ArchitectureOriginal South African safari tents and Mongolian yurts, which are decorated with traditional paintings, stand at very large distances from each other on raised wooden platforms in the Portugal Nature Lodge. To build the platforms, tents and bath houses, only natural materials from the surrounding area were used.

FoodA community dinner is offered once a week in the Nature Lodge and on two other days there is the option of ordering catering directly into the tent. Exotic dishes are often prepared vegetarian and sometimes vegan, refined foods are avoided and, as far as possible, home-grown vegetables and fruits and eggs from our own happy chickens are used. On request, you can have a breakfast of fresh fruit, homemade jam and pastries with as little sugar and fat as possible brought to the tent. For all other hunger moments, each accommodation is equipped with its own small camping kitchen including a refrigerator.

EnvironmentWhen Joke and Peter were able to buy the land for their Nature Lodge in 2008, no one had lived or worked there for 20 years. Only a few remnants of former dwellings and wild scrub were found. The two of them carefully wrested a little space from the wilderness and always built some buildings in harmony with nature. Some of the electricity is already produced in the Nature Lodge with solar panels and of course only solar and LED lamps are used here. In the tents, only a few lamps and a small refrigerator need electricity. Guests are also required to use water wisely and all detergents and cleaning agents are ecological and biodegradable. The wastewater is reprocessed in several steps in its own biological wastewater treatment plant so that it can then be reused as irrigation for fruit trees. And the swimming pool should be converted to organic as soon as possible, probably as early as 2017.