Meet the Team
Kayak Africa is a Malawian company run by Malawians!
Heading up the team is shareholder, director and general manager Joe Kamanje. Joe is a senior member of the Madothi family whose customary land at Cape Maclear hosts the Kayak Africa reception and basecamp. Joe first worked at Kayak Africa during his school holidays, now nearly thirty years ago! He joined the company full time on completion of his studies and worked his way through all the departments and ranks, serving as a kayak guide, boatman, chef, driver, bookkeeper and junior manager. Today he is hands-on and in charge!
Joe is assisted by a small but experienced management team of fellow Cape Maclear residents, all of whom have also been with the company for decades. This team includes:
Sutha Tande – Guest Ops and Stores.
Davi Katumbu – Logistics, Workshops and Driver.
Vincent Chimphamba – Boats and Head Guide.
Irene Kamanje – Housekeeping and Laundry.
The company staff organogram includes teams of Islandmen, Boatmen, Housekeepers and Watchmen, amounting to a total staff complement of twenty-three people.
At the director level Joe Kamanje is assisted by founder members Clive Bester and Jurie Schoeman. Jurie is an experienced camp builder and boat builder and puts in periodic shifts to keep the infrastructure and equipment in top condition. Clive is primarily active under the Kayak Africa Cape Town umbrella, which he also leads.
Kayak Africa Cape Town is a separate South African registered company that provides the Malawi operation with central reservations and administrative services. Clive is ably assisted by long-serving travel consultants Bee Roux and Cara Kapp. Stefanie Roux handles marketing and social media and rounds off the team.
Left: Clive and Jurie doing a camp inspection; Right: Joseph Kamanje, General Manager
The two Mumbo Island teams at staff changeover on a Monday morning
The chefs and behind the scenes staff in the kitchen on Mumbo Island
Keeping it Green
Kayak Africa’s approach to the development and management of facilities on Mumbo Island can be summarised as ecotourism, defined as follows:
Ecotourism is a form of tourism applicable to fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas; intended as a low-impact, low visitor-volume and small scale alternative to standard commercial, mass tourism. Its purpose is to protect the environment, to generate funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, and to educate both the tourists and the local communities and foster respect for different cultures and for human rights.
The principles of ecotourism are applied throughout the Kayak Africa enterprise, including in the following ways:
- Minimal and concentrated infrastructure development only.
- Camp construction, decor and fittings maximise the use of locally procured and renewable materials, with work performed by local tradesmen using traditional techniques.
- Non-motorised guest activities only.
- Minimum impact back of house operations.
- Minimum waste generation, and appropriate removal and disposal of waste.
- Solar power.
- The company is embedded within the local community of Cape Maclear.
- Employees are part of the family.
- Local procurement is maximised.
Some of the ways that this theoretical approach manifests in practice include:
- No cement has been used in the construction of the buildings – the timber supporting elements are all perched upon naturally-occurring boulders which serve as foundations.
- Only what is needed and swiftly utilised is taken out to the islands – all operational functions that are not part of the core island experience are carried out on the mainland.
- All waste, including toilet waste, is separated and removed from the islands. Back on the mainland this is either composted or recycled to the maximum extent possible.
The goals are sustainable minimum impact due to the presence of our staff and of guests; and staying in touch with the theoretical concept of complete restoration should the camp ever be closed down, so that within one cycle of seasons not a trace would remain of the camp ever having been there.