Mida Ecocamp is eco-friendly. Which means…
Our biggest aim is to make sure the people in Mida are having an acceptable standard of life. At the same time there should be no negative effect
on nature or people there.
THE PEOPLE OF MIDA
In our two years in Africa we have seen a lot of places spoilt by tourists. It is in our greatest intention, that this doesn’t happen in Mida. On our
notice-board in the office we ask tourists not to hand out sweets or money to children or pay over-priced fees for goods and services. If they would
like to help the people and children, they can purchase school-uniforms or give a donation for a cause of their choice. We are more than happy to
assist tourists in any decision making in connection with giving a donation and will make sure that the intended recipient receives it. Mida Ecocamp
is looking after the community as a whole.
SOLAR POWER
By powering refrigerator and lights in kitchen and toilet/shower with a solar system, there is no need for electricity. There is no electricity in the
whole of Mida, which definitely adds to its charm. There are millions of stars in the sky and at full-moon, the sand reflects the light and the huts
throw shadows.
Our Bar/Restaurant is lit by kerosene lights and candles only, with the hope in high tourists seasons the kerosene can be replaced with an eco-
friendlier natural version. The courtyard is lit by a large campfire.
WATER
The water is pretty clean in the Watamu/Mida Creek area (cleaner than in most places in the UK, the local guidebook claims). But still, for drinking
water we offer guests sealed bottled water. Empty bottles left in the camp are given to children in the village, who use them to collect water. All our
other drink bottles are passed back to the supplier.
For our and the guests waste water in the camp we built a septic tank. The water from the eight separate showers on the overland-truck campsite
can be re-used for growing more demanding plants as bananas one day.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Other then directly employing people, we try to involve as many locals as possible in the running and profit of the camp. It started with building the
camp, when we bought all possible materials from the locals. This includes the mekuti, the ladies would make for the roofs, the casurinas for poles
and the dead, but yet for building suitable coconut-palms.
The support goes on by buying food stock from local small farmers and it opens a new market for them, they still have to adjust to. Anything is
farmed organic here. We are not farming ourselves, as this way a larger range of locals can be involved. We want people to learn how to improve
quality and quantity of their crops, one of the projects planned from the camp's profits. This will help to feed their own families and also sell
products to the camp or across the camp's borders.
At the moment locals supply limes, coconuts, fish and calamari, milk from their cows, and the old ladies are making charcoal for us. Most of our
recipes are the traditional Giriama ones, which are based on these ingredients. .
WASTE
The waste is a minimum considering that packaging as sacks or bottles come of high value and vegetables are packed in newspaper. The little
waste, we do have, gets burned about 100 metres away from the camp.
CONSERVATION
See Conservation & People
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