INSPIRED
SUSTAINABLE
SIMPLICITY
DESIGN
Our lodges are always found in unique places, whether a tranquil lagoon in the Okavango Delta, a pan in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve or in the cool shadow of a granite kopje in the vast Miombo woodlands of northern coastal Mozambique, each with their own sense of place.
To amplify and complement these special places we have retained the professional services of one of the world’s leading signature architects, Mr. Kengo Kuma of KKAA. We believe that his vision, skill and talents will engender new forms and elicit new experiences in the African bush, and we are both honoured and excited to host his first project in Africa, in the Okavango Delta in Botswana.
KKAA’s designs introduce a new sustainable integration of architecture, materials and design in service to a sense of place.
“The experience that I had in the Okavango Delta was unforgettable. I learned for the first time the overwhelming power of the earth, and the fact that the earth itself is a living thing. I saw that the earth is indeed a living creature, and that it drinks water and breathes the air. It wakes up in the morning, and goes to sleep at night. The various animals pay close attention to the mood of the earth which is a huge creature, carefully listening to the heartbeat of the earth while they live on it. Naturally, I also focused my eyes on the delicate movements, pulsations and breathing of the earth, and carefully listened to the sounds that it makes. This also seemed like the first time that I truly realized that human beings are living things. This led to the natural desire to transform this realization into architecture. All of the animals that live on the large living thing called the Okavango Delta, as well as people, love this living creature and are in awe of it. Any structure here must respect and revere this huge living thing. The maximum effort must be made to do no harm to the earth and minimize the impact on the environment. The ultimate goal is to have the building blend with, and disappear into, the Okavango Delta.”
Kengo Kuma
