Blooming stands for sustainability, inclusion, accessibility and empowerment for our unique talents with special needs. But we do more. Sustainability is not only an important issue for us, but fortunately it is becoming increasingly important and well-known worldwide. We work according to the three Ps of sustainability: people, planet and profit.
Read below how we promote sustainable tourism within our own bubble.

Community
Blooming is the showcase on Zanzibar when it comes to Community Contributions.
More Africa NGO is of course located on the same location as our guesthouse. Five days a week, 40 children with special needs are offered special education, physical therapy, daycare and medical care here.
We also have a swimming pool, where we offer local children and also adults free swimming lessons.

Community Based Tourism
A major goal for Blooming Zanzibar is to develop the “community based tourism“, where encounters between locals and visitors from other parts of the world are encouraged. You can read more HERE.

(Woman) empowerment
Empowerment is one of our most important pillars. We felt it is extremely important to give our special needs children a voice so that they can develop themselves. We also feel it is very important to support all the strong women in the local community. We do this in different ways.
- We offer “off the beaten track” excursions where you can visit women’s initiatives on Zanzibar as a guest.
- Only ladies work at the school, who do not always have the right education, but do have the right heart. We train them ourselves and they can grow and develop with us.

Waste management
Waste, and especially waste disposal, is a huge problem on Zanzibar. Many times, unfortunately, waste is still burned, or dumped somewhere in the bushes.
Blooming Zanzibar works together with “Zanrec”. They are the only company on Zanzibar that processes waste correctly.
In addition, we use all our degradable waste such as food scraps as food for the chickens and ducks or we use it as compost. We do not use plastic water bottles, but large recyclable bottles and glass bottles.

Get involved
As a guest of Blooming Zanzibar you are involved in our work by your stay alone. By your stay, you donate directly to our school for children with disabilities, More Africa.
There are more ways to be involved:
- Come as a volunteer
- Take something from our wishlist
- Come for a working holiday

Solar
Unfortunately, we do not currently have a solar, but this is 100% on our wish list.
Solar fits within our ideas for sustainability. In addition, the power grid on Zanzibar is a disaster. In the high season, the voltage does not exceed 140 to 150. As a result, all electrical appliances are constantly breaking down. We only see advantages when it comes to solar; sustainable, better for the environment and no more hassle with the Zanzibar power grid. Of course, the costs will eventually pay for themselves.

Ocean
Zanzibar is an island, in the Indian Ocean. The ocean is a natural resource, think fishing, seaweed plantations, etc. But also, the ocean is something very fragile that needs to be protected. Think of jet skis (which are illegal, but unfortunately still there), tourists who through (often) ignorance touch or take starfish out of the water which then die, snorkelers who step on the coral and people who leave trash in the ocean during their trips.
Blooming Zanzibar tries to explain the do’s and dont’s to its visitors.
Don’t touch starfish, don’t go jet skiing, clean up your trash behind you. Speak to others about that, too. The world belongs to all of us. It is a treasure that we need and should be very careful of!

Water
We think the plastic problem is a huge problem on Zanzibar. Unfortunately, there are still a huge number of stores and hotels selling plastic bottles. These end up in the villages and in the sea. This so-called “plastic soup” is a big problem for marine life underwater. We therefore offer our guests a glass bottle of water in the rooms, which can be filled in our restaurant without limit in reusable, recyclable 20liter bottles. You can return these bottles and they will be recycled. In this way we improve the waste problem and ensure a sustainable water supply.

Handmade products
We make the most beautiful handmade products with our children and young adults. We try to use local, natural products as much as possible and reduce the amount of plastic.
The products may not be perfect, but there is a huge amount of love, time, perseverance, energy and fun in them.

This makes them…
“Perfectly Imperfect”

Local materials & natural building techniques
We strive to use local and environmentally friendly materials.
Did you know that coconut is very useful? We drink the coconut, local ladies process the coconut into rope, which we use for decoration and our beachbeds. The wood is used to make tables, chairs and other materials. Our floor in the restaurant and pool is Tanga stone, a type of stone from (you guessed it) Tanga, on the mainland.
Supporting local and using traditional manual building techniques reduces our carbon footprint and also assists with job creation and skills development.

Local Partnerships
As a hotel on Zanzibar, being sustainable is not always easy. Everywhere you find plastic, trash, etc. Blooming therefore collaborates with several local initiatives, all of which stand for sustainability. In our guesthouse you will find products from these social enterprises and NGOs. In this way we are working together for a better, more sustainable and cleaner Zanzibar. We work together with Chako and Live Life Always, among others.

Vegetable garden
In our lush green garden, a special spot is reserved for our vegetable garden. Herbs, spices, vegetables and fruits grow and bloom here. Our chefs daily pick what is ripe and prepare it for you. Our local staff also eats from this garden.