Established in 2016, Limalimo Lodge is the result of Shiferaw Asrat and Meles Yemata’s vision to bring sustainable and community focused tourism to Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains National Park.

Shiferaw and Meles both grew up in Debark, the gateway to the Simien Mountains. As mountain guides who in turn both set up their own trekking companies, supporting hundreds of visitors to see the beauty of the national park, they wanted to find a way to open up the benefits of tourism to households and communities within the park boundaries, as well as offer visitors an alternative way of experiencing the UNESCO listed site.

And so the concept of Limalimo Lodge was born.

With support from African Wildlife Capital and in partnership with the National Park, we set to work, designing a sustainable boutique lodge that would offer guests a natural and beautifully designed environment in which to explore the Simiens, open up tourism to a new corner of the national park, and benefit the surrounding communities.

Design elegance & sustainability

Limalimo Lodge was designed by architect Mario Balducci and is located on a 10 hectare site on the edge of Ethiopia's Simien escarpment. Guests at the lodge will experience simple luxury and elegant design, influenced by rural Ethiopia style in a stunning setting.

The lodge has been built using locally sensitive green technology wherever possible and we operate with minimal environmental impact. Buildings are constructed using rammed earth, wood and thatch. The earth for the rammed earth was all collected from the site and has produced beautiful walls that blend into the surroundings. Waste is minimized as much as possible and managed in a responsible manner. Toilet waste is treated through an on-site biowaste system, greywater is used to water the grounds and kitchen waste is composted wherever possible. Electricity is provided as much as possible through renewable sources and solar is used to supplement hot water heating.

Throughout construction, over 150 people from the local area were regularly employed, working with us to create rammed earth walls, living roofs, rain-water harvesting systems and landscaping. We worked with rammed earth guru, Roland Keable, to upskill the community in this low-impact construction method, and wherever possible employed local artisans to source locally and naturally made items. We are working towards replacing the non-native species of trees (largely Eucalyptus) with native species that are slower growing, use less water, allow other species to thrive and provide inviting habitats for local wildlife.

The natural and low-impact design of the lodge is of upmost importance to us, allowing the lodge to fit seamlessly into the environment in which it sits. Through design decisions, we have sought to not only reduce the footprint we have, but pro-actively support the natural environment. Read more about the design and an interview with Paul Robbins, assessing the impact of the lodge on the environment.

We see our role being an important catalyst to development in the area – we provide employment opportunities to more than 40 members of the local community, source our food from local producers, take guests to visit Limalimo village (bringing an additional income to households) and donate $10 per person per night to African Wildlife Foundation to increase their conservation work in (and near) the National Park.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of our journey and to those of you about to join it.