Parfuri Lodge in the Kruger National Park, is a stunning Tented Camp on the bank of the Oliphants River. After a tedious 9-hour drive from Johannesburg I was rewarded by the magnificent sight of the majestic river and the wild game, including Elephant, Buffalo and Crocodiles, a stone’s throw from my tent.
It became immediately clear as to why my services were required. This upmarket tented resort was in one of the most ecologically sensitives places on earth.
Tourists, mostly European retiree’s, arrive expecting the Safari Experience of a lifetime but are put off by the caravan style cassette toilets which the elderly visitors were required to use but which were not comfortable, too low and awkward.
The brief from the owners of Parfuri was that the entire system should be above ground, it should not need to be dug in, and it should have absolutely no impact on the environment.
We had to install eco-friendly, cost-efficient and self-contained toilet facilities that were of a high standard, and which could be assembled and disassembled easily to pack away when required.
We designed a 600 L settling tank system employing the same sewage tank we use in the Woshbox Mark V Solar WC, and then married this to a very low water 2 L Flush toilet system.
The entire system was designed to work with enzymes and we specified REACH compliant products to effectively deodorise and pre-treat the waste, to maximise biodegrading prior to regular pump-outs into the existing sewage treatment plant.
REACH Compliance is coming into force in the EU and it is the newest and highest environmental standard for waste treatment.
Due to the high costs of transport to remote locations, it was desirable that the entire system could “flat-pack” in order to be transported more economically, and then be easily and simply assembled by on-site staff with only basic training.
We were able to stack the entire system and as such we were able to fit 10 complete systems on a standard 1 Ton Bakkie with a 4 M trailer; considerably simplifying transport logistics and reducing transport costs. Each complete system weighs around 65 KG.
Ultimately the whole installation works perfectly, happy clients and extremely low running costs.
This has become a blueprint for upmarket Tented Camp operations and is a revolutionary approach to sustainable, low-water sanitation systems.
