What are the SEWAGE solutions at your favourite camp ?
 

Hi
with the growing number of touristic facilities in prime wildlife areas, i was wandering about the methods used for sewage treatment.
I'm thinking, for example, about Okavango or the Mara river etc'...
IMO, when you sit for "small talk" with the managers of your favourite camp, you should ask about it. Though, i'm sure those camp managers have got a prepared "ALIBI"...
Oxidation ponds will (probably) not be used on touristic camp/lodge grounds.
It will possibly be some kind of a Septic Tank (please enquire which how what)
I'm interested in getting info...

aby

Aby,
I am sure that if you wrote to the lodges/camps personally you would get candid replies.

I agree.....those should make part of our conversation with the folks at camps.

Don't have exact details, but we were told that the mobiles in Serengeti can only stay set up for a short time to prevent a build up of pollutants.

I was told that our camp dug pits filled with gravel and sand to catch and filter the debri. I imagine that that's something like a leach field.

Cybor

those camps worry me the least
(though with the growing number of tourists... it will ..._
i am mainly thinking about those next to the rivers. e.g. Mara River with the hugh number number of tourists year round... Or Okavango where you cannot put anything in the ground without perforating into the water.

i'm not sure about regulations & enforcement within the parks. imagine what happens on private property...
especially where water-ways carry everything into the protected eco-systems...

aby

BTW i was quite sueprised to see that in the USA, in many places they do not have a permanent solution, using all kinds of tanks...

I know a lot of camps septic tanks.
Not sure if you know what it is.
Even the houses in Maun are still on septic tanks.
This means U can use no chemicals in the toilets etc.It will destroy the bacteria that breaks down the sewage.
With good septic tanks there should be no sewage that goes into the rivers.
Weird topic but interesting.
In the Kalahari they do use soak aways in some older places.

Aby,
Virtually the entire long island of new york is one big cesspool. Each house has its own soak-away.
Ultimately all that **** has to make its way into the bays and streams.....Quite a thought particularly for the western power-house ....

Not an expert here, but I just had a 27,000.USD raised septic system installed as required by the DEM. This is surrounded by a leaching field in the event of a leakage.
A properly designed system will work well for many years.
Can't comment on how well the systems on Long Island work as I don't live there.
This is indeed an odd subject for the African board.

Basecamp Masai Mara has a wetland that recycles wastewater from showers and has “bio-toilets” to separate and re-use “solid and liquid waste”. Tarhi Camp in Tsavo East, if I remember correctly, had a septic tank that was taken away for emptying. Don’t know where

Out of Africa but in Belize I stayed in a hut with a composting toilet that was very impressive. Not sure how 6 paw/5 star tourists would feel about it but it was clean and didn't smell and would seem to fit well with self sufficient tented camps.

Hi Bill

Did you catch a glimpse of the Jaguar there?

can you say a few words about that toilet ?

thanx

aby

Hi

<i> &quot;Weird topic but interesting&quot; </i>
(bots)
<i> &quot;This is indeed an odd subject for the African board.&quot; </i> &lt;Cybor)

IMHO we should be aware of the consequences to our cherished habitats &amp; ecosystems...

OK, Septic Tanks are common (&quot;In North America approximately 25% of the population relies on septic tanks&quot; -Wikipedia). this figure really caught me by surprise

But what about maintenance? types of &quot;overflow&quot;?<b> in Africa ...</b>

e.g.
<font color="gray"> &quot;...Waste that is not decomposed by the anaerobic digestion eventually has to be removed from the septic tank or else the septic tank fills up and undecomposed wastewater discharges directly to the drainage field. Not only is this bad for the environment, but if the sludge overflows the septic tank into the leach field, it may damage the leach field piping requiring expensive repairs...&quot;
</font>

aby

Aby, Your concern is understandable - I wondered the same thing and did ask in Tanzania.

Re septic failure:
My guess is that no system including public sewage is exempt from leakage and malfunction etc. etc.
As a non-expert in this complicated field, I can only hope that those installing and regulating know what their doing.

I can also only hope that cos. who seem to be conservation minded like CC, Wilderness etc. are up on all this. They will probably gladly answer your questions regarding this.

aby: I did stalk jaguars and found some spoor as well as ocelot spoor but no luck on a visual. Hopefully in the future.

My experience in Belize was 6 or 7 years ago but as I recall the toilet had the general look and feel of a standard toilet (perhaps more plastic?) but there is no water involved. You would simply do your business and then next to the toilet they kept a can full of a fine grade mulch(?) which I thought had a good earthy smell. You then took a scoop of this mulch and dumped it in the toilet. You then closed the lid and turned a crank 3 or 4 times and your done. We were in a hut on stilts that allowed water to lap up under the hut so similar to what you were saying about the high water table of the Delta this would have been a problem area to sink a septic system into. Our hut was very small and the toilet caused no odor issues or anything -- really we were amazed by it and thought it was a terrific system, no water wasted, no chemicals, all natural is what we were told. Seems very suitable for the African bush.

cybor: you are right about even public systems having leaks. I am doing some work right now for a city that is doing maintenance work on miles and miles of pipelines to improve their leakage record which impacted water going down to the next city. I'm sure that is a common issue. My involvement is because of a federally threatened mouse which occupies the riparian habitat where repairs need to occur.

PB,
Who woulda thunk that you'd end up working in such an interesting place. You could write a book - 'Africa plains to drains' PB's exploits while studying and saving wildlife :)

Cybor -- that's a hilarious title, I definitely just laughed out loud. Permit kind of work isn't my favorite but it is needed to conserve the species and to pay the bills as well as allowing me to finance some more interesting research from time to time.

Now I'll have to credit you if I write a book because there's no way I'm not using that for at least a chapter. It's also amusing when the occassional danger in the wild threads pop up because some of my urban biology brings me through tent cities and satanic worship places, etc. you never know what your going to run across. I like being out with the cougars and bears more, or of course the wilds of Africa, much safer! Although I once was attacked by a 2,000 pound bull (domestic cattle) up in the forest and have had a few other misadventures I still feel safer away from people.

PB, I'll bet you've got some real good stories LOL. Off subject question; Are you involved with the study or research of malaria carrying mosquitoes. A friend is interested in looking into this when he goes to Africa - he studies diseases amoung other things.

&quot;Plains to Drains&quot; Ha Ha Ha Very Funny, Cybor!

This is an important topic that I've found camp managers are willing to discuss. I don't know if I've asked the best questions on the subject though, and maybe I'm getting the alibi aby mentioned. Thanks for bringing up this important topic.