The Gondwana Collection’s King Nehale Lodge at Etosha was officially opened at the weekend after the May 2020 initial plans were dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic that had dealt a blow to the hospitality and tourism industry.
Ondonga Traditional Authority’s Omukwaniilwa Fillemon Shuumbwa Nangolo and Environment, Tourism and Forestry Minister Pohamba Shifeta officially opened the lodge.
At the official opening ceremony, Shifeta lauded the initiative taken by the Gondwana Collection Namibia to establish a joint-venture partnership with the King Nehale Conservancy, saying “it could be used as a case study for successful joint venture partnership agreements in conservancies.”
The Minister revealed that a total of N$1.4 million had been paid to the King Nehale Conservancy to date and N$214,000 to the Ondonga Traditional Authority, while the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism had received N$500,000 in park entrance fees from visitors to the Gondwana Collection Namibia’s exclusive waterhole in the Etosha National Park.
Gondwana Collection Namibia Founder and Brand and Marketing Director Manfred Goldbeck announced that, in celebrating the occasion, all the room fees for that weekend would be donated to the Oompale Trust Fund.
The Fund was established a few weeks after the inauguration of Omukwaniilwa Fillemon Shuumbwa Nangolo in June 2019 and is named after the centuries-old taxation system that requires households in Ondonga to bring a portion of their new mahangu or sorghum harvests through their villages’ leadership to the palace.
This enabled the Omukwaniilwa to provide food to the vulnerable people, especially during droughts, and for use during ceremonies and public events.
The income generated will go towards the construction of ‘The Gondwana House’ which will be used as the Omukwaniilwa’s guest suite at the Onambango palace south of Ondangwa.
The 40-roomed Gondwana Collection’s Etosha King Nehale Lodge is situated in the King Nehale Conservancy, north of the Etosha National Park.
The Gondwana Collection operates 16 tourism properties, located in community areas and conservancies.
