Overlooking the Luangwa River deep within the prime area of the South Luangwa National Park, Kaingo's relaxed, personal and friendly atmosphere offers its guests fantastic game-viewing opportunities within an area of incredible beauty and varied terrain.
 
 
Built and run by Derek Shenton, son of Barry Shenton – former ranger in Luangwa and warden of Kafue National Park – Kaingo has many attributes from the Shenton family ranging from the camps stylish design and practical layout to the local farm produce. The large centrally located open-sided sitting room includes a dining area, library and Kaingo's renowned thousand year old lead-wood bar.
 
Nestled discretely apart on the banks of the river, Kaingo's chalets were designed with the sole purpose of transporting you safely into the world of the Luangwa without a single distraction. Hanada – The
History
The Hanada Project grew from an idea of Mrs Hilda Hampondo who wanted to help the many orphans in the Mfuwe area. These vulnerable children are usually cared for by the extended family but problems arise when that family is already struggling to make ends meet. Her idea was to provide a daily meal, and later, if funds allowed, accommodation.
 
In 2007 she approached us to fund a building project on land donated by Chief Mhukhanya.
 
Clean Drinking Water
Phase 1 entailed sinking a well for clean drinking water and phase 2 the construction of an office and store which was finished in 2008. In 2009 Derek personally supervised phase 3, the building of a thatched chitenge as a place for the children to play and eat, a long-drop toilet and the sinking of a borehole. Phase 1, 2 and 3 were funded by Derek and I directly, and supplemented by very kind guest donations.
 
the end of 2008 we donated our tailor to train some local ladies in the use of donated sewing machines. Under the oversight of Mrs Hampondo, several ladies were taught to make wrap around skirts to sell at a local craft market to try to generate an ongoing source of income for the project. Whilst very modest in size, this project generates gainful employment for a few of the local ladies.
 
The Cause of Veronica
In 2009, we took on the very desperate cause of Veronica Lungu. Veronica is one of the vulnerable children on Mrs Hampondo's list, she is 16 years old and lives with her grandmother. Veronica had a goiter that was threatening her ability to eat and even to breathe. Veronica, along with her grandmother and Mrs Hampondo moved to our home in Lusaka where she lived for several months whilst Doctors tried to figure out the best way to remove this huge growth, whilst giving her the highest chance of keeping her voice. Scan after expensive scan was required to try and figure out how they could do this.
 
Veronica then moved to the hospital where she was an in-patient for more than a month, it was touch and go several times during the process, but the growth was successfully removed AND Veronica kept her voice. We were unable to send newsletters at the time all this was going on, and so in order to fund this process we had to dip into the building funds, we felt confident this would be OK knowing that Veronica's cause was one that would touch the hearts of all our kind previous donators. In addition we are extremely grateful to the valley Doctor Rhona Whiston for her kind donations towards Veronica's treatment.
 
Also in 2009, we purchased a new bicycle for Mrs Hampondo so she could reach the children in the outlying areas to assess their circumstances and deliver care parcels when available.
 
New Direction – PROJECT LUANGWA
Our two camps (Kaingo and Mwamba Busch Camp) are located deep inside the national park and so are situated 2 hour's drive from the Hanada project. Our commitment to personally oversee the building and to ensure each donated dollar has been most efficiently spent, combined with Veronica's operation and the global downturn and a decrease in donations has meant the project has proceeded quite slowly in recent times.
 
In 2009, we banded together with some other like minded lodges to form Project Luangwa–The mission statement of Project Luangwa is: "To ensure the people of the Luangwa Valley gain the full benefit from tourism by investing in education and business development. Whilst we are still responsible for fund raising and we're remaining involved in the direction of Hanada, this organisation, led by devoted and hard working Karen Beattie and Dave Hopson, is handling the administration of the project.
 
The administration costs are funded by the conservation and community levy charged by the participating lodges. What this means is that each and every donation from our guests goes 100% to Project Luangwa and directly benefits the children. This element was critical in our decision to join the Project as we have always promised our kind donators this level of application of their monies.
 
Through Project Luangwa, and the excellent work achieved by Karen and Dave, we are delighted to see tangible results for Hanada. After all these years of Shenton Safaris and our generous guests supporting the community, the site has been developed from an idea into real premises where the community can run a business to support a pre-school for orphans and vulnerable children.
 
Infrastructure
Now a large brick building houses offices and work rooms and close by is a thatched chitenge where two teachers give daily lessons. There are toilet facilities and a borehole supplies clean and safe drinking water. Seven sewing machines have been provided and local ladies have formed a committee and plan to make items for sale such as school uniforms and other clothing.
 
Self Management
Project Luangwa has a policy of encouraging the community to manage their own projects. This, we feel, is an important part of business development and decreases reliance on aid. So, as with all our projects, it has always been the intention that Hanada is managed by the community themselves.
 
We are proud to say that now the building work is complete Hanada will be totally managed and further developed by the community under the guidance of His Highness Chief Mnkhanya
Donations
Funds are continuously required for the ongoing support of our local community. Here are only a few examples of so many of our guests who have contributed, and continue to do so, to our projects. In 2009 Robert Revak kindly donated a significant amount of money in memory of his wife Julia, which is enabling Shenton Safaris and Project Luangwa to further assist Hanada in developing the sewing project and pre-school. Ondine Chadwick, who currently lives in the Middle East and has been a repeat visitor of South Luangwa (Ondine and Peter were here as recently as August 2011), combines her love for creating and sewing with the amazing fabrics found in her location to raise funds for the orphanage and other projects. Over the last years, she has organized or participated in at least 6 "bazaars", selling her creations and generating thousands of dollars in donation. Peter Lemon, whose story you can read in our Nov 2010 newsletter, never pays us a visit without asking about the progress of our projects and making a donation towards the orphanage.
 
If you would like to make a donation please do get in touch with us at info@kaingo.com or donate directly via Project Luangwa's donation page.
 
If you are planning a visit to us, you can also choose to bring much needed supplies. For this we invite you to check the helpful website of Pack For A Purpose, where Rebecca and Scott Rothney are doing an amazing job at inspiring many travellers in making a big impact on the lives of children around the world.
Pack For A Purpose
For a little effort, you can add great value to your vacation! A convenient, and priceless, way of donating is to devote a bit of space in your luggage and fill it with supplies needed in the communities at your destination. Simply go to PACK FOR A PURPOSE, or contact us and we will liaise with Project Luangwa to see what supplies are most necessary. At the end of 2008 we donated our tailor to train some local ladies in the use of donated sewing machines. Under the oversight of Mrs Hampondo, several ladies were taught to make wrap around skirts to sell at a local craft market to try to generate an ongoing source of income for the project. Whilst very modest in size, this project generates gainful employment for a few of the local ladies.
Project Luangwa Needs:
Pens, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, rulers, erasers, chalk, pencil cases, solar scientific calculators (not ordinary calculators), soft cover A 5 lined exercise books and hard cover A4 lined exercise books, Blu-Tack, chess sets, Scrabble and other educational games, educational wall charts or posters, maps, reading books in English for various ages from primary school age to teenage, maths sets, deflated soccer balls, volley balls, netballs/basketballs, spare valves and pumps, soccer boots in sizes 4 to 11, new or gently used whole sets of soccer kits/strips (for a full school or junior team), netball/basketball kits for children and ladies.