Eco Policies
The health of the body, your community and the environment are inter-related. Wildfitness wants to be part of moving towards greater health not just in the body but also to expand this to the surrounding community and the planet. Click here for a guest blog that Tara has written on 'Fitness as a statement of responsibility to the earth'.
We choose to hire venues for our courses in location that are proactive about their environmental responsiblity. Kenya is a permenant location for us and below are our key policies:
Local Community
• Where ever possible we prioritise employing local staff and this includes many local contract staff as well as permanent staff. We are currently training four local trainers and send our senior staff on annual training courses.
• Wildfitness ensures that the wage provides a high standard of living for the area and enough to cover school fees for two children. This is not equivalent to salaries in many countries abroad but is well above minimum wages in Kenya and those in equivalent industries. We also provide medical support to our staff.
Conservation
• Wildfitness gives a monthly donation to Watamu Turtle Watch, as well as being a member of the Watamu Marine Association.
• Everytime a guest enters one of Watamu’s parks or reserves (on average 3 times / week) $15 is paid on their behalf to the parks. This amounts to around $1500 a month to the local parks depending on the number of guests.
• At other key locations in our training schedule we contribute to the local communities each time we use them.
Energy, Water & Waste
•In Baraka House we have energy-saving light bulbs, salt-water flushing toilets and hot water is turned on twice daily (mornings and evenings) to save on energy.
• Most of our activities are outdoors so the need for power and fuel is relatively small.
• We have a compost system so that all biodegradable waste can be used in the garden.
•Everything we buy is transported in baskets or re-useable paper sacks - we do not use plastic bags.
•We re-cycle our plastic, tins and glass. Plastic goes to a re-cycling collection point at Turtle Bay resort. Tins and glass are taken to Malindi and given to local people who can sell them to recycling companies.
• We filter our own water and have re-useable bottles. Even the big 20 litre plastic water bottles (e.g. on the veranda and at the Pool House) are retained and re-filled.
Local Sourcing
• Wildfitness sources its food locally and organically where possible (where produce has to come from further afield it is transported by road not air).
• We choose our local produce carefully, for example our crabs are only bought if they are over a certain size so as not to take out the young population.
Travel
• We offer a free transfer from Mombasa for anyone choosing to take the train from Nairobi to Mombasa. We also recommend that you do one long-haul holiday a year (come on the longer courses) and that you carbon neutralise your flights: www.carbonneutral.com/shop
Wildfitness abides by the policies of www.responsibletravel.com
