Skal Awards Video
A film from Simien Lodge in the Simien Mountains, Ethiopia. In 2016, Simien Lodge won first place in the Skal International Responsible Tourism Awards. Here is the video that went with the nomination.
In 2016, Simien Lodge won first place in the Skal International Responsible Tourism Awards. This is the film that went with the lodge's nomination. In 2015 the lodge had already come second in Skal's Sustainable Tourism Awards, in the rural accommodation category.
Skal International is an affiliate member of the World Tourism Organization, and its awards recognise tourism that benefits nature, cultural heritage and local communities. The lodge's entry rests on work you can see on this site: solar heating and solar hot water for the rooms, and projects with the villages around the park (community projects).
Those projects include a 25-seat bus for local people, the Simien Walia 10k race in Debark, fuel-saving stoves, a water well for Miligebsa (water well), school desks and benches (school projects) and a cataract microscope now used at the eye hospital in Gondar. The lodge also helped plant 7,000 trees. To see the lodge for yourself, view the rooms.