Lodges in Saint Francis

Thibault France

It was a big surprise. I won’t talk much about the room because it’s not about the room, which was surprisingly comfortable anyway, but it is, in fact, about everything else. First, I was so charmed by the surrounding; the place looked like a paradise oasis. Very green, preserved nature, very well maintained but more than everything I was delighted by the people warm welcoming. They are so smiling, kind and friendly that I directly felt at home. I spend the time knowing about the place, there is so many things happening just inside the community, so much to discover and learn in such a small area. Those people live in the future, it’s obvious that they understood the climate change and environmental crisis we are facing because everything they created is thought to face it. They are an example for resilience and for the inevitable ecological transition every country will have to complete soon or later. It is more than just an hotel, it is a center of permaculture combined with a tourism lodged run by local peoples. Therefore, it responds to the big tree prior issues of any project, Economic, environmental and social. And I definitely think that in the future with a good tourism income it will only grow and help more and more people from Katete to get out of poverty. Actually, the community even come up with a ‘’22 steps out of poverty’’ method that anyone can discover when they go there. So, for a traveler or tourist to find such a place is definitely a blessing and big surprise, it’s the kind of place that balance so well the tourism comfort and entertainment with the authenticity of local culture and traditional roots, that you feel safe visiting it and still when you visited it you can say, ‘’I visited the real Africa’’.