Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
001 Singita Safari Lodges with Georgie Pennington
108 Plays5 years ago
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Green and Healthy Places Podcast
00:00:13
Speaker
Green and Healthy Places podcast with me, Matt Morley. In this series, we take a deep dive into the role of sustainability, wellness and community in our built environment, from commercial real estate projects to residential developments, hospitality, hotels, resorts and educational facilities. In each episode, we highlight a global benchmark
00:00:40
Speaker
or industry leader contributing to places and spaces that respect both people and planet.
Singita Safari Lodges: Nature-Inspired Luxury
00:00:49
Speaker
Today we head to South Africa to chat with Georgina Pennington Group Creative Direction at Sangeeta Safari Lodges, one of the world's leading proponents of low environmental impact, high style hospitality.
00:01:05
Speaker
The brand currently has 15 lodges, villas and tented camps, split between South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Rwanda. Not only does Singita put nature and wildlife conservation at the core of their business model, they also have a unique nature-inspired architectural and interior aesthetic that really puts them in a league of their own.
00:01:31
Speaker
I previously had a chance to visit some of the lodges while working with Georgina and her team on a new gym concept, an experience that left the truly lasting impression on me. So my hope is to share some of that magic with you here today. Delivering a luxury ecotourism experience in the middle of the bush while promoting biodiversity, protecting natural resources and implementing consistently meaningful community outreach programs is no small feat.
00:01:59
Speaker
There's just no room for inconsistencies or shortcuts in a business that aligns itself so closely with nature, as well as conservation and supporting the local population. So while the guests may be VIP at Singita, the brand is very clear about who comes first. So the lessons here, I believe, are many. In this conversation, we touch on everything from the mental health benefits of bush bathing, close cousin of forest bathing,
00:02:28
Speaker
to patiently building a trademark interior style over time and the role of connectedness to the land and animals within the Singita guests experience.
Promoting Togetherness and Biodiversity
00:02:39
Speaker
While talking to Georgie, I was reminded of the Zulu term of Ubuntu, roughly meaning togetherness or literally, I am because we are. Go back far enough in evolutionary history,
00:02:52
Speaker
and we are all brothers and sisters. Go back farther still and we're just animals in nature like any other. When seen through the lens of Ubuntu, divisions melt into air. Divisions between us as a race but also between us and nature. It's a pertinent message for these turbulent times
00:03:15
Speaker
in which our relationship with people and planet are being tested like never before. So I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Georgina Pennington of Singita Safari Lodges as we return to the source to where it all began.
Creative Direction at Singita
00:03:42
Speaker
Perhaps we could start just with a quick
00:03:45
Speaker
intro to what you do at Singita if you can just talk a little bit about your role. My role at Singita is creative direction manager for the group. That also involves a lot of guest experience design. So it evolves sort of just from a design role into a guest experience and creative direction role. Really just looking after the tangible and intangible elements of the group and combining a whole lot of different
00:04:11
Speaker
things to create what we have as our guest experience in the locations that we are. So I'll say it's quite a diverse role, it's a very interesting role and I also engage with a lot of different design teams in order to layer everything together to create the Sangeeta look as well as the Sangeeta guest experience. So in terms of
00:04:36
Speaker
how your role then, because as a brand, it has such a strong connection with conservation and from conservation. We could read nature, we could read planet, and clearly there's an interest in people inherently linked to that in terms of how we may or may not impact the environment around us.
00:04:55
Speaker
With the lodges, it's such a core part. It's really the essence of what the business is about. How do you then go about reflecting that, less in terms of conserving the animals and the wildlife around you, but more in terms of, as you describe it, the guest experience and the spaces that you're creating?
00:05:14
Speaker
Well, we're very privileged to have our lodges in incredible, unique, wide, vast spaces in Africa, which I think in itself kind of speak so much to nurturing the planet, nourishing the planet, looking after the planet. And our vision is to preserve and protect large tracts of land for future generations. And we really do take that very seriously. So we partner with various conservation
00:05:40
Speaker
funds and trusts in order to achieve that and then within our lodges you know we try and create for our guests an experience that is contextual to where they are to the country and as well as to the land and the natural order of where that lodge is
00:05:56
Speaker
And then within that space to really let outside be the hero, you know, they've come to Africa, they've come to one of our largest be it in Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe or South Africa, and they've come to the bush, you know, we obviously call it the bush, they've come to that to gain that experience. So we try and always keep outside the hero, you know, the nature of the hero, and we're as much as possible to bring that indoors as well.
00:06:23
Speaker
you know, to keep our lodges green inside and outside is very important and that is in our sort of narrative, it's in our vernacular and it's in who we are as a company. So I think that when guests do walk through our doors, they really do get a feeling of respect for the land and respect for the prosperity of the land and the future of the land. And I hope that they experience that throughout their guest experience. And how far do you have to go in terms of
00:06:50
Speaker
thinking, for example, of color palettes and materials and integrating artworks and things. I mean, you've mentioned the idea of there being a contextual sense to each lodge, so it's connected to the location around it, whilst also being conscious of the environmental impact. So your balance, you're juggling a lot of balls, it seems to me. Is it a balancing act, or do you think you've found your strategy and approach in the case of implementing it in each lodge?
Design and Sustainability Processes
00:07:20
Speaker
I think you know Matt it can depend very much on the lodge and on the country that we are in but you know we place an immense amount of importance on sort of sustainability and a huge respect to the land and the culture so you know I think if I can just explain the way we sort of
00:07:37
Speaker
address our design processes. When we are building a new lodge, we will do a huge amount of research on the area, on the context, on the culture, on the fauna, on the flora, and really delve as deeply as we can into that.
00:07:54
Speaker
And then we create what we call a design brief, but at the very same time as the design brief is being generated, we generate the building and sustainability brief. So our design teams, when they get a brief, they get the sort of high level creative direction brief, but at the very same time they get a sustainability brief as to, you know, where we can and cannot
00:08:16
Speaker
or what we can and cannot use in the particular country. So it's very important for us. And I think that that has really been very beneficial to the design teams, because they're given a creative brief, they're given a sustainability and a sort of a conserving brief. And then to try and work with the two has actually become very exciting. So that's really what we think. And we've done that a couple of times, and it really has seemed to work. All the design teams we work with are really, really conscious.
00:08:46
Speaker
About using sustainable materials and products and and sort of the building process being as sustainable as possible and being as conscious and as Respectful of the land as possible. So we really feel that that is is working very well to date and does that do you think that in a sense automatically gives you the brand that the lodges all have this
00:09:09
Speaker
Wonderful aesthetic and it's quite characteristic of a Singita Lodge. Do you think that's something that's evolved over the years you've been in business, I guess, in one sense, but then is it also almost a reflection of what existed there already? How much are you taking from the surrounding aesthetic? If there is one sort of tribal identities or patterns within each location and how much is coming from the brand level?
00:09:36
Speaker
Yes, I think a lot of it is coming from the local level. So, you know, we work with, well, let me perhaps start here. From a brand level, we, you know, we have, as I said just now, we have quite a, we have a framework within which we work.
00:09:53
Speaker
go for a new project or refurbishment. And we also have the same sort of design teams that we work with, who we've been working with for a very long time. We truly understand our aesthetic. And it's been a very symbiotic relationship over the years. So I think from a brand point of view, we've got a great understanding with the teams that we work with of what we both want to achieve. And then from a local point of view, yes, we really, we do take the context from the local nature, the local fauna flora, the topography of the land,
00:10:22
Speaker
as well as the local cultures. So, you know, I can give an example. There's one large in Zimbabwe called Pamashana, which we actually redesigned a couple of years ago. Beforehand, it was sort of very based on sort of tribal colours and tribal patterns.
00:10:38
Speaker
And when we looked to do a redesign, we didn't want to lose any of that. So we kept the pattern and we kept that identity. We just changed the color palette so that it was more of a natural color palette, more of a bushy color palette. And so we sort of tried to blend the two together. And when we also do a project, say it's a refurbishment project, we're very respectful of the furniture that we have existing.
00:11:02
Speaker
and the architecture. So, you know, we won't flatten a lodge and redesign a lodge just for the sake of it. We will really interrogate, you know, what we can reuse from an architecture point of view, a furniture point of view, you know, maybe it's doing a paint take on something or reframing something.
00:11:18
Speaker
but be very conscious of waste and of waste for waste's sake. So it's a very detailed step in our design process and we go through it with a fine tooth comb. All of the design teams we work with, we sit and we go through it with a very fine tooth comb as to how can we be as conscious as possible with this project.
00:11:39
Speaker
in order to deliver the the Sangeeta Brown promised and guest experience that is expected at the end of the day. So it's a it's a really collaborative process but everybody at the end of the day really wants the best for it and really wants to to be respectful. So it's become quite a beautiful process actually we we thoroughly enjoy it and it's super creative you know you can't just flatten one thing and put something new on it you know you've got to get a little bit you know amenable to things which um which becomes quite fun actually.
Balancing Local Culture and Luxury
00:12:07
Speaker
Are there any points where you feel, or you've come across where there's been, if you like, a sticky moment where you know that you're trying to deliver one of
00:12:16
Speaker
one of the highest end guest experiences out there and it's truly sort of right out there at the very pinnacle of the industry and yet you've got these requirements around a belief system and a value system driving everything around respect for nature. Are there any points where it can become problematic to keep at that high end guest experience whilst respecting nature or have you found solutions to pretty much everything? You know, there have been instances and I think it's got a lot to do with
00:12:46
Speaker
with the materials that we would like to try and use, we really try and get as many materials locally as possible without having to import. But sometimes, locally, you just can't get what we may need. So we do a huge local trawl as to what we can find. And if there is something that isn't, we can't find, then we have to look to importing. And I think that has been the biggest wall that we come up against.
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah, I'll say that is the biggest one. In order to achieve an environment, in order to achieve a build that is within the creative vision, but is also a really nice establishment, sometimes you just can't find the correct materials that will achieve that. And often we go into product development with local suppliers to see as far as we can if we can get that. And I think that is really where we sometimes
00:13:42
Speaker
have a bit of a bugbear. But it's all in good spirit in that if we do get somewhere, well, then that's amazing. It's been a bit of a push, it's taken a little bit of time, but we've got somewhere at the end of the day. So I'd say that's possibly the biggest wall that we come up against.
00:14:01
Speaker
And obviously, these standards are standards that the brand and the company culture has set for itself. I mean, how much of what you do, or as it evolves over the years, how much, if anything, is coming from the guest upwards? And how much do you think is being driven by the business culture? Are there certain points where you have to adapt or adjust things according to feedback from the guest? Or do you prefer the process of leading from the front and then adjusting as you go?
00:14:29
Speaker
Matt, we take our guest feedback very seriously and we take, you know, what we feel our guests will sort of enjoy very seriously. So I think it's a little bit of both. It's a little bit of, you know, being a leading sort of African safari brand and creating these guest experiences and also knowing where our lodges are, knowing the experience, we can give our guests. But then, you know, within that experience, we do take guest feedback and guest sort of concerns or suggestions very seriously.
00:14:57
Speaker
you know over time if there's been a recurrent piece of guest feedback then of course we will really look into it, research it, study it and look to change if needs be. So I do think it's a bit of both. I think we try our utmost to deliver an experience taking guest needs into account, taking the experience we would like guest to have into account and sort of delivering the shifting experience within the natural order.
00:15:26
Speaker
And then within that, if there is feedback, of course, we will always listen to it. We also spend a lot of time looking at trends, at forecasting, and really trying to understand the consciousness and the subconsciousness and what people will need from a holiday and will need from a break. Guests come to us on holiday, there's not really a lot of business travel at all. And we need to deliver a break from the world. We need to be true to our promise.
00:15:52
Speaker
sending guests back to where they came from feeling shifted feeling feeling changed and feeling rested and and that's really what we aim to do so any guest feedback that we get that will allow us to or sort of to achieve that further we take very seriously.
00:16:12
Speaker
You've touched on it there, perhaps the idea of integrating wellness and wellbeing into the guest experience and without wanting to lose touch with that connection to the planet, but then also focusing on people. So in terms of the creative direction piece, how are you working with an increased interest in wellness within the guest experience?
00:16:34
Speaker
Well, I think wellness has been a sort of a thing that's been around for a while, as you well know.
Integrating Wellness and Nature
00:16:40
Speaker
And it's something that we sort of have adopted and have been working on very much. You know, in nature, sort of there's conclusive evidence, as you very well know, that nature is a healing force. It's a healing power and people turn to nature to heal. We are very privileged that we are in the middle of nature in these pristine pieces of wilderness.
00:16:57
Speaker
So just by the very nature of where we are, our wellness journey or our guest wellness journey is already halfway there. Over and above that...
00:17:08
Speaker
We placed a lot of importance on food and beverage, on creating time and space within the guest experience to have their own time and space. So we take passive activity as importantly as active activity. And we really try and create environments where within the healing order of nature where you will find yourself sitting, you may be inspired to meditate for the first time in your life.
00:17:33
Speaker
You may be inspired to do yoga, you may want to do a yoga class with one of our staff members, and you are equipped with the options to make sort of healthy decisions holistically within the entire experience. So it's been an evolution, I think, and wellness has been a trend that's been around for a very long time, but for us it's evolved into health and wellness.
00:17:55
Speaker
and possibly health, wellness and connectedness. Initially the connectedness between health and wellness, which is very important. And then connectedness with yourself, connectedness with nature, connectedness with each other. We try and really
00:18:09
Speaker
create time and space for that so you know our wellness sort of concept is that you know to a degree we are wellness because of where we are and you know you don't go and receive wellness from a treatment room and then come back to your room and and you've sort of lost wellness so we try and weave it into our entire experience um consciously and subconsciously tangibly and intangibly um so that you know hopefully guests
00:18:34
Speaker
can feel it, you know, can feel that that healing power of nature when they're at the lodges and also once they have departed. It's interesting, I mean you've got concepts like forest bathing in Japan and Korea where it's almost like a green prescription where stressed out corporate workers are sent out into the forests for sort of a few hours of guided walks where really it's not about meditation or more of a moving meditation and just about time in nature as a way to de-stress to
00:19:02
Speaker
remove anxiety. It seems to be in a way like you're almost sort of offering bush bathing in a sense, like just being in the bush, right? It has that calming effect. You don't want to do too much, just let nature do its on its course, right? Exactly. That's exactly it, Matt. So we are very lucky in that
00:19:22
Speaker
we are in nature. So, you know, just going on a game drive in the morning and, you know, driving along wherever you are, but say you're driving along a river under these huge trees, you know, listening to the insects and the birds and the animals in the distance, you know, feeling the soft air over your skin, you know, slightly bumpy ride on the game drive vehicle, but, you know, not bumpy, but, you know, just being in that motion. And that in itself is almost a moving meditation. And you could be so present in that moment, you know,
00:19:49
Speaker
If you let everything go and you are present in that moment, it can feel like you're on that game drive for a very long time. It's incredibly peaceful and restorative. I talk about, instead of forest bathing, I talk about when you're out in nature, you're exfoliating your aura. The trees and everything are exfoliating your aura and kind of cleansing you of the clutter of possibly the world.
00:20:11
Speaker
and everything that we've got to deal with and all the stimulation we've got every single day. And then you're out in this beautiful, sort of green area with the blue sky above you. You're in the green or the hues of brown. It's incredibly gentle on your visual landscape, but at the same time, incredibly inspiring. And we're very lucky in that we're in those environments. So to make it one step, sort of take it one step further, two steps further isn't, you know, it's not that much of a challenge. We are, we're lucky, you know.
00:20:41
Speaker
It's fascinating because, you know, this concept of biophilic design is almost sort of this effort to try and recreate some of the original source of nature in an urban environment where you're almost deliberately making things a bit wabi-sabi, you know, where they have this kind of like rough finish to make them feel more organic or deliberately seeking those design touches out to try and bring some of that
00:21:06
Speaker
organic natural design field into an urban context.
Minimal Impact Architecture and Landscaping
00:21:11
Speaker
In a way, I'm not really sure we describe it as by filling design what you do, but I remember from the lodges how the trees and the landscape are almost sort of brought into the architectural experience, right? You almost sort of, it's completely integrated, almost sort of hard to distinguish where the lodge ends and nature begins. There's a piece there around the architecture as well.
00:21:33
Speaker
Definitely. And we try very hard with that. So when we go into a build or redesign, no tree can be cut down. And we'd really try and fit in gently with nature as opposed to trying to make nature fit in with us. And we do. We try and completely blur the line between outside and inside. Where we do have inside, it's generally very open. Or if it's not open, it's glass.
00:21:58
Speaker
We'll bring sort of plants and botanicals inside where we need to, so we really try and make, you know, and make one feel like you're in nature, even if you may be in an architectural structure. You know, one of our lodgers called the Bumbo in the Kruger National Park, and Sweeney actually, they are actually glass boxes.
00:22:16
Speaker
you know situated the bumbos kind of up on a a little ridge and and Swaini is right down nestled in the trees on the river and when you're in those glass boxes you know you can't see another room you really you really feel like you are you're in nature even though you're in inside your room at the same time so it's incredibly important for us and and also for our guest experience to be able to achieve that and you know a lot of our guests come are international and you know come from big cities and when they come to us we want them to feel the healing effects of nature
00:22:47
Speaker
and ready to sort of try and feel restored in a way from that, from that sort of energy from the earth. I love it. Yeah. And how does that impact then, or does it impact on your, if you like, the team resources that you have to put together when you're, I mean, the idea of almost landscaping seems, seems like it could be just irrelevant in such a context. So who do you, what's the team look like when you're going in on a refurb or a new development project?
00:23:12
Speaker
Do you have a landscape or is that even part of the discussion or is it more about sustainable architecture?
00:23:19
Speaker
We do have a landscaper, you know, really based on once you do a project, there was a bit of rehabilitative landscaping that needs to happen. However, our landscaper is very versed in indigenous and local plants. So we only use indigenous local plants when we do need to landscape and the majority of our landscaping is restorative landscape after a build to get the earth back to what it needs to be. You know, we don't want to leave sort of
00:23:45
Speaker
patches dry or possibly where concrete was mixed, we don't want to leave the earth scarred by us in any way. So our landscape is really a rehabilitative, restorative landscaper so that we can get the earth back to what it was before we arrived or before the construction started. So there is a landscaping team with us, an external team that do that, but to have a huge amount of respect for the natural order and the natural land. As I said, we don't want to try and
00:24:15
Speaker
you know, make nature fit in with us, we need to fit in very respectfully. So yes, we do have a landscaping team and that's really the goal in the goal poster. It almost reminds me of that concept of leaving no trace, you know, just sort of touching lightly and not sort of having too much of an impact on nature, just being present but also allowing nature to dominate in a way which must be quite a
00:24:42
Speaker
It's quite difficult to find that balance between the two and yet you're obviously managing it. I mean, in terms of things like circular economy almost, you know, at the end you might sort of close it down and move on like a sort of a tented cap. Have you ever looked at anything like that in terms of really being able to move on from one space after another?
00:25:01
Speaker
Yes, we do have one similar one in Tanzania where there is that concept where we have our tented camp will be up in one area of land for six months, nothing is dug into the ground. So we have sort of little patches where the tents sit on the ground on ground sheets and then they're there for six months and then we move them to another site. So that site is completely rehabilitated and can go back to the natural order.
00:25:27
Speaker
We do have that in Tanzania, it's called Sangeeta Explore, and that's an incredible experience because you're so close to the ground. For me, it's the pinnacle of being immersed in nature. You wake up with the sun, you go to bed with
00:25:41
Speaker
you know, when the sun sets, you woken up by somebody sort of just saying good morning to you in a Swahili accent. And that's incredible. We are looking, you know, that concept and that camp has been very successful. So, you know, we definitely would be looking into more of those kinds of options in the future.
00:26:00
Speaker
And I think, you know, as things evolve, you know, there's always opportunity to work on what you've done in the past and to evolve it into something new based on learning. So I think there is always opportunity and we would definitely look to create more of those types of camps and lodges coming up in the future. So looking ahead then to the next year or two, are there any new openings or locations and destinations that you're focusing on as a group?
Future Outlook and Digital Experiences
00:26:30
Speaker
Well, at the moment, one of our camps in Tanzania, Sabora, a tented camp, has been under construction. And that is going to be opening again. Obviously, sort of extenuating circumstances of the coronavirus has had quite an impact on our project in the future. But we are always looking for new things and always working on new things. But Sabora is the one that we will be reopening once international travel commences again.
00:26:59
Speaker
then Sabora in Tanzania is the one to look forward to. There are a few other things in the working but not really at a stage where we know yet, we know 100% yet. But exciting things, you know, I think Corona's taught everybody a lot.
00:27:15
Speaker
I think it's made everybody personally and professionally quite introspective. And for me, it's also really highlighted an element of simplicity and sustainability and also purposefulness, you know, that everything, be it an experience, be it an object, be it a piece of architecture, needs to have a purpose. And, you know, we really will take that ethos into whatever project comes up next. The sort of simplicity, sustainability, health, wellness and connectedness and
00:27:45
Speaker
Yeah, so what will come up in the future will really be guided by those principles. I think the connectedness term is a really interesting addition, perhaps not immediately obvious based on what's supposed to say the aesthetic or the health or the planet angle, the conservation piece. But the idea of if this whole experience over the last few months during Corona is towards anything, it's the connectedness of our world. Right. And also both in the good and bad senses, but also how we can
00:28:15
Speaker
when we're disconnected from nature in a forced way for, in my case, a couple of months, but really no contact with nature whatsoever. You really sense that loss. It's going to be very interesting to see how in that post-corona world or in the sort of whatever that becomes after this experience, how people's desire for and need for nature changes or whether they perceive it in a different way, perhaps place more importance on it or value it a bit more highly.
00:28:44
Speaker
Matt, I think people are going to place a lot more importance on nature. I think that people have taken nature, the outdoors, being able to go and walk in the park for granted. When you're in a lockdown situation and you can't simply just go out and walk on the beach or go out and walk around, it really marks to you how important that is for you as a person. And I also think connectedness with humanity. A lot of us have been locked up in our houses or in flats.
00:29:12
Speaker
and you know just being able to connect with the the grossest or man or you know being able to connect with the neighbors and you know i think i think we are going to i think this connecting this thing i agree with you i think it's a very important thing and i think we're all realizing the power of being connected to nature to yourself and to others but also being able to disconnect when you need to um and so i think i think it's a very important thing and and i'm very interested in it i'm very interested in
00:29:38
Speaker
and what it's gonna bring and sort of watching and observing how it's going to, how things are going to evolve as a result of what we've experienced and possibly also learned through this, too, through Corona and being disconnected from what we are usually connected to.
00:29:55
Speaker
It's a fascinating time. Jordi, I'm going to be respectful of your time. Thank you for spending the time and talk us through this. How can people keep in touch with Sangeeta or yourself via social and websites? Well, people can follow. We've got a Facebook page. We also have the website, which is www.sangeeta.com. And if you go onto the website, that can link you to wherever
00:30:16
Speaker
you really need to go. So we've got amazing things happening on SoundCloud, we've got guided meditations, we've got the sounds of nature for those who can't get to nature. And then also on our Vimeo page, we've got amazing videos where you can sort of go and experience sort of the visual of nature for those people who are unable to. So I think, you know, going to our main website and then sort of going out from there,
00:30:43
Speaker
But we do, we've tried to create some little snippets of nature for those who can't get into it. And hopefully that'll help. And that'll sort of tide everybody over until they can. Amazing. You guys are doing really great work. Congratulations. Thanks, Matt. Thank you very much. And thanks for the chat. It was really great.