Maputo National Park is a place of incredible beauty with its diverse range of habitats, flourishing wildlife and unique beach and bush combination. Although the park is open to overnight visitors, the current accommodation options available are 4×4 campsites and two 5-star lodges. Although these lodges offer guests a luxurious and secluded experience, with their sweeping panoramic views over pristine, private beaches, there remains a need for alternative accommodation options to keep up with the growing number of people interested in visiting the park on a budget.
Membene Lodge, Maputo National Park’s newest accommodation option offers guests more affordable options, without sacrificing any of the picture-perfect beach views. Peace Parks Foundation and partners have been hard at work with the design and construction of the lodge, which hasn’t come without its own set of unique challenges. The lodge, much like Anvil Bay, has been constructed to preserve and protect the natural environment – in fact, not one tree has been cut during Membene’s construction!
Lilian Spijkerman, Peace Parks’ Chief Development Officer, who is on a jam-packed work trip in Mozambique, gives us a sneak peek into how the lodge is coming along and what future guests can expect when staying there. Lilian explains that Membene Lodge is a 72-bed lodge, which will employ 24 permanent staff members from the local communities. This is a much-celebrated fact as it will promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the area, aligning with Goal 8 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This will also offer full and productive employment for the people living around the park.
Described as open-planned and modern, the lodge is hidden from plain sight tucked away in the coastal dune forest. PlanEco architect, Neil Crafford, whose company is responsible for the design of the lodge, says that it was intended to never break the treeline. The lodge will comprise eight forest units, dune chalets, fully catered chalets as well as a beach-side restaurant that overlooks the pristine, white-sand beach below.
With everything on track, Peace Parks CEO, Werner Myburgh, is confident that the lodge will see its first guests by early 2023, and boy oh boy, they sure will be getting a slice of nature’s finest!
