A dream came true

At the beginning, the building of a self-sufficient eco lodge was an idea that had subsequently been put in a concrete form thanks to a collective thinking of tourism experts of the Al Wadi Company. The Lodge was entirely planned and built with a commitment to ecological management.

Sustainable quality

Overlooking Dakhla Oasis, the lodge has 32 rooms in a quiet environment, away from the busy life of Cairo. The ecolodge offers to visitors an ecological pool, workshops such as painting, calligraphy and yoga and displays local products in their small “bazaar”. They also organise tours by mountain bikes and camel rides for the day: everything is conceived to respect the environment while providing high quality services.

Environment friendly, from the bed linen to the organic farm!

Local craftsmen have carried out the entire construction of the Lodge, using only local and natural materials.

As the issue of water and energy management is very important in this region, the energy of the lodge runs on hydroelectricity and solar systems and the water is heated using solar power. The lodge also drilled its own water, which contributed to fill the natural pool. The overflow is used for the farm of the lodge, where organic vegetables and fruits are grown. In order to reduce the huge amount of waste of plastic bottles and minimize transportation cost, tap water is filtered and offered to the guests in glass bottles. Even the bed linen is made of 100% cotton, grown in Egypt and the cleaning products are ecofriendly!

All of these efforts has enabled Desert Lodge to be the winner of the « Worldwide Hospitality Awards » in the category of « Sustainable Development » in 2011, among many other awards.

Involved in its community

Almost all of the staff members were hired from neighboring communities and the lodge works on capacity building and trained the staff to meet the standards of international customers. Desert Lodge also contributes to women’s empowerment by providing them skills training on handicrafts, sales and marketing.

To engage the youngest of the community, the Lodge carries out “Cleaning Day” twice a year, with the children from the local school. Together they clean the village and share stories. This contributes to make the children aware of their heritage and the importance of preserving it. The cleaning day ends with everyone being invited to the lodge and sharing a meal together.

Moreover, 3% of the net profit of the Lodge is allocated to educational and environmental projects for the benefit of the local community… A strong grass-root initiative, without any doubt!