Gibb’s Farm, part III: Obvious luxury rife with responsible subterfuge
May 8, 2008
Gibb’s Farm is a responsible employer and community member, yet the efforts made in areas of environmental preservation and resource protection shouldn’t be overlooked, as craftily shrouded as they may be. As one might imagine, access to services and supplies in this far-flung region have never been a cakewalk and a natural interdependence with the… Continue reading
Gibb’s Farm, part II: Good neighbors, fantastic food
May 5, 2008
A working farm that also operates as a high end guest lodge, Gibb’s Farm stands apart from countless other traveler accommodations in its longstanding mutually beneficial relationship with the local community, Karatu.
Generations of families have been a part of the Gibb’s Farm workforce - most staff have worked at Gibb’s for 10 years; many over 20 years. 99% local, the staff receives free healthcare - services that are extended to their… Continue reading
Gibb’s Farm, part I: Gracious, green and hospitable to all
May 4, 2008
Established in 1929 near the village of Karatu, Tanzania, Gibb’s Farm grew from a simple coffee farm into a generously appointed traveler’s rest, a well-placed jumping off spot for adventurers and ultimately a decadent luxury travel destination that elevates and embraces environmentally and socially responsible practices in every level of their operations.
Amongst its charms? Location, location, location: A short distance from Lake Manyara National Park, Gibb’s Farm also shares a… Continue reading
Burunge Wildlife Management Area: Nine villages, one success story
May 4, 2008
African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) was able to make a sweeping gain for migrating wildlife and local Maasai pastoralists with the establishment of the Tanzanian Land Conservation Trust at the 44,000 acre Manyara Ranch.
The region of Burunge lies just south of Manyara Ranch - another region AWF identified as critical to wildlife migrating between Lake Manyara National Park and Tarangire National Park as well as the region’s overall ecosystem. However, unlike… Continue reading
Tanzania AWF: Kids, cows and cultural exchange give wildlife a hall pass
May 4, 2008
The story of our visit to Tanzania with African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) cannot begin to be told without an unjustly short overview of the Maasai in this region.
Among the most readily-recognized ethnic groups in Africa due to their distinct dress, fierce adherence to their traditional ways and residence adjacent to national parks, the Maasai are a pastoralist society with an aversion to hunting birds and game animals. In a historic… Continue reading
Nyungwe National Park: Ancient rainforest alive with primates – the next best thing to time travel
April 20, 2008
Truth be told, when we arrived in Rwanda, we hadn’t even heard of Nyungwe National Park. Fortunately, thanks to a lead from the folks at Rwanda Tourism (ORTPN), we learned about the little-publicized but grand-scaled gem in southern Rwanda and knew that our trip wouldn’t be complete without a visit.
At 1,000 square kilometers, Nyungwe is the largest mountain rainforest in Africa and one of the most ancient… Continue reading
Rwandan Coffee: When time is money, custom coffee cargo bikes are a farmer’s best friend
April 19, 2008
Once a coffee cherry is harvested, the bean inside the cherry swiftly begins to degrade. Within 7 hours, fermentation substantially decreases the value of the farmer’s crop, effectively melting it from premium product to c-list dregs as minutes pass. It’s an agricultural version of “24″ without the standoffs and screaming into cell phones - instead there are big bags loaded with coffee cherries and 5 miles of dicey roads between the… Continue reading
SPREAD, Rwanda: Coffee awakens a national economy
April 19, 2008
In a world of large scale coffee production, coffee farming in Rwanda has always been a very personal endeavor.
Introduced by the Germans in the 1900s, coffee in Rwanda is cultivated on small, family run farms where coffee plant counts average in the low hundreds, but for decades, the Rwandan coffee market had been state run and coffee was sent into local markets with very little in the way of quality… Continue reading
Shyorongi, Rwanda: Environmental education off the grid
April 18, 2008
The following day, Francoise took us up into the mountains north of Kigali, to Stella in the community of Shyorongi, Matutina Secondary School,
Walking the school property, practicality blended with beauty… rows of bright green cabbages, carefully crafted gravel pathways, prolific groves of banana trees, healthy cows… and students who were benefiting from exposure to simple, common sense technologies that would be considered edgy in the western world.
There’s no education like… Continue reading
Kigali, Rwanda: Urban sustainability projects 101
April 18, 2008
We step out into a bright morning in Rwanda’s capital city of Kigali to meet Francoise Kayigamba, national coordinator of the GEF Small Grants Program that focuses on community based projects, managed by the UNDP (United Nations Development Program). Francoise takes us to Nyakabanda, a low income suburb of Kigali where city garbage is the proverbial straw spun… Continue reading