Blog

We are incredibly honoured that Malealea Lodge and the Eco Cook Bags Initiative have been featured in Intrepid Travel’s Q2 Supplier and Partner Newsletter as an inspiring example of community-driven sustainability and climate action. This international recognition highlights how tourism can support meaningful environmental action, sustainable livelihoods, and improved living conditions in rural communities.

Just a 15-minute walk from Malealea Lodge, you will find the Teaching Farm, which has its roots alongside the Malealea Development Trust and Rotary International and also thanks to Ken Dunn of Africa’s Gift, Eternal Flame Worldwide, the kind assistance of Kingsley Napley and Sheffield Hallam University.

Recently, we visited the farm to commemorate the life of Sue, a very special lady from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. Sue spent much time working at the Teaching Farm with her students, leaving behind a meaningful connection with Malealea and its community. In her memory, students from Sheffield Hallam University and National University of Lesotho planted 54 wild olive trees, creating a living tribute that will continue to grow for generations to come.

Before the tree planting, Ken Dunn took us on a tour of the farm, sharing his passion and vision for sustainable and regenerative agriculture. We were inspired to learn that the farm has recently been welcomed into the global partnership of the Slow Food Movement as an official Slow Food Farm.

The farm works in harmony with nature, farming without chemical intervention and demonstrating practical ways to care for both the land and the community.

How does this work?

An Intimate Journey Through Lesotho's Heart

Meet Phoka Koatja – Our Barman, Our Mountain Goat 🏔️

This morning at Malealea Lodge, while the world is sitting glued to their screens awaiting the next great moon launch, we quietly conducted a mission of our own…

It began with an unexpected discovery: a highly organised, buzzing “alien colony” had taken up residence inside one of our rooms. Not paying rent. Not checking out. And definitely not following housekeeping schedules.

Enter our elite team, Leon (Thabang) Sesler and Tleki Musi

Dressed in full white suits, helmets down, gloves on — our very own Malealea Astronauts stepped onto the “launch pad”. Ladders were deployed. Equipment checked. Smoker ignited.

“Houston, we have bees.”

With the calm precision of a lunar landing, they ascended. One small step for man… one giant leap away from getting stung.

Below, ground control (a couple of curious onlookers and probably someone holding their breath) watched as the operation unfolded. The hive was carefully opened, the bees gently persuaded that relocation was in their best interest, and then — the jackpot.

Honey. And not just a little. Proper, golden, dripping, winter-saving honey.

At one point, there was even a moment that felt suspiciously like a spacewalk: one beekeeper halfway up the ladder, another reaching out — a slow-motion handover of equipment that could easily have been mistaken for passing a tool outside a spacecraft.

Except instead of orbiting Earth, they were orbiting a thatched rondavel.

And instead of vacuum… there were bees. Lots of bees.

Mission status:
• Crew: safe ✅
• Bees: respectfully relocated ✅
• Honey reserves: successfully extracted (and looking delicious) ✅

By the end of it all, our astronauts returned to Earth (the lawn), slightly sticky, slightly smoky, but triumphant.

So while the rest of the world holds their breath for rockets heading to the moon, we at Malealea are proud to report:

👉 We’ve secured our own liquid gold supply for the winter
👉 Natural remedies for colds and flus are officially stocked
👉 And we’ve proven that you don’t need a billion-dollar space programme to run a successful mission — just a ladder, a smoker, and a lot of bravery

Tonight, as we stir a spoon of that honey into our tea, we remember…

It didn’t come from a supermarket shelf.
It came from a high-risk, astronaut-level extraction mission right here at the lodge.

Mission complete 🌿🍯🚀

Every now and then, we receive feedback about our food that makes me pause, smile a little, and reflect on where we are — and what we offer.

Over the years, we’ve been told our food is “not African enough.” More recently, we’ve been told it’s “not European enough.” And now, occasionally, that the dining room is not decorated enough. In many ways, that perfectly captures the unique space Malealea Lodge occupies.