At Royal Chundu, the village provides, but it also runs, supports, drives and benefits from the lodge. We are a community-run lodge, one of very few of its kind in Africa. We wanted to explain just what we mean by that, because it’s a model that we believe can create…
“One never knows how what one needs will show up. And this week it did in the form of the most generous people that I know,” our guest, Melony Van Der Merwe wrote recently, after her stay on our riverbank. Living in Florida, but South African-born, Melony’s heart keeps calling her back to…
There’s something about the touch of a child’s hand in your hand. The gentle embrace of a life so new and fragile. We arrived on the riverbank of the Malombo village by boat and the faces of the children and grandchildren of the families in the village were the first…
What I remember first is the warm voice of Brinah and the shaking of hands with Godwill, the Royal Chundu car picking me up and carrying us off to the market. I remember the words: Tina has organised something special for you. The scenes out the window as we arrived…
The Chitenge Outside her house, Edith wraps the bright cloth around her body, tucking in the edges of the patterned wrap tightly under her arm. With young children following after her, chicken at her feet, she heads down the dirt path toward the river. She walks slowly and with the…
At this year’s get-together with our greater Relais & Châteaux Africa and Indian Ocean family, we as Royal Chundu were given a chance to share our “best practice” – which for us is and always will be: Community. Below are our Royal Chundu rules when it comes to that special…
