Sustainability
Caring for the stunning natural environment around us
At Cathedral Peak Hotel, we acknowledge and honour our incredible position in the stunning uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, and are dedicated to protecting the stunning natural beauty and delicate balance of life.
We constantly look for ways in which we can better safeguard the abundance of nature that surrounds us, and have several ongoing initiatives and solutions to ensure we continue to become more eco-friendly.
Flora
- Our firewood is sourced from a sustainable and controlled wattle plantation
- We are constantly eradicating alien plants and rehabilitating grasslands, using a local workforce
- Replanting and landscaping with exclusively indigenous vegetation
- We support KZN Ezemvelo, a nature conservation organisation that manages more than 120 protected areas, including the Drakensberg Park
- We continuously embark on Donga reclamation and path maintenance to minimise erosion
Fauna
- We are always looking out for endangered or threatened species that we can help protect, including the Bearded Vulture, Cape Vulture, African Honeybee and more
- KZN Ezemvelo not only protects the natural environment, but the wildlife that calls the areas under their protection home. Our support of KZN Ezemvelo assists them in looking after both the fauna and flora both in the Drakensberg Park and beyond.
- We have partnered with the Owl Box Project which aims to improve the breeding and rehabilitation of urban owl species; as such we have successfully installed 2 owl boxes on our property
- We have partnered with the Bat Box Project which aims to support resident bat populations; as such we have installed a bat station in one of our large Oak trees.
Water
- All our water comes from the constantly flowing Mhlonhlo River, and is filtered and passed through UV light to ensure that it is safe to drink and use
- Our on-site water purification system purifies 90% of the water used in the hotel and then discharges it back into the river system
- A natural spring on the property that flows all year round is piped to our bottling shed where it is filtered and passed through UV light to provide guests with bottled water in the rooms, bars and shop
- Alien plants along the water courses are eradicated on an on-going basis
Energy
- Water from the Umlambonja and Mlhonhlo Rivers passes through our hydro-electric plant to generate electricity for the hotel – the turbine runs during the early mornings and evenings producing up to 350kW of peak power during the summer months
- Our solar photovoltaic plant produces clean electricity from the sun, with a 275kW capacity during daylight hours
- As we are licensed by NERSA (National Energy Regulator of South Africa) we are able to assist Eskom by exporting excess power to the national grid
- Our cutting-edge 645kVA Battery Converter system and 1MWh Li-Iron Phosphate Battery ensures that during power outages our hotel has uninterrupted power. Our hydro-electric and solar plants are used as renewable sources of energy to charge the battery
- Eco-friendly bulbs, timer switches and day/night sensors help us keep our energy consumption to a minimum
- Replacing all conventional geysers with low-energy-consuming heat pumps
