Restaurant Moribane

Ndzou Camp will offer a small daily menu with a few favourites and a range of seasonal specials. Expect dishes such as Guinea Fowl with forest herbs, Mixed Bean Casserole, Goat & Root Vegetable Curry alongside the essential grilled chicken and chips and other standbys.

We want our breakfasts to be remembered. A simple breakfast of seasonal fruit, bread and homemade preserves, along with juice and tea or coffee is included in the price of all fixed accommodation. However, for a small supplement we can offer natural yoghurt with homemade museli, and a range of cooked options. Breakfast is a key meal, especially if you’re leaving on a long journey, and the Ndzou breakfast will not disappoint.
To be honest, we expect most people to be out and about over lunch, perhaps walking in the forest, and we will be ready to provide packed lunches for day trips. For those guests who want lunch we will have the daily menu along with a range of sandwiches (fresh and toasted), home-made soup and salads.
In the evenings, the forest changes character. Picture dinner in the Restaurant Moribane at night: deep in the forest, lit with lanterns and subtle solar light. A fire glows in the fire pit. An owl hoots and bats swoop down low, and all around is the living breathing forest with its orchestra of insects and wind-played leaves.

Ndzou is a small camp so we can’t run an extensive menu. Instead, we aim for quality and interest: dishes with as much local produce as possible (MICAIA Foundation is working with local people to help them plan this production), and dishes that reflect the traditions of the area. We’re exploring how to introduce local leaves, herbs and fruit into our dishes, but we’ll always be able to offer simple well-grilled marinated chicken and other classics.

If we know you’re coming, we’ll also be happy to discuss with you in advance any specific dietary needs you might have or, in the case of groups or large families, to plan a menu and make sure we have the produce we need.

Khaya

Nestled further into the forest with views across to the Chimanimani Mountains, there is our bar Khaya, though ‘bar’ is a bit of an overstatement! In reality it’s a fire pit and brai with a serving area from which Ndzou staff will offer drinks in the evening, particularly at weekends or when the Camp is busy. Watching the sun set from Mpangapanga with a cold beer in hand is a great way to end the day.

Conferences

Ndzou Camp doesn’t have a specific conference room, but the Camp is an ideal place for team building, planning and other small group workshops. The main dining ‘matchesa’ is an airy cool place for the main meeting during the day and the forest offers endless opportunities for ‘breakout rooms’ under a shady tree. Please contact us to discuss availability, options and rates.

Nature trails

Within the inner boundary of the camp there is ample forest cover to offer short walks and to focus in particular on offering entirely safe learning opportunities for younger visitors. The nature trails incorporate marked tree species (with checklist), bird and animal feeding stations (also encouraged by careful planting), and a checklist of things regularly seen in the area – including butterflies, fungus, common insects, specific plants etc.

Moribane Forest Learning Centre

This facility will be at the heart of Ndzou Camp, and will enable visitors to gain an understanding of the culture and society of the area as well as its biodiversity. Key features of the Learning Centre will include:

Permanent displays

(photo boards, information panels) introducing the area, its cultural and social history, its biodiversity and its economic life, as well as wider issues of relevance including

• climate change
• Interactive displays on conservation and sustainable living
• Audio visual presentation facility
• The Moribane Herbarium
• A small library of relevant guides and studies
• Trained cultural and conservation ‘guides’ from the community available to talk with visitors
• A special feature of the Learning Centre will be the Forest Craft Workshops.

Children’s Adventure Playground

Using the natural ‘equipment’ provided in the forest we will create a safe area in which children can enjoy ‘adventurous’ play.

Ndzou Community Market

Held to coincide with larger groups or at weekends, the Community Market will be an opportunity for visitors to meet local food and craft producers.

For many people the main attraction at Ndzou Camp is the opportunity to track the forest elephants, and there are few thrills quite as spine-tingling as first hearing the mighty animals cracking branches as they feed and then glimpsing the elephant just metres away through the trees.

Ndzou Camp’s trained guides know the forest intimately and they can usually find the elephants. Of course, tracking elephants on foot is not without risk, and visitors are asked to sign a disclaimer, but the guides will only take you where it’s safe. Another option is to go to one of the viewing platforms in the forest that Ndzou Camp is building with the community. These platforms are being placed in parts of the forest known to be regular feeing or resting places for the elephants.

As wonderful as they are, the Moribane elephants are not the only attraction and Ndzou Camp offers many more activities for all the family:

Themed forest walks

Extending the idea of nature trails, we are developing several themed forest walks following maintained paths and covering 3km-6km. The themed walks include:

• The Healing Forest – learning about medicinal plants
• The Magical Forest – learning about myths and legends
• The Nurturing Forest – learning about food from the forest for people, other mammals and birds

Each walk will be supported by an information sheet and map with lists of species to look for and other points of interest. Numbered trees and information boards will encourage visitors to stop and either read their information sheet or listen to the guide.

Bird-watching

There is ample interest in Moribane for serious ornithologists as well as keen amateurs. Several knowledgeable local guides are available. Some of the birds seen regularly in the forest include the Narina Trogon, the Silver-Cheeked Hornbill, and Crested Eagle. Trails take visitors into different parts of the forest, but the guides will also know nesting areas and other places where particular species are regularly seen. For the general visitor keen to learn more about birds, the Camp will have binoculars and books available.

Sacred sites

The Mpunga community, guardians of the Moribane forest and our partners in Ndzou Camp, have many sacred sites in the forest. Some of these are so important that only a handful of elders know of their location. Others are better known and visited more regularly, and on certain days and at specific times the community will be prepared to guide visitors to some of these sacred sites. Strict adherence to the community’s rituals is essential, but these visits are a privilege and we can promise you an enriching experience.

Hiking

Although we have the themed forest trails, there are some 10,000 hectares of forest in the Mpunga area, so you have lots to explore! The forest is home to the elephants so you do need to be careful and to go out with a guide, but if you fancy a longer hike then the options range from a full day trek to several days walking between Ndzou Camp and the highlands of the Chimanimanis.

Forest Craft Workshops

These weekend workshops will combine contextual learning with practical skills development. Workshop topics could include:

• Making and using bows and arrows
• Basket weaving
• Pottery
• Herbal medicine

Please contact us for information about the schedule of workshops as well as rates. Advance booking is essential.

Above Tracking elephants with a local guide

Above Great sighting of a forest elephant

Elephants are a key attraction of Ndzou Camp, but also its biggest challenge.

The Moribane elephant population has caused extensive damage to farms and livelihoods, and ultimately forced people to move from forest areas. Although this can be seen positively in terms of protecting the forest reserve, it has not improved the relationships between people and elephants! The development of Ndzou Camp can be seen as the first serious intervention with a practicable means of tackling the human-wildlife conflict in Moribane, especially when MICAIA’s complementary work on agriculture and natural product development in the area is taken into account.

The challenges of living with elephants are obvious. Supremely powerful, extremely intelligent, and in the same measure playful and quick-tempered, elephants are – according to the experts we have consulted – the least manageable of all mammals. In the research for this development, we consulted two elephant experts both of whom have worked with elephants in the context of Gorongosa National Park and elsewhere: Dr Carlos Lopez Perreira (Chief Veterinary Officer and Director of Conservation at the Park) and Dr Robert Zolho (Director, Africa Wildlife Foundation).

Understanding the elephants

Our essential starting point is to build up and maintain a thorough understanding of the elephants’ behaviour, movement and numbers. The importance of understanding the elephants and their movement cannot be overstated. It is not simply for the protection of the Camp (see below) but also for the protection and assistance of visitors wanting to walk in the forest either to see or avoid the elephants. We have a specialist working with MICAIA through 2010 to help us and the community learn more about the elephants

Security

As an eco-camp, we do not want Ndzou to be surrounded by tall electric fences, and we know that in many other parts of Africa, either in the context of national parks or reserves, camps exist in the wild without fencing of any type. However, the Moribane elephants are not at all comfortable living with people, and whilst over time it might be possible (through careful land management, planting and water management) to encourage the elephants to avoid the Camp, in the short term we need to have some form of security. The Ndzou site is close to the road and also on one side has an inaccessible steep rocky incline, but on the other sides the site is accessible to elephants. Local people state that elephants do regularly visit the area, but the site is not on a regular transit route for the elephants – critical because such routes are not easy to change. Despite the apparently infrequent incursions into the proposed site by elephants, one incursion can be more than enough in terms of damage to facilities and reputation, so security is essential.

The physical security plan developed for the Camp consists of:

• Water management and planting of favoured food crops away from the Camp zone, with further planting to route the elephants away from the Camp
• Extensive planting of Chilli plants to create a buffer zone around the outer boundary of the Camp
• Use and accentuation of natural barriers between the inner and outer boundaries of the Camp (large boulders, gullies that can be extended into deep trenches)
• Clearing of known food trees and other food sources around the inner boundary
• Further planting of chilli plants outside of the inner boundary of the Camp
• Installation of a 4-cable electric fence (powered by solar) along the inner boundary of the Camp

In addition to the physical security measures, there will be trained guards (armed with pepper sprays) on watch day and night, and an emergency plan including an appropriate alarm system and roster point.

Elephants and the community

It is important to note that elephants continue to cause major problems for the community in the Moribane area, destroying crops and damaging property. MICAIA is working with the community on zoning and management planning, with the aim of clarifying and firming agricultural and settlement zones outside of the conservation area. Linked to these measures will be efforts to use natural barriers against the elephants including placement of beehives (elephants don’t like bees and remember areas where they were stung) and wide planting of chilli plants.

Moribane Forest is a 120 square kilometre forest reserve established in 1957, though its current status is a little unclear since the promulgation of the 2007 Forest Law.

Moribane Forest is also part of a larger band of forest totalling some 40,000 hectares. Much of the total forest area (but not all) is within the buffer zone of the Chimanimani Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), and as a result there have as yet been no forest concessions granted for the area.

The forests are rich in biodiversity with many endemic species of plants and butterflies. There is a significant population of elephant and other large mammals.

This vast forest is of critical importance in ecological terms and its effective conservation should be a priority. However, the forest and its immediate surrounds is also home to a population of several thousand people. These people are in the main extremely poor if poverty is measured in terms of household income. Services, especially for the communities further into the forest away from the road, are limited or non-existent. Within the forest communities people subsist by establishing small farms, planting a mix of food and cash crops (including banana). The encroachment of farms, especially banana plantations, is a problem particularly in the forest

People can and do live harmoniously in and around forests. MICAIA’s belief is that effective conservation is a partnership between people and their surrounding environment. Our priority is people. We aim to enable people to build strong local economies and healthy vibrant communities, and we know that for most people a healthy community is one that exists in a healthy sustainable living environment.

Community, social and environmental impact
The core principle behind the Ndzou Camp development is that the Camp should create as much benefit as possible for the people living in and around the forest, and that this benefit should be sustainable.

Moreover, the benefits created should not only be economic, but should also include increased skills and knowledge, greater confidence (that can have knock-on effects for people), enhanced local services, and a net positive impact on the local environment.

Economic benefits

The most important point about Ndzou Camp is that it is 60% owned by the community. This is very unusual in Africa, but it means that if Ndzou Camp is successful then the community will receive 60% of the profits. All money received by the community will go into its Community Fund and will be used to invest in new services and facilities in the community.

Individuals and families will also benefit directly.

Employment In the short-term, at least 30 local people will be trained to work as employees of Ndzou Camp. This will include a core local staff team of 2 full-time and 28 part-time workers.

Guides In addition to the employees of the Camp, there is a team of six walking guides and four mountain bike guides.

New markets For food producers, crafts workers and shopkeepers the development of Ndzou Camp offers important new markets.

Social benefits

Ndzou Camp will inevitably have wider impact on peoples’ lives. We and our community partner are committed to ensuring that this impact is positive.

New skills and knowledge will be useful in peoples’ lives away from the Camp.

Reinforcing and valuing local culture Properly managed, engagement with local culture including sacred sites can help a community protect and maintain these vital roots of community life

Environmental benefits

As an eco-camp, Ndzou is designed to have a positive net impact on the social and physical/natural environment. Ndzou Camp has been designed to require only strictly limited changes to the current landscape. Construction is low-key and entirely in keeping with the area. Careful landscaping, including appropriate planting, should increase the biodiversity of the immediate forest area within the Camp. By helping create a more harmonious environment in which people and elephants can co-exist, the long-term future of the elephants is more secure. Ndzou Camp’s Environment Policy gives more details on all aspects of the Camp’s approach.

Forest conservation will include a programme of forest regeneration, focused on encouraging re-growth of indigenous trees lost in past fires and cyclones or cut for farms now closed by agreement of the community.

Environmental education through the Moribane Learning Centre both for local people and visitors will increase understanding of the Forest, its biodiversity and the risks it faces.