Page 73 - Gondwana Value Creation Report 2020

HOW WE MAKE AN IMPACT Gondwana prides itself on applying Award of distinction awarded for Responsible Tourism Awards Meet some of our people

8.
Eco-friendly lodges and lodge activities
Green Five Flower Certificate
Canyon Village received the prestigious Responsible Tourism Award in the
accommodation establishment category, for sustainable energy usage during
environmental sustainability
exemplary environmental efforts
the 2020 Tourism Expo.
practices across all of its lodges
The coveted award was given based on interviews with lodge employees,
○ The Desert Grace
during which the assessors gained an impression of their knowledge of
and accommodation options.
○ The Delight
alternative energies. It is the fifth consecutive year that a Gondwana Collection
Namibia property has reached the final round of the Responsible Tourism
We operate our lodges with as little carbon impact as possible. Eco Flower rating Awards and the second time to win the award.
We offer various activities or means of transportation, including:
○ E-bikes 12 Gondwana lodges
○ Stargazing
○ Fishing
○ Dune-walking have a five Eco Flower rating
○ Scorpion walks and received excellent scores for
○ Tree planting project in Canyon Park (where guests adopt a conservation and guiding, energy,
quiver tree) water, legal compliance and

Eco Awards Namibia employee health and welfare.
Our lodges have repeatedly Five lodges were assessed by Eco

received Eco Awards Namibia’s Awards in 2020, each receiving a five Stephanie de Lange
highest seal of quality for how Eco Flower rating. Stephanie was born in Windhoek and earned her honours degree

sustainably we’ve run them in Nine lodges are due to be in zoology from the University of Stellenbosch, before earning
her master’s in veterinary science at the University of Pretoria in
recent years. assessed in 2021. South Africa. From a young age, Stephanie wanted to work with
animals, and began to live that dream when she joined Gondwana
as Park Warden at the Kalahari Park in 2015.
Eco Awards Namibia is a sustainable tourism certification Stephanie is pure Gondwanian with a passion for environmental
programme. Tourism operators can volunteer for independent sustainability. In her five years with the company, she has become
assessments. Assessments certify that they are applying a increasingly involved with eco projects at our lodges. She was
standard of environmental care and practising sustainability for part of the 2019 Go4Gold Leadership Academy where she
the environment and Namibians.
learned how to be a good mentor to her colleagues. She provides
We volunteer because the Eco Awards’ accreditation process environmental training and works closely with Eco Awards Namibia
aligns to Gondwana’s environmental sustainability goals. on environmental sustainability assessments at the lodges.
An assessment is an excellent method for determining our Our eyes are on the future
accommodations’ social and environmental impact areas and “One really needs to think out
the underlying standards. It identifies areas for improvement in While the tourism industry took an unprecedented knock in 2020, Gondwana stood by its
performance and standards. values by continuing to support social and environmental protection projects. This continues of the box and be flexible at
to garner a lot of goodwill within the country and abroad, and we will continue to positively
Like the star rating system for tourist accommodation, impact our communities and environment. Gondwana, but this is the best
Eco Awards Namibia awards up to five desert flowers for
environmental sustainability. A lot of the projects that required capital layout in 2020 are planned to be implemented once way to grow in one’s career and
tourism resumes to some normality. In 2021 we will continue to build on projects that get
www.ecoawards-namibia.org our customers more aware of and involved in our green efforts. These include tree planting as a person.”
projects, guests participating in game counts in our parks, and making our water and energy
efficiency data (as part of our carbon footprint) readily accessible to customers. – Stephanie de Lange

70 VALUE CREATION REPORT 2020 GONDWANA COLLECTION NAMIBIA 71