The Wolwedans base camp has a number of artisan workshops on site. Perhaps the one producing the most off-cuts as re-usable waste is our carpentry workshop. Besides using larger off-cuts of timber to repair broken classroom chairs from the primary and secondary schools in the nearby town of Maltahohe and creating JENGA blocks as games for our guests at the campfire, we also produce a fair amount of sawdust from the woodcutter.

This sawdust plays a vital role in our home-made fire lighter initiative.

In 2019 - The Wolwedans Collection switched from using candles at dinner service, to using kerosene lamps for illumination, and accumulated half-burnt candles in the storeroom, which are the second part of the fire lighter process. The half-burnt candles are melted over a heat source and mixed with the sawdust, to which some paraffin is added (usually long-standing paraffin from our store room). This mixture is churned into a semi-thick consistency by hand and then moulded into trays. At Wolwedans, broken or old ice trays suffice quite nicely.

The moulds set overnight and can be stored for any length of time, until needed. The home-made firelighters burn longer than commercially made firelighters and besides the Kerosene we use, the firelighters are mostly organic.

The Wolwedans Foundation

Website. | www.wolwedans.org . | E-mail. | sustainability@wolwedans.org

Tel: +264 61 230 616