From Table Mountain to Cambodia, Capetonian Stephen Lamb will be taking the skills and experience he acquired when building the Hoerikwaggo Trail camps to the remote forests of Asia where he will establish an eco-lodge for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Lamb, who left on Friday for a four-week "recce" of Cambodia's Mondulkiri region near the Vietnamese border, said he was told that recent heavy rains meant the area was inaccessible by vehicle, even four-wheel drives.
"So we'll be travelling by elephant. Apparently that's the only way to travel in the monsoon season, or whenever there are heavy rains. I'm really excited about this sharing experience globally, and about the whole idea of setting up a blue-print for eco-tourism that really puts into practice the concept of touching the earth lightly," Lamb said.
Lamb, the project manager, will be joined by Mike Schroeder, the architect who worked with Lamb in establishing Table Mountain National Park's Hoerikwaggo tented camps at Orange Kloof, Silvermine and Slangkop.
Lamb, who left on Friday for a four-week "recce" of Cambodia's Mondulkiri region near the Vietnamese border, said he was told that recent heavy rains meant the area was inaccessible by vehicle, even four-wheel drives.
"So we'll be travelling by elephant. Apparently that's the only way to travel in the monsoon season, or whenever there are heavy rains. I'm really excited about this sharing experience globally, and about the whole idea of setting up a blue-print for eco-tourism that really puts into practice the concept of touching the earth lightly," Lamb said.
Lamb, the project manager, will be joined by Mike Schroeder, the architect who worked with Lamb in establishing Table Mountain National Park's Hoerikwaggo tented camps at Orange Kloof, Silvermine and Slangkop.
| 'So we'll be travelling by elephant...' |
"This is apparently an amazing area, called the Srekop Wilderness, half a million hectares of forest which still has Bengal tigers, leopard and Asian elephant. It is still pretty much untouched, mainly because of the war.
"WWF Cambodia want to have an eco-lodge for responsible tourism, so the focus will be on establishing renewable energy at the camp, setting up systems for dealing with the disposal of waste and so on. It will also be on making conservation issues relevant to the livelihoods of the local people," Lamb said.
The plan is to set up energy from a small-scale hydro-electric plant on a river. Before deciding where the camp will go, Lamb and Schroeder will explore the banks of the river by boat and by elephant to find the most suitable site. All the structures will be built off the ground and connected by elevated walkways.
Lamb says the area is now cleared of land mines.
"WWF Cambodia want to have an eco-lodge for responsible tourism, so the focus will be on establishing renewable energy at the camp, setting up systems for dealing with the disposal of waste and so on. It will also be on making conservation issues relevant to the livelihoods of the local people," Lamb said.
The plan is to set up energy from a small-scale hydro-electric plant on a river. Before deciding where the camp will go, Lamb and Schroeder will explore the banks of the river by boat and by elephant to find the most suitable site. All the structures will be built off the ground and connected by elevated walkways.
Lamb says the area is now cleared of land mines.
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