Regenerative Practices at Ololo
Sustainability is woven into daily life at Ololo. As a working organic farm and lodge, we grow much of our own food, use solar power, and manage waste responsibly. Through the Ololo Foundation, we support local education, conservation, and community initiatives — ensuring that travel here benefits both people and planet.
At Ololo, our farm is the heart of the lodge — and it’s farmed regeneratively. This means we focus on building healthy soil, improving biodiversity, and capturing carbon through natural processes. We grow organic vegetables, herbs, and fruit, raise free-range animals, and use compost from the lodge to enrich our soil. Every guest meal tells the story of this cycle — fresh, seasonal, and grown just metres from your table.
Nothing goes to waste at Ololo. Leftover food scraps from our kitchen — along with animal waste and food waste collected from local markets that would otherwise rot in landfills — are put to good use in our Black Soldier Fly project. When left to decompose, this organic waste produces methane, a greenhouse gas 22 times more potent than CO₂. Instead, the Black Soldier Fly larvae break it down rapidly and efficiently. The resulting larvae are then used as a high-protein animal feed for our chickens — creating a sustainable, closed-loop system that reduces emissions, diverts waste from landfill, and supports our farm’s ecosystem.
Our tree nursery at Ololo plays a vital role in reforestation and sustainable land use — both on our property and in the surrounding community. Here, we propagate a wide variety of indigenous and fruit tree seedlings, nurturing them from seed to sapling using organic compost and water from our grey water system.
These seedlings are used to plant and replenish trees across the Ololo farm, helping to prevent soil erosion, provide shade, and enhance biodiversity. But the nursery’s impact goes beyond our gate. Through our community partnerships and the Ololo Foundation, we regularly distribute seedlings to local schools, farms, and reforestation projects — supporting long-term environmental restoration in the area.
Each tree planted is a step toward a more resilient landscape and a shared future rooted in sustainability.
Water is precious, and at Ololo, we use it wisely. All grey water from sinks, showers, and laundry is filtered through a natural, multi-stage system and then reused to irrigate our gardens and farm. This closed-loop system reduces our water footprint and keeps our landscapes green year-round.
Animal waste from the farm is converted into clean cooking gas through our bio-gas system. This not only provides an eco-friendly energy source for our staff kitchens but also reduces reliance on firewood or charcoal. It’s another way Ololo closes the loop between farming, food, and energy.
