GUESTS lingering in the lobby while en route to the buffet breakfast are a common sight in hotels around the world. Yet only at the Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia is it best to avoid disturbing those with the biggest appetite – and the biggest ears.
A herd of elephants regularly parades through the lobby to feast on their favourite foods, mangoes, which grow close to the hotel that is unique in its giant visitors.
The Mfuwe Lodge, which was built in 1998, stands directly on the elephants' t
raditional route to its food supply, which means that, each November, when the fruit comes into season, hotel staff are greeted by their seasonal guests, dutifully led by the matriarch of the herd, an elephant called Wonky Tusk.
Andy Hogg, 44, the director of the company that runs the hotel, said he had never seen such intimate interaction between man and beast.
Mr Hogg, who has lived in the 9,500sq km South Luangwa national park, since 1982, said: "This is the only place in the world where elephants freely get so close to humans. The elephants start coming through base camp in late November of each year to eat the mangoes from our trees. When they are ripe, they come through, coming back each day or every second day, for four to six weeks, to eat the mangoes.
"The most interesting thing is they are wild animals and certainly not tame. They come through the lodge to eat the fruit. There are ten in that herd and it is only that herd that comes through. It is a strange thing. The matriarch in the herd is Wonky Tusk, and she brings the nine others through – they come and go as they please."
Mfuwe Lodge, which employs 150 people, consists of seven camps and the base camp, where the elephants come through. The management are happy to report there have been no incidents involving the elephants.
"They do get reasonably close to the staff, as you can see with the pictures of the elephants near the reception," Mr Hogg said. "Guests can stand in the lounge area, but as long as there is a barrier between the elephants and the guests that is OK. The elephants are not aggressive, but you don't want to tempt anything as they are wild animals.
"It is the elephants choice to come into base camp and they have been doing it for the last ten years. There are other wild mango trees around, but they seem to prefer this one."
The lodge was unwittingly built upon the path and Mr Hogg said they had no idea the elephants would insist on returning. "No-one really knew they were going to come through," he said. "The lodge was built and then the elephants started coming through afterwards.
"We keep people at a safe distance. They are obviously close enough to see what is going on from pretty close quarters, but we also make sure we have staff around to make sure the elephants don't get too close. But they are still wild and still dangerous. They are huge beasts and untamed. We have bricks and walls between the elephants and the guests, such as the counter and other barriers, to stop them getting to people and if they try to, there is enough time for people to get away."
Naturally, the lodge is a bigger attraction for both elephants and guests during trek time. "We find that we get more people visiting us during the elephant migration because of the unique experience of being so close to wild animals in an unusual environment." Mr Hogg said.
"This is a totally natural phenomenon. The elephants come here of their own accord and it is a rare but magnificent sight."
The full article contains 635 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
