The Green Elephant Backpackers

Overview

The Green Elephant Backpackers has been running since June 1994 from the heart of lively Observatory. They have three houses - the main house with all the facilities, the private room house with 4 private rooms and the long stay house where guest stay for as long as several months.

The Green Elephant Backpackers is committed to low impact, sustainable tourism to preserve our natural beauty for the next generation. Green Elephant Backpackers fitted a solar water heating system in 2004, recycle as much of their waste as possible and was the first backpackers in South Africa to fit a grey water system.

An energy audit was completed in 2002 and they have an environmental management plan to address all areas of energy use including electricity, water heating and insulation. Water consumption is reduced through low flow shower heads and rain water is diverted to a storage tank for use on the garden and topping up the pool. All staff are educated about the Environmental Management Plan, sign it and are committed to abide by it.

See http://www.hostels.co.za/environment.htm for more details.

Cape Town Green Map
updated 02/2010 by urban sprout