Permaculture Centre

At The Sijwa Project Providing fresh organic food for the community and our guests, and finding ways to offset carbon
emissions.

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African Monarch Lodges Sijwa Permaculture Project

ORGANIC COMPOST PITS PROJECT

Kitchen waste from our lodge kitchens is deposited into the compost pits, creating the most nutritious and mineral dense soil for organic gardening.

Employment is created and skills are trained which will filter back into the communities.
Permaculture experts were brought in to establish the foundation for this solid permaculture plant.

BEEHIVE PROJECT

In our conservancies, people experience human-wildlife conflict as elephants feast on their crops.

Conservationists have come up with a creative, effective solution: using the buzz of bees to deter the animals.

Elephant and bee projects exist around Africa to combat the human-elephant conflict; it is our wish to establish a similar project in the Zambezi Region.

In collaboration with ERP (Elephants Rhinos People Namibia), we have built our own beehives to hang around the farm and conservancies to deter these gentle giants. Beehive building skills are being taught to our community. Beekeeping is an art and skill, and is also being taught to employees.

Beeswax will be turned into candles and other artefacts to be sold. Honey produced naturally will be bottled and sold as ‘Elephant Friendly Honey’.

African Monarch Lodges Sijwa Beehive Project

African Monarch Lodges Sijwa Project Beehive Project

“Elephants are afraid of bees. Let that sink in for a minute. The largest animal on land is so terrified of a tiny insect that it will flap its ears, stir up dust and make noises when it hears the buzz of a beehive.”

WORM FARMS

Non-acidic kitchen waste plus all paper waste are deposited into the worm farms.

The worm farms produce nutrient-rich fertiliser for the organic gardens in the form of worm tea and vermicompost.
Members of the community are employed to care for the worm farms.

ORGANIC GREENHOUSES

Our lodges previously procured all fresh produce from Katima and Windhoek (imported from South Africa), but we wanted to reduce our carbon footprint.

Organic gardening skills were taught by experts.
Natural matter is used to create pesticides so that the farm remains completely organic.
Members of the community have been employed and trained on how to care for the farm.

TREE NURSERY TO OFFSET CARBON EMISSIONS

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are a major contributor to climate change. During its lifetime, one tree will absorb and store between one to three tonnes of carbon dioxide.

We plan to encourage guests to offset their carbon emissions by planting indigenous trees. We will calculate a guest’s total carbon emissions since their arrival in Namibia. They will be encouraged to purchase trees from our nursery to the value of their carbon emissions.

Guests can select the trees and also decide where they wish to plant them. We will identify areas in our conservancies where trees have been chopped down for firewood and structures.

GPS coordinates will be taken of the planted tree and regular updates will be sent to the guests on its progress. This will encourage carbon footprint consciousness and may entice return visits.

“Planting trees is an effective way to offset our guests’ carbon emissions and improve the environment for the benefit of climate, wildlife and people.”

FRESH PRODUCE

Vegetables, Herbs & Fruit

We grow fresh organic vegetables, herbs and fruit using the nutrient-rich castings from our compost pits and worm farms.
The produce goes to our guests and our communities to encourage healthy eating habits.

Free Range Eggs

Our lodges previously procured approximately 600 eggs per week from Windhoek. We wanted to find a way to reduce this.
We established a chicken coop using the ethical principles of permaculture.
Eggs from our farm are sold to the lodges.
Members of the community have been employed and trained to look after the chickens.

How You Make an Impact

We hope you can feel our passion and enthusiasm for the success of The Sijwa Project, and that you too might be inspired to help this remote part of Namibia reach its full potential.

We would appreciate any form of support.

Simply booking a stay at African Monarch Lodges, visiting The Sijwa Project, or buying any of the products produced makes an enormous difference.

Should you have space in your luggage when travelling to us, may we ask that you consider packing sewing items (like needles, threads and scissors) for our sewing team, or school stationery and books for the vocational residency and residency library.

PROJECT 1 Recycle Bins To build concrete bins with metal lids, for the separation of recycled waste, at each collection of villages in the two Conservancies

Cleaning Up Precious Land Bordering the Bwabwata National Park

The escarpment of the community land bordering the Bwabwata National Park lays littered with paper, plastic, glass bottles, and tin cans.

This rural area still has no running water, no electricity, no flushing ablutions, and no formal waste management services.

African Monarch Lodges created The Sijwa Project for exactly this reason – to protect our immediate environment by not adding its own generated waste to non-existent landfills.

It is our dream to embark on a bold project which hopes to see the end of waste lying scattered across this precious land. Join our hands as we embark on what could be one of the greatest success stories for this region.

PROJECT 2 Waste Collection To purchase a ‘dump’ truck to collect refuse from each village’s separation bins To employ a small team responsible for collection, compacting waste, and the preparation for recycling

Cleaning Up Precious Land Bordering the Bwabwata National Park

The escarpment of the community land bordering the Bwabwata National Park lays littered with paper, plastic, glass bottles, and tin cans.

This rural area still has no running water, no electricity, no flushing ablutions, and no formal waste management services.

African Monarch Lodges created The Sijwa Project for exactly this reason – to protect our immediate environment by not adding its own generated waste to non-existent landfills.

PROJECT 3 Waste Workshop To build a workshop with equipment to compact and bale PET plastic, to be transported to Windhoek with existing supply trucks

Cleaning Up Precious Land Bordering the Bwabwata National Park

The escarpment of the community land bordering the Bwabwata National Park lays littered with paper, plastic, glass bottles, and tin cans.

This rural area still has no running water, no electricity, no flushing ablutions, and no formal waste management services.

African Monarch Lodges created The Sijwa Project for exactly this reason – to protect our immediate environment by not adding its own generated waste to non-existent landfills.

PROJECT 4 Recycling Workshop To build and equip a plastic recycling workshop, which will recycle the non-PET plastic and convert this into artistic plastic tiles for tiling around the Sijwa Project and other buildings in the area

Cleaning Up Precious Land Bordering the Bwabwata National Park

The escarpment of the community land bordering the Bwabwata National Park lays littered with paper, plastic, glass bottles, and tin cans.

This rural area still has no running water, no electricity, no flushing ablutions, and no formal waste management services.

African Monarch Lodges created The Sijwa Project for exactly this reason – to protect our immediate environment by not adding its own generated waste to non-existent landfills.