What is sustainability? Sustainability is meeting your own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The principles of sustainability are the foundations of what this concept represents. It is known that sustainability consists of the following three pillars; the economy, society and the environment. 

Otjiwa are taking small steps to reach our big goal of one day being entirely self sustainable. We do belief the words of Robert Swan that “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it” – Therefore we are taking measures to be the change that we want to see in the world.

At the moment we have some measures in place of how we contribute to the 3 pillars of sustainability – but we have many dreams and plans for the near future.

– Keep wildlife wild. This is one of our major missions at Otjiwa. Everyone loves the sighting of wild animals and their magnificent beauty up close, but we like to keep our wildlife wild. We do everything for guests to experience the African wilderness as it naturally is, so we keep our animals roaming freely in our 10 000ha reserve.

– We reduce our plastic waste, by providing re-usable glass water bottles for our guest in their rooms during their stay. We also sell our homemade iced tea in glass bottles – which are re-usable.

– Alternative activities, other than game drives, reduce the negative impact that driving have on the environment. We have a wide variety of options like horseback riding, guided bicycle tours, as well as guided game walks. These activities provide guests the opportunity to experience the Namibian wildlife in an amazing way, but with a lower negative impact on the environment.

– Our biggest project at the moment is our production of fresh produce on the reserve. We grow a lot of our greens and fresh products ourselves. We have an herb and fruit tree garden as well as a greenhouse where a lot of our vegetables are grown. This reduce the carbon footprint that transportation have and also reduce our plastic usage as most vegetable bought at local supermarkets comes with plastic packaging. We have a wide variety of fresh vegetables and fruit trees, we grow micro greens and herbs and our chefs harvest these products daily. This also ensures that our guest are served the most delicious and fresh foods. We have many more projects in the pipeline and would love to share it with you as they grow. Like us on social media and visit our website regularly for updates regarding sustainability and other amazing projects and stories about Otjiwa.