andBeyond Klein’s Camp

andBeyond Klein’s Camp consists of just ten intimate cottages made of local stone and makuti thatch, with rich wooden floors and classic interiors, delivering an atmospheric touch. Each cottage comes complete with an en-suite bathroom and private veranda, where guests can marvel at extraordinary views down the valley while sipping on your favourite drink from your own personal bar.

Amenities Include:

• En-suite Bathroom
• Triple or twin beds
• Private veranda
• Indoor shower
• Mosquito nets
• Mini bar
• Hairdryer
• Safe
• 220V AC (plug points in rooms), Plug type G British
• Complimentary WIFI

The Klein’s Camp family cottage is an airy and atmospheric unit that can comfortably accommodate up to 2 adults and 2 children (up to 3 children on request), comprising twin cottages interlinked by a protected walkway which allows easy access between the two, ensuring complete privacy. Each cottage has an en-suite bathroom and private veranda with breath-taking views over the surrounding hills and the valley below.

Amenities Include:

• En-suite Bathroom
• Triple or twin beds
• Private veranda
• Indoor shower
• Mosquito nets
• Mini bar
• Hairdryer
• Safe
• 220V AC (plug points in rooms), Plug type G British
• Complimentary WIFI

Residing within a private concession gives flexibility in terms of dining venues. Tuck into a delectable array of fresh produce and enjoy your meals at the dining room, bar area or the privacy of your veranda or out on the concession. With all-inclusive rates, you’re free to indulge in a range of locally sourced alcoholic and none-alcoholic beverages until your heart’s content. Dining is a sumptuous affair, comprising a mix of locally inspired flavours and classic crowd pleasers, with three meals served throughout the day, with the evening meal offering a deliciously prepared three-course meal for you to enjoy before relaxing beneath the stars at an atmospheric fire-pit.

The camp has a large, beautifully furnished bar and sitting area, graced by a large open fireplace. The spectacular view over the Klein’s valley and the social hub of the camp, make this a good place to spend an afternoon, playing board games, reading a book, or sipping on a cocktail or cappuccino.

Dining is by no means limited to the indoors. You’re free to enjoy a sumptuous evening feast beneath pristine night skies for a star-lit dinner to remember, offering a unique dining experience that’ll serve as the highlight of any guests stay.

Embark for the vibrant and fertile plains of the Serengeti in open 4×4 safari vehicles for a game viewing experience of a lifetime. Seasoned guides, familiar with the land and wildlife will lead you through the expansive landscape in search of wild game. Keep your eyes peeled for lion, rhino, buffalo, cheetah, and leopard, among other staple safari favourites throughout the 10,000-hectare wildlife concession. Alternatively, night drives add new layers of depth to the safari game viewing experience, allowing you to view the abundance of nocturnal creatures such as aardvark, white-tailed mongoose, serval, caracal, large spotted genet, and curious bush babies that rise in the night to hunt for food.

The Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is one of Africa’s Endemic Bird Areas, featuring over 500 exotic species waiting for you to discover. Bird watching in the Serengeti is phenomenal year-round, but at its absolute best during November through April. Not only is this when European and North African migratory birds are present, but it is also nesting time for resident species. Keep your eyes peeled for the likes of the black-headed gonolek, Fischer’s lovebird and Verreaux’s eagle.

Experience a day in the life of an authentic Maasai on a village drive. Visit a boma not far from the camp to gain an understanding of the impact of the western world on this traditional culture. You will experience a small taste of Maasai culture on your drives by merely speaking to your guide. Incredibly warm and friendly, this lodge inspires interaction and understanding between cultures and serves to educate guests and locals alike through cultural exchange.

For those with a deep interest in the Maasai traditions and their ancient way of living, you can visit an authentic boma or take the opportunity to visit a local community, school, and clinic, all while receiving an enriching insight into the real challenges and success of contemporary Maasai life.

For all those seeking an authentic, grass-roots great plains safari excursion, a guided bush walk will allow you to soak up the intricacies of nature while traversing the land at a more intimate and leisurely pace than is applicable with other modes of safari game viewing. Watch birds, explore a dry riverbed, walk in the footsteps of zebra or giraffe, sit in stillness in the shade of an ancient tree, unravel the stories behind animal tracks or simply stretch your legs. The choice is yours.

andBeyond offers a host of entertaining activities for children aged 3–12 years old. Whilst on a family safari, you can rest assured knowing that your children will always be safe and well cared for (both during activities and back at the lodge). Children visiting the lodge can take advantage of the fun-filled and engaging WILDchild programme where children may participate in a range of activities such as baking in the kitchen with lodge chefs, identifying tracks with camp rangers, bug-finding missions, fishing, lily-necklace making and educational star gazing excursions. Younger guests can also enjoy taking part in a Maasai obstacle course combining spear throwing, bow shooting and fire making the Maasai way.

Since 1991, andBeyond’s company ethos has been “Care of the Land, Wildlife & People.” Always looking for ways to contribute to wildlife spaces and local communities and reducing their environmental impact, without compromising the guest experience. Each of their lodges have a “sustainability champion” who looks for ideas “to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, recycling initiatives, conservation awareness drives, water efficiency, addressing erosion and re-greening.” Exclusive experiences are created for guests whilst showing lasting benefits which are meaningful for the communities around their camps and the natural environment. Currently andBeyond have 59 awards recognising their sustainability impact.

andBeyond protects endangered land and marine species in the areas they operate, and they focus on at least 3 endangered species in each area. In Botswana they support the Rhinos Without Borders initiative which so far has translocated 87 rhinos from South Africa to Botswana to keep them safe from poachers. They also help maintain biodiversity by actively managing the wildlife populations in the areas they operate. To help care for the wildlife andBeyond educate local communities in conservation, over 18,000 lessons on conservation have been taught.

andBeyond understands that to protect the land they operate on they need to implement eco-friendly and sustainable initiatives. One of the aims is to reduce their direct carbon footprint by 8%, so far all of andBeyond lodges have been audited with an average sustainability score of 88% – which includes andBeyond Klein’s Camp. Another way they are caring for the land is by resourcing and using their water sustainably, 96% of lodges use water sourced from water bottling plants and they are currently 85 litres/head better than their target of 500 l/head. A target for andBeyond is zero plastic water bottles through their camps, and so far, 740,000 plastic water bottles have been eliminated per year.

andBeyond “Maximise their localised shared value opportunities through economic benefit, capacity building and social service infrastructure.” They have created 101 jobs in the communities they operate within, offering life changing opportunities to local people. Through social service infrastructure initiatives 56,000 people from local communities now have access to clean water through water access sites and 4724 Hippo Water Rollers, which assist in the transportation of water. To date, over 532 school students have been provided with an opportunity for higher education in 285 new or renovated classrooms.

andBeyond has 23,763 hectares of conservation land under their care, meaning that all of this land, and the nature that inhabits it, is protected. andBeyond is also working with Great Plains Conservation for their collaborative project, Rhinos Without Borders. On average, one rhino is killed every eight hours by ivory seeking poachers. To help combat this, Rhinos Without Borders relocate rhinos from high-risk poaching areas in South Africa to Botswana’s wilderness areas. At present, Rhinos Without Borders has been able to translocate 93 rhinos, who as a result will be far safer from poachers.

andBeyond recognises the threat posed to the world’s oceans and marine resources. Efforts to combat the peril of ocean degradation have inspired a partnership with fellow bastion of ecological awareness, Africa Foundation. In addition to the over 3.6 million hectares (9 million acres) of protected wildlife sustained through the Care of the Wild initiative, andBeyond’s footprint now covers an additional 2000 km (1242 mi.) of African coastline, striving to conserve and enlarge Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

andBeyond seek to apply their trilogy philosophy to their marine operations in order to better care for/impart a positive ecological effect on the areas of ocean under their jurisdiction. This philosophy comprises Protecting Reefs, Protecting Marine Species and Community Empowerment, which have thus far, through the facilitation of partnerships with likeminded institutions, have proven initial levels of success and sets optimistic targets for future projects.

In addition to the benefits that come from land ownership, andBeyond has also provided employment for local residents. Their sustainable ecotourism model means that 78% of Klein’s Camp staff come directly from the surrounding communities, with 90% consisting of Maasai origin. This empowers local and indigenous peoples to support themselves financially and aids in the growth of local economies.

These close community ties have meant that development projects undertaken at andBeyond or their community development partner, Africa Foundation, have been particularly successful. Guest excursions to Maasai villages to learn more about the tribe and their culture also generate income for local communities, while the exquisite beadwork on sale at the andBeyond Klein’s Camp Safari Shop is also produced locally by two groups of women. Most of the vegetables served at the camp at mealtimes are sourced from the Klein’s shamba (vegetable garden), owned by a member of the local community.

Recognising the profoundly negative ecological effects that plastics pose to the environmental welfare of the sensitive ecosystems of Southern Africa, andBeyond have implemented ambitious measures prohibiting the use and importation of plastic bottles to all its properties – derived from the original target of installing water bottling plants at 100% of their lodges.

A target of reducing plastic water bottle usage by 90% was set for 2020, yet this figure was surpassed the year prior with a collective reduction of up to 99% spanning all andBeyond properties. In Southern Africa, all lodges utilise glass water bottles as opposed to plastic, reaping the many ecological and environmental benefits inherent to the change. Glass is 100% recyclable and has an unlimited recyclable life span, making it the most sustainable, if not logical alternative, posing an inherently smaller carbon footprint and environmental impact.

In line with andBeyond’s stance on ecological sustainability and streamlined efficiency mandate, there currently exists a wealth of initiatives and protocols designed to mediate the ecological impact on areas built upon and utilised for means of ecotourism. For instance, careful site selection ensures that the areas chosen for the construction of all andBeyond properties are compatible with the surrounding landscapes, ecosystems, and wildlife.

The implementation of repurposed and recycled construction materials greatly benefits the ecology of the land, negating the need to source and haul industrial quantities of lumber and other construction materials across vast distances through otherwise undisturbed ecosystems. Minimal foundations and excavations are achieved using steel frame structures atop the designated areas of construction, minimising the imprint on the immediate environment.

Energy efficiency is maintained through the architectural use of very wide eaves, covered external terraces, cross ventilation, and maximised insulation. Heat pumps have been used to heat the pools, with gas used for water heating to greatly reduce the carbon footprint. State-of-the-art wastewater and sewer treatment systems enable all wastewater to be effectively recycled for irrigation.

Above-ground wastewater treatment plants work on an environmentally friendly accelerated aerobic and anaerobic digestion process. Up to 57% of all andBeyond lodges now contain water treatment plants. Additionally, an ever-increasing number of andBeyond lodges have seen the installation of Hydraloop grey-water treatment systems, used to purify wastewater for gardens, irrigation, and cleaning solar panel banks.

At andBeyond Phinda Mountain Lodge, more accurate water measurement systems have been implemented to trial more efficient water management practices that hold the potential for wide-scale implementation across all andBeyond ecotourism destinations.

Innovative water management initiatives are being rolled out across a variety of andBeyond properties. This is achieved through identifying the locations that would best benefit from these cutting-edge installations and trialling solutions to assess viability for future rollouts in equally affected areas. andBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is currently testing an above-ground wastewater treatment system which will utilise laundry water to wash safari vehicles and flush staff toilets, saving 160 000 l (42 267 gallons) of water monthly. Proven successful, cutting-edge initiatives such as these are destined to be installed throughout all andBeyond properties, including Klein’s Camp.

All accommodation at andBeyond Klein’s Camp is constructed from sustainable materials such as local stone and makuti thatch. This approach offers many benefits. The utilisation of thatch as an insulator for the camp’s cottages ensures that internal temperatures are comfortable year-round, regardless of the extreme heat and cold of the climate. Additionally, using local stone in the construction process negates the need to haul vast quantities of construction materials long distances through ecologically sensitive areas, thereby posing less of a threat to indigenous wildlife populations.

andBeyond Klein’s Camp uses an inverter system for energy generation, so while the generator is switched off overnight; guests have electricity and power throughout the night. This cutting-edge system allows for reduced energy consumption, thereby resulting in a lesser dependence on conventional diesel-powered generators that are detrimental to the surrounding environment and ecosystems.