We're building Gwango Elephant Lodge

Jun 01, 2014

Greetings friends,

The forest around us here in Hwange is transforming from vibrant greens to a rustic palette of dry season colours.  As the weather is changing, so is the wildlife and elephant activity near Gwango Elephant Lodge.

Evenings here are livened by powerful elephant rumbles, sly hooping calls of hyenas, and the occasional "sawing" sound of leopard nearby. We see zebras, kudu, impala, baboons and other species here on most days, but it's been an exciting time to see even more elephants approaching the pan at sunset than earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, May has been a busy month for us at Gwango. Our team in the bush has grown to almost 30 builders, a plumber, a carpenter and several new lodge staff, mostly hired from communities surrounding Gwango.

As a team, we began the month with what seemed like an insurmountable goal of erecting a brand new main building, complete with a dining room, kitchen and a fireside lounge. And -- to round off our list of projects for the month, we have built an impressive stone fire pit near the front of the lodge.

It's been an unbelievable experience!  Thanks to the Gwango team's hard work - our main building has been fully constructed, except for some thatch work to finish off the roof.  We are also adding an impressive firebrick oven, which will be a unique feature of our open kitchen. We can almost smell the aroma of fresh breads, scones and pastries!

While construction was fully underway, we took some time to dust ourselves off for a trip to Durban in South Africa, for Indaba.. Africa's largest travel show. 

It was great to see so many other exhibitors from Zimbabwe at Indaba, and we were proud to be there presenting Gwango to tour operators from around the world. 

At Indaba, we also had a chance to meet briefly with Zimbabwe's Minister of Tourism and Hospitality, Hon. Walter Mzembi, as well as key representatives from the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).  

A huge thank you to everyone for your support. We are all set to start planning your next safari holiday and we can't wait to see you in Hwange soon.

Cheers for now,
Elisabeth