Noka Camp and Melote House, two luxury lodges forming part of the Lepogo Lodges group, are offering guests a new set of carbon journey offset options.
Located in South Africa’s Lapalala Wilderness Reserve, Lepogo calculates its guests’ offset figures from the moment they leave home until the minute they return, converting this into money that is then donated to one of three local conservation or community projects chosen by the individual guest, reports euronews.com.
One of the most successful community projects is the Community Stove Programme, which provides stoves and wood to local communities.
In 2019, Lepogo supported a cheetah reintroduction programme at Lapalala Wilderness. Additionally, the lodges have also donated to anti-poaching and habitat restoration projects for animals, including African wild dogs, cheetahs, buffalo and Black rhinos.
Lepogo prioritises creating employment opportunities for local communities, and its staff largely consist of locals. Another offsetting project accumulates funding for the training, career progression and qualification of their employees and local people.
The lodges also donate to Kamatsogo Craft Art, an empowerment project that employs women and trains them to make, market, and sell hand-crafted products.
“Lepogo Lodges was born from a desire to leave a conservation legacy, protecting endangered animals and land for future generations. Having pledged to be not-for-profit to enable this, we purposefully set our lodges to be a testament to luxury and sustainability,” Lepogo Operations Director, Kate Hughes, told euronews.com.
