Eco-Village

Ms Leach not only provided the loan for the project but contributed a further R250 000.00 for its construction. The remainder of the project loan has been funded by our White Lion conservation funds, which we hope to recoup.

The eco-village is constructed from environmentally sensitive and recyclable materials, using “green” building techniques. It was conceptualised and designed by Theuns Naude, owner of a Nelspruit based SME construction company, Umnumzane Builders, trading as Solar Green Projects. Solar Green Projects staff completed the first phase of the building to ensure structure integrity, after which they transferred construction skills to WLT staff who completed the village.

The village is based on self-sustainable principles in terms of energy consumption; waste management and re-use; water requirements; food production; and thermal insulation. Hundreds of orange bags were packed with soil and stacked to form walls. All timber for the village was sourced from sustainable FSC certified plantations.

The steel roofs were comparatively low in cost and will enable easy rain water collection for reuse for organic vegetable gardens. A refuse area with multiple bins encourage staff to separate refuse, with organic waste being used as compost for the vegetable gardens and other refuse, such as glass bottles, aluminium cans and recyclable plastic, being recycled. Non-returnable glass bottles have been incorporated in the window designs.

The design orientation, roof overhangs, ceiling insulation and cross ventilation minimise the need for artificial heating or cooling in the village. The village will centralise farm labourers on the reserve ahead of the next phase in our White Lion reintroduction program. After a year of acclimatizing in a protected sub-habitat, the pride of two adult lions and three cubs are ready for their release into the greater part of the reserve.

We are extremely proud of our farm labourers and we are grateful to Mr Naude and his staff for their dedication in transferring quality skills to our people. With our donors’ contributions and the dedication of the entire construction team, we were able to complete the village in under six months. Now that our people are safely centralised, we look forward to the next phase in our scientific White Lion reintroduction program.