PALMA, MAJORCA, SPAIN—Meliá Hotels International recently announced three new hotels in Africa, Indian Ocean and Central Asia. The property in Africa, the Meliá Serengeti Lodge in Tanzania, scheduled to open in June 2017, will be Meliá Hotels International’s first green hotel. Located on the natural terraces on the southern slopes of Nyamuma, with spectacular views over the peaceful valley of the Mbalageti River, the hotel will be 45 minutes from Seronera Airport in the Serengeti National Park, the oldest and most popular National Park in Tanzania, on the western border of Lake Victoria, considered a World Heritage Site.
To be located 700 meters below the peak of Nyamuma, the hotel will offer a perfect viewpoint for the annual migration of one million blue wildebeest, lions, leopards and 250,000 zebras which pass through the valley every year in search of rains and cooler pastures.
Meliá Serengeti Lodge will sit on three natural terraces that descend from an elevated plateau, with the lodge located on the middle terrace and the hotel’s architectural design will adopt the gentle curves of the land, creating an intimate link with the vegetation and rocky outcrops. The location’s natural surroundings have inspired the design of this unique hotel, as the suites will offer a unique and privileged African experience in a secure and luxurious environment.
Meliá Serengeti Lodge will boast 50 rooms consisting of 25 “Meliá Forest” rooms, 23 “Meliá Hills” rooms and two “Serengeti Suites.” The lounges and restaurants will overlook sunny terraces around an infinity pool with pool bar, barbecue patios, with stone and foliage strategically planted and designed to ensure a cool and attractive environment.
An ‘Off the Grid’ Property
Meliá Serengeti Lodge will be designed to operate completely “off the grid,” with its remote location and total absence of services in the area making it the perfect opportunity to create a state-of-the-art sustainable hotel that will depend solely on fossil fuels for emergency energy supply only.
The hotel has been designed with an intelligent approach to insulation and ventilation, with fans chosen to cool rooms over air-conditioning units. Building materials will be evaluated based on the carbon footprint they generate. For example, concrete with local pigments and wood flooring will be laid over floor tiles.
The creation of an off the grid resort requires resources such as photovoltaic panels to generate electricity and accumulators to store the electricity, complemented by a biogas generation system fed by a wastewater treatment plant. Water will be collected from rainwater and made drinkable using the most modern and environmentally friendly techniques and equipment.
Gabriel Escarrer, Vice Chairman and CEO of Meliá Hotels International, said, “Meliá Serengeti Lodge is an opportunity to respond to the challenge of offering the ‘real’ African experience that all travelers desire, combined with the safety and comfort of the most exclusive and secure environment. We are also excited to launch our first-ever 100 percent sustainable hotel through the use of the latest technologies and innovations.”
In addition to the Meliá Serengeti Lodge, Meliá Hotels International also announced plans for the Gran Meliá Maldives, Indian Ocean and Meliá Almaty, Kazakhstan, Central Asia.
Go to Meliá Hotels International.
Thank you Gabriel Escarrer for this entrant into the Serengeti.You have all our support as we are also a green company and we proud to support businesses that endeavor to save our planet.We are in final stages of constructing an eco-lodge in Kalinzu forest central Uganda where wild chimpanzee families will be habituated for a few privileged guests to track,so we are proud of the work you are doing in Serengeti as it fits in our business model.