Chinzombo

Chinzombo has only six spacious villas, allowing for a true feeling of serenity. One is a family unit with two bedrooms and they are all designed in a highly contemporary style. They each come with very comfortable twin or king-size beds, with good reading lights and surrounded by mosquito nets for peace of mind. In addition, each bed is fitted with its own air-con unit, which very gently and quietly cools the surrounding air. This works well to help you sleep during the hotter months, and while it doesn’t cool the entirety of the large room, it is supported by a free-standing fan next to the beds and a ceiling fan in the bathroom. The amenities are simply exquisite, including the likes of a minibar and a tea- and coffee-making station. There’s complimentary WiFi access in every room as well.

The award-winning culinary team at Chinzombo creates an extraordinary dining experience amonst the bush that blends expert culinary skills, impeccable service and stylish presentation. The menu’s dishes draw from the rich cultural and natural heritage of Zambia, featuring vibrant flavours, produce and traditions. By bringing together the best of Zambia with inspiration from around the world, the dining experience appeals to all international guests while retaining its wonderful Zambian authenticity.

Chinzombo is open all year and guests have the opportunity to see incredible African wildlife in their natural habitat. Lions and leopards provide exemplary predator action all year around, as do the river crossings of large elephant herds. If you want to see a specific animal, look up their peak seasons. Endangered wild dogs, for example, are easier to spot between October and April, while the carmine bee-eaters are best seen from September to November.

Whenever you decide to come, the game drives are to sure to provide you with last memories.

Walking safaris are an opportunity to explore the wonders of Africa on your own two feet, without any trace of an engine, in much the same way as David Livingstone did. Guides will impart their extensive knowledge unto you as they show you around the Zambian landscape. A more intimate experience than a game drive, walking safaris are an immersive experience that bring you up close and personal to Africa.

Truly revitalise and rejuvenate your body with an in-room spa treatment at Chinzombo. The trained specialists can cater to any specific need, allowing you to relieve stress and tension wherever it may be coalescing in your body. Using on the best remedies and ingredients, take a day during your stay to treat yourself and make sure you head on home with a body that feels brand new.

Chinzombo offers guests the chance to sleep under the stars themselves – and when the sky is as big as it is here, that is a lot of stars indeed! The Milky Way is often clearly visible here due to the lack of electric light pollution, making this night a magical experience that you’ll never want to end. This is an opportunity not to be missed while you’re in Zambia.

Only available at certain times of the year, the boating safaris give you the unique perspective of seeing some of Africa’s aquatic wildlife up close, including hippos, local fish and even a few crocs if you’re lucky. Land-based wildlife can also be spotted from the waters.

The Time + Tide Foundation (TTF) creates social value in the Time + Tide communities. As the philanthropic arm of the Time + Tide tourism brand, the Foundation invests in the future productivity of African economies through community and school-based learning. The TTF focuses on five main pillars: female empowerment, health, home-based education, student sponsorship and wildlife conservation.

For girls who grow up in rural Africa, poor school attendance during their teenage years correlates with advanced sexual initiation, earlier marriage and childbearing, higher rates of STDs including HIV and AIDS, and greater risk of domestic violence. As adolescent girls quickly transition from childhood to motherhood, these women are less likely to value learning, to be aware of the returns of schooling and to ultimately ensure that their children receive an education when they grow up, making it more challenging for them to break the endless cycle of poverty.

The TTF’s Female Empowerment initiatives inspire primary school girls from some of the most isolated communities in Madagascar and Zambia to believe in their self-worth. The aim is to increase the number of primary school girls who successfully transition to, and complete, secondary school. Specifically, the current programme objective is to see 70% of female beneficiaries achieve high enough exam scores to advance to quality boarding schools. These schools have better resources than local government day schools and also provide a truly academic environment and shelter girls from the domestic expectations of their homes and communities.

In order to do this, the TTF holds weekly clubs with over 180 girls across 9 schools and focuses their activities on building self-esteem, literacy skills and overall academic performance. In 2021, the Female Empowerment Policy was revised to include a three-year commitment from girls, enrolling them in grade 5 only. They are also more closely involving parents in the programme by forming parent committees and sharing curriculum content so they become more aware and engaged with their daughters’ academic and social learnings. The primary beneficiaries of this programme are, naturally, the girls themselves; however, the TTF also holds meetings and workshops with 1,100 teachers and parents on the future earning potential of educated women. Moreover, they host community and school-wide activities, through which they indirectly engage 3,500 students and residents on girls’ rights and the importance of female education.

In Zambia and Madagascar, the 2019 Human Development Report stated that respectively 63% and 44% of births are attended by skilled health personnel. The maternal mortality ratios are 224 and 353 deaths per 100,000 live births. Only 26% of the population in Zambia and a mere 11% in Madagascar have access to basic sanitation facilities.

While the TTF is primarily focussed on education, they also look to provide medical treatment for children who require hospitalisation and consultations with specialists. So far, they have financed surgeries for 14 children with conditions such as bowed legs, cleft lips, life-threatening injuries, and routine shunt replacements. Furthermore, they ensure that children in the home-based education programme receive the medication, food and nutrition they require, offering them an alternative healing therapy called Body Stress Release.

In Madagascar, TTF employs a part-time medical doctor and three full-time nurses to service 20 villages in the Loky-Manambato Protected Area, a few of which are over 45km from the nearest clinic. As a result, 2,800 residents of these villages now have access to reliable medical care in the comfort of their own homes, and an additional 6,000 residents from neighbouring communities need only travel a few kilometres to consult qualified healthcare professionals.

In 2020, the doctor devoted over 500 hours of his time to share Covid-19 preventive measures with residents, simultaneously distributing over 400 reusable masks.

The prevalence of disabilities in children aged 0 – 14 years in sub-Saharan Africa is unknown, with published estimates saying it could be anywhere from 6% to over 20%. What’s more, 90-98% of children with special needs are estimated to be out of school. The result is an incredibly low literacy rate (only 3% of adults with special needs in Sub-Saharan Africa are literate) and severely limited professional opportunities in adulthood.

Children with special needs deserve to share access to the same opportunities, including the chance to attend formal school and learn in inclusive environments. Through the Home-Based Education Programme, the TTF provides individualised education plans for children and their families, with the objective of seeing 75% of these children enrol in primary schools. These plans are delivered firstly in children’s homes, in partnership with their parents, by community caregivers who have received extensive training on the biological, psychological and social challenges faced by children with special needs.

In 2021, a total of 172 children are registered in the home-based education programme, with 60% of children enrolled in formal primary schools. By comparison, only 10% of children were enrolled in school when the programme was piloted in 2016. Significant strides have been accomplished over the last few years, with 16 teachers’ assistants now fully trained and deployed to primary schools to implement inclusive education, and several income-generating projects developed for the benefit of the community caregivers. The programme currently focuses primarily on the 172 children with special needs; however, their activities also directly benefit 1,400 community caregivers, parents and teachers across the area.

A recent report published in Zambia cited that 79% of families with children with special needs unfortunately suffered substantial income loss over 2020, resulting in food insecurity. To assist residents in these areas, many of whom rely on tourism for their livelihoods, the TTF distributed three months’ worth of food hampers to every family on the programme and the volunteer caregivers. In total, 693 hampers were given out, consisting of staple foods, fresh produce, protein, and basic household goods, which benefited over 5,500 residents.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of children are not in school. Of the children who do enter into and remain in school through grade 12, less than 33% can demonstrate an understanding of their course material. Consequently, the majority of students enter the labour market with sub-standard literacy and numeracy skills, hindering their ability to find good, well-paid jobs.

The student sponsorship programme by the TTF strives to eliminate barriers to schooling for students with high academic potential, who would otherwise not be able to afford quality education. Once accepted into the programme, the TTF will then prioritise enrolment, retention and completion of secondary school at well-reputed boarding schools where the educational resources are far better and more numerous than those found at government day schools. Thereafter, the aim is to see 85% of sponsored students retained through secondary school and 50% qualify for government bursaries to attend university.

In 2021, 60 students are sponsored in secondary school and college, 75% of whom attend some of the best boarding schools in their respective provinces. As a result of the investment in their children’s education, 120 parents directly benefit from the sponsorship programme too, with an additional 1,700 residents positively impacted through their relationship to sponsored students and through delivery of goods and services.

Together with Time + Tide, the Time + Tide Foundation is committed to protecting the threatened wildlife and habitats in their areas of business. In Zambia, they support local conservation management organisations in their anti-poaching, environmental education, human-wildlife conflict, and wildlife rehabilitation efforts. In 2019 alone, Time + Tide donated USD $160,000 to these efforts and contributed over $500,000 to the national parks authorities via fees, levies and taxes.

In Madagascar, Time + Tide are uniquely positioned on a protected island, with a full-time environmental team trained in wildlife monitoring and reforestation. They therefore have the opportunity to take a more hands-on approach to conservation, which has involved the monitoring of nesting sea turtles on Nosy Ankao, marine and terrestrial biodiversity surveys, seabird ringing and monitoring, plus a Crowned Lemur Conservation programme.

Ultimately, the success of wildlife conservation depends on the number of people who would gain more financially from protecting animals and their habitats than they would from harvesting them. Through the TTF’s coral reef research, education of fishing associations, reforestation efforts, well installations, and ranger and student training and employment, 1,300 residents in the Loky-Manambato Protected Area directly benefit from these efforts, with a further 5,500 residents receiving secondary or indirect benefits from procurement, job opportunities and the potential for conservation-focused income generating projects.