 
Heritage Hotels’ Kipungani Explorer in Lamu, Kenya has been described in the press recently as a “five-star Robinson Crusoe”, “the most laid-back lodge in Africa” and her bandas as “some of the most glamorous beach huts in the world”.
But for a destination that is trying to perfect one of the gentlest-treading ecotourism experiences in Africa, Kipungani has its sights set on an altogether more modest kind of accolade.
Talking to the 300 residents of Kipungani village, living on the same island as the Kipungani Explorer resort, you get the impression that this little ecolodge on the southern tip of Kenya’s Lamu Island is succeeding where so many others have failed – in bringing the benefits of tourism to those who most need them. In a country that is enjoying a major tourism renaissance, with international visitor numbers nearly doubling since 2001, much of Kenya’s coastal tourism continues to be concentrated on the large beach resorts around Mombasa and Malindi, which famously line the pockets of a few wealthy directors with minimal benefits to the poor fishing communities they live alongside.
At Kipungani, however, these benefits are never in doubt. As well as employing a majority of its staff from Kipungani and nearby Mpakatoni villages, the lodge buys all of  its seafood from Kipungani’s fishermen, repairs its seven boats in their boatyards, and hires local craftsmen to weave the makuti thatch and makeka palm from which its Crusoesque bandas are constructed. Most guests make a specific point of visiting the village – a 15-minute walk through sun-dappled mangroves – where the lodge has helped to build a thriving nine-class primary school, and where it recently opened the village’s first permanent health clinic.
If all this seems a bit too perfect, Kipugani’s new manager, Sebastian Chambers, is at pains to point out that the lodge is not so much an ecotourism champion as an up-and-coming challenger. “We’re just starting to get the balance right,” he says. “My predecessors, Louis and Mary Jo van Aardt and Eric Munyasia, were responsible for putting up the school and the clinic. Now, we’re working to consolidate on these projects by creating a more comprehensive long-term partnership with the community – expanding our local staff, giving them more training opportunities, looking for donors to fund agricultural and environmental projects that genuinely benefit the community.”
Sebastian’s own background as a mechanical engineer will stand him in good stead for some of Heritage’s longer-term goals, such as running Kipungani entirely on solar and wind power. The lodge already has several innovative ways of minimising its environmental impact, such as using black reinforced-plastic bags for heating its shower water and planting indigenous trees to provide poles for future construction. But ultimately, the lodge’s aim to match optimal standards of visitor luxury with maximum community benefits and minimal environmental impacts continues to pose serious challenges for its managers.
Already, at least, Kipungani has proven that you do not need giant generators, imported foods, or state-of-the-art gadgets to keep your guests happy. The stunning bandas, cushion-piled  driftwood furniture, attentive staff, and spectacularly good seafood have proved a recipe that continues to entice guests back year after year. Thanks to the legacy of Eric Munyasia, himself one of Kenya’s best-known chefs (and now executive chef for the Heritage group), the seafood is still among the finest on the African coast. Thanks to the long-term incentives and training opportunities offered by Heritage, many of the staff have been here for years – and the lodge’s guestbook bulges with praise for their natural hospitality and warmth. And thanks to its location beside a closely-knit Muslim community, Kipungani offers something that has sadly disappeared from so many other African destinations: complete security. (Indeed, at Kipungani, you can go to sleep with your screen-door open to the elements, looking out over a sea shimmering with reflected stars…)
Best of all, it means that you never get hassled by ‘beach boys’ or local vendors on the 12 kilometres of soft white sand that separate Kipungani from the lively cobbled streets of  Lamu’s Stone Town. Kipungani has recently taken on the services of a full-time cultural guide, who takes visitors on day trips to the town’s bustling markets and memorable maritime museum, as well as the evocative ruins of the 14th century fort on neighbouring Manda Island. More energetic visitors can partake of a host of adventurous options, including kayaking in the Lamu channel, coast-hugging voyages aboard Kipungani’s 35-foot dhow, or – a highlight for many visitors – rubbing shoulders with “Africa’s most fearless dolphins” on snorkelling trips to the nearby Kinyika Rocks.
Kipungani’s close relations with the community also offer unique opportunities to join local fishermen in their acrobatic attempts to catch giant crabs in the Lamu channel, as well as trips north into the sprawling Dadori reserve, where Kipungani’s fishermen net and sun-dry prawns for sale in the markets of Mombasa. Sebastian is currently drawing up several routes for day-long snorkelling and fishing expeditions in the Dadori archipelago, with picnic lunches and ‘dolphin dives’ en route. Visitors on these excursions may even get a chance to see some of Lamu’s wilder residents, which include whales and rare dugongs, as well as buffaloes and lions that have occasionally been known to venture down to the beach!
As well as his practical engineering background, Sebastian brings a host of new skills to the management of Kipungani. A keen sailor and waterskiier, one of his first achievements last year was to purchase a sleek new ski-boat with a 115-horsepower engine. In many ways, Sebastian was born to host: his parents, Roger and Jan Chambers, are legendary hoteliers in Kenya, having run some of the country’s finest hotels and restaurants, including the Carnivore and the Aberdare Country Club. With this kind of heritage behind him, the young manager is undoubtedly on a firm footing in his quest to create a 21st century ecolodge that ticks all the right boxes.
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