When your nearest vegetable supplier is not only somewhat unreliable but also a hot and bumpy 3-hour round trip away, it’s time to take life into your own hands and grow your own! That’s exactly what we are doing at Hammerkop Migration Camp, we are growing our own in our new ‘’veggie garden’’!

• You can’t get fresher than straight from the garden to the plate 

Guests on safari can sometimes be a bit wary of eating vegetables, especially salads, applying the old traveler’s adage of “Boil it, cook it, peel it or forget it!” But everyone is delighted to tuck into their ‘5 a day’ when they’re told that the veggies are all grown organically on site.

• Sustainability 

Hammerkop Migration Camp aims to produce enough vegetables to sustain the camp and supplement staff rations on a monthly basis. Fuel is saved because of the amount of long road journeys for shopping, trips will be reduced drastically.

• Community benefits

Hammerkop Migration Camp will use the vegetable garden to help promote healthy living with its staff and around 50% of the harvest will be used by the camp team.

• Social benefits

Hammerkop Migration Camp has been closely involved in the planning, building, planting, and maintenance of the garden and they really relish the time spent together on such a rewarding activity. The staff are very proud of their achievements – news of the garden has spread far and wide! And besides, they’ll also be enjoying a more diverse and nutritional diet.

• Financial advantages 

One of the camp’s biggest food expenses is fresh vegetables, so direct costs will be saved as well as the time/travel costs saved by reduced shopping trips. Excess produce could possibly be sold to neighboring properties.

So far unwanted raiders have been kept out by enclosing the garden under 80% shade cloth, reinforcing the walls with chicken mesh which continues meter underground and placing large rocks around the boundary to deter digging. 

Hammerkop garden currently includes herbs, salad vegetables, carrots, broccoli, onions, squash, cauliflower, snow (sugar snap) peas and even, with lots more in the pipeline including specialties such as mushrooms, potatoes watermelon, etc.