspect particularly close to my heart and starts with the MKSC electricians. Training and supervision of these technicians is integral to my role. I also often take Trainees and Apprentices from KITEC (a local technical college) with me; it is vital that young people today learn about green technologies such as solar power. And this can lead to a placement with the company.

Have you thought about what will be done with the solar panels when they are in need of replacement - how are they recycled?

On average,solar panels last 25 years; some batteries 7-10 year and the inverters up to 15 years.The ideal would be to find an appropriate company which does this in Tanzania to avoid overseas transportation and all its implications; for the moment we have a pathway in Arusha. MKSC wanted to find an ecological solution to the electrical constraints which had been faced by their sites and, for the most part, the solar panels themselves are recycling well; better and better. In short,the very first batches of panels, on the market 30 years ago,are now coming to the end of their life. Before it was not attractive economically for a company to enagage specifically in the mass recycling of panels but now the huge increase in demand for materials and to recycle and re-sell is becoming more profitable. Then to complete the ecological approach of MKSC, all the new panels since 2014 are from a CO2 neutral enterprise.

Interview with Denis Lebouteux (MKSC)

How did this project begin ?

Denis : For more than 15 years, we have installed solar panels in our properties. The advance of technology and falling costs helped; we have regularly increased the photovoltaic power installed at our various camps or lodges. Then came the point when we found we were producing more electricity than we needed, especially at Grumeti Hills. We had already linked up to PV, every USAGE possible,(washing machines, dish-washer, refrigerators … etc)
I had read about a Botswana experiment with electric-powered safari cars. Harald, our German engineer then put me in contact with a start-up from Bavaria, (Fleck Technologies) who converted cars of any type into electric cars. So we started off with two cars that have been operating since 24/06/18.

What is the range of these cars?

Denis : This is, of course, problem No. 1. We are used to cars having a good range. With the electric car, we must ask ourselves the right question: a car, for what purpose exactly?
Depending on the particular demands of the day's excursion, we can switch to an electrical solution or we can stay with conventionally powered vehicles (for the moment at least – technology is moving forward!)
The usage of the first 2 cars is short game drives (day and night) and transfers to/from Grumeti Hills. So it was decided that a range of 130km is more than enough to safely cover this.

Is this technology not too sophisticated to adapt to such remote areas?

Denis : We could think so. In fact, it's the opposite. This technology is very simple compared conventional engines. These electric cars require about 40 components, while conventional technology requires hundreds.
Moreover, the latest generation of conventional models, with all its attendant electronics on board, cannot hope to survive long in our remote parts.
Electrical technology is much more basic than the combustion engine.
In 1880, a French engineer drove the first electric car...

A criticism often heard, electric vehicles are not as ecological as they claim?

Denis : First of all, these cars are actually recycled! These first 2 reconditioned Toyota vehicles were over 20 years old, earmarked for scrap. Recycling remains the No.1 tool against overconsumption and CO² production.
Secondly, these cars are recharged with solar power (100%). This is a totally different context from, say, German or USA electric cars that recharge from power sources running from coal fueled power plants.
There remains the problem of the batteries. These should last about ten years, (I think we will do better) with the possibility of giving them a second life as storage for lighting in the properties. For information, the batteries of conventionally powered safari cars do not last much more than 8 months, on average because of the frequent "stop and go" nature of a photographic safari.
Finally, when we look at the fuel consumption of 4x4 conventional equivalents, it comes to between 15 and 18L per 100km.
These 15 to 18 litres are just the tip of the iceberg, we need to include the amount consumed to transport from ports and distribution points to the consumer at the service stations & storage areas as well as the consumption on trips to/from the pumps: in the case of Grumeti this is 50km one way! And it should be said we are not in the worst position by any means.

Will you continue in this direction ?

Denis : It's obvious. I have already planned the modification of 5 more vehicles for 2019. The technical challenges exist, the utilisation marked out for these 5 new cars is different and so require their own unique technical solutions.
Beyond this experience specific to MKSC, I especially want to share it with my colleagues in DMCs & agencies.
We are talking about hundreds of vehicles in the short term.
Tanzania can quickly & readily switch to electric for a large part of its fleet: there are plenty of old vehicles and there is plenty of sunshine … The technology exists, is advancing and costs will continue to go down.