I was chatting to an architect last week about the changing nature of design and environmentally friendly construction practices.  I mentioned that I had recently come back from a community lodge on the Wild Coast, where environmentally friendly practices meant that the lodge had – to all intents and purposes – zero impact on the environment.

I told her about the solar power that supplied the lights, the heat from gas and paraffin, the windmill just outside the lodge that generated further energy, the rocket showers and… “Are you talking about Bulungula Lodge?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied.  “Have you heard of it?”
“Everyone tells me I just have to go there,” she replied with a smile. And that, I think, sums up Bulungula.  It has gained a fanatical following among people who would like to experience something completely out of the ordinary, something primitive, yes but primitive in a way that teaches you something and really, really makes you think. As I said last week, I was on a tour of Fair Trade in Tourism product on the Wild Coast, and we had reached Bulungula Lodge. There is no road to the lodge: you follow a track that resembles a dried river bed until it peters out a few hundred metres from a collection of huts.  From a rough parking lot you carry your bags the rest of the way (and the locals would make a great deal of money if they offered a porter service over the ruts and mud instead of standing and watching you as you trudge by!).  The lodge itself is a collection of windswept huts overlooking a wide and sweeping estuary where dolphins swim by in regular pods. To say it is isolated would be understating the case somewhat. Rain is collected in tanks for water; the windmill and solar panels provide light, cooking is done over gas, the ablutions depend on natural composting (which is a delicate way of saying that your throne is a long-drop with two cups of sand thrown over the, er, business). The main talking point of the lodge is the rocket showers, which requires a great deal of explanation.  The shower consists of a long, thick, vertical pipe, with the water pipe running down the middle and the shower head at the top.  At the bottom is a cavity that holds just about half a cup of paraffin.  You pour the paraffin in the cavity, set fire to it, and then open the tap.  The water running up the pipe is heated by the paraffin, so you get exactly eight minutes of hot water while the paraffin lasts.  Not only does the pipe, supported by a tripod, look like a rocket, but when ignited it roars just like a space-ship about to take off. Apart from the novelty of living so close to nature (including roosters that start crowing under your window at 2am –take ear plugs), there is a good reason why Bulungula is the way it is: “The people who live here have almost nothing,” says manager, Dave Martin.  “We could have built a top-end lodge for visitors with all the amenities but it would so far out of the normal experience of the people who live here that they would not know how to run or maintain it (the lodge is 100% community-owned).  So we have started with something that is familiar to them:  the visitors stay in the same kind of huts that they do, they eat the same food, experience the same lifestyle.  Many people from the surrounding communities have started their own businesses to tap into the tourist trade: the traveller is getting a really authentic experience of Wild Coast life.  “Tourism products create employment,” continues Dave, “but employment is not empowerment.  The whole point of Bulungula is empowerment.” Bulungula thrives on word-of-mouth recommendations, and a steady stream of regular returns have given it almost a cult status.  Apart from the lodge itself, Dave and his family (his mother is a previous principal of Herschel College in Cape Town) have started several other initiatives.  There is an early-learning centre that can compare with any in the world, a lemongrass project, a vegetable garden, various tours and activities owned and run by villagers, excursions on foot, on horseback and in canoe – but no porters! One of the unique features of Bulungula is the bright and vibrant art-work that adorns every available surface.  Sometimes visitors pick up a brush, sometimes the local women paint and repaint, but the overall effect is cheerful and somewhat otherworldly. Bulungula ticks all the boxes for Fair Trade in Tourism, and if anyone is in any doubt about the development potential of tourism, Dave will say the following:  “There are about 100 households that derive a living from Bulungula.  Young women have fewer children because they have another focus in their lives.  Most of the villagers run their own businesses and make a decent living.  They have created pride in themselves.” And that’s what Fair Trade is all about.