Watatunga Wildlife Reserve achieves Gold Green Tourism Award
Achieving our Gold Green Tourism Award
Over the winter period we have been working incredibly hard behind the scenes to attain a Green Tourism Award. We received our results a few weeks ago and we are over the moon as we have managed to obtain a Gold Tourism Award! A Green Tourism certification evidences the commitment of a business to sustainability and is incredibly important to us at Watatunga as being a sustainable business and focusing on eco-tourism is at the heart everything we do here. As a small business we like to practise what we preach. For people to come to Watatunga and successfully connect with the animals and nature, we must educate people and lead by example to enable them to look after the planet and implement green initiatives where possible.
The Green Tourism Award marking criteria consists of three categories based on people, places and planet goals. The people goals are communication, awareness, community, health & wellbeing, equality, diversity & inclusivity. The places goals are destination, experiences, food & drink, travel, & biodiversity. Lastly the planet goals are energy, water, waste, carbon & chemicals.
Improving our impact on the climate
We have been focusing on assessing our carbon emissions and reducing our carbon footprint and evaluating the effects of climate change on Watatunga i.e. in the winter of 2023 into 2024 we had the highest levels of rainfall in Norfolk since 1974. A stark contrast to the weather we are seeing today – Where we have had little to no rainfall in the last 2 months.
In 2024 we spent an enormous amount of time, money and effort on the flooding infrastructure within the reserve. We have installed new drainage systems, new pumps, new grids and new pipes to allow a larger amount of water to pass through Watatunga in a safe way that still protects our wetland birds living within the reserve. We put new pipes under the bunds surrounding the reserve with non-return valves to allow water to exit the reserve. We even installed a valve onto our largest lake within the reserve to control the water levels so that they didn’t get too high and cause erosion on our 3 islands – You can see how the water has slowly eaten away at the islands over that winter! All in all, we spent about £10,000 on flooding infrastructure within the reserve so that we are more protected for flash flooding. We continue to maintain the reserve tracks to our best capabilities ensuring that it is a smooth ride for our lovely guests.
To improve our green tourism rating we have installed water buts, additional compost heaps and additional recycling bins across all areas of the business. We carry out annual ‘green training’ sessions with staff to raise awareness of the importance of reducing waste, recycling etc. We now have a green action plan for the business, and we are much more prepared in terms of how to steer Watatunga into a more sustainable future. As a small business we are choosing to do this at a slow pace, where financially feasible as everything is becoming increasingly more expensive. We have switched all our cleaning products to Ecover and Ocean Saver, both are environmentally friendly and are re-fillable, and reduced our single-item usage.
Green Tourism on a local level
We put a real focus on our gift shop this year, you may see that we have an array of new products available, this is because we have reviewed all our suppliers and ensured that we are sourcing everything from Norfolk based companies. Here at Watatunga we are incredibly passionate about supporting local businesses and sourcing responsible products for our gift shop i.e. wooden magnets and pens, we do not source plastic items for the shop and ensure that everything is sustainable and aligned with Green Tourism principles. We have been getting involved with local community projects such as attending Earth Day in our local village: focusing on promoting sustainable practices in day-to-day life as part of our wider commitment to Green Tourism. We also take part in local environmental initiatives such as the ‘Friends of The Walks‘ a local community group dedicated to preserving Kings Lynn’s town walk. Our team assisted in mulching new trees to aid in their growth.
We work with VENI to attend local events and host social events at our venue. VENI is the Visitor Economy Network Initiative, a partnership that brings educators, businesses, the public sector and social enterprises closer together. We hosted a Hospitality Masterclass with VENI to help those living in West Norfolk who were not in employment or education. This year we will also be attending 6 local fetes to become more involved in the local community and network with other businesses: You can find us at Stradsett Steam Rally, Downham Market Festival, Warehouse Farmers Market, Watlington Fete, Wimbotsham Fayre, & Weeting Steam Rally, where we will be giving out 10% discount codes to visit Watatunga that will be valid for 1 year – a great way to encourage more people to experience Green Tourism in action.
The importance of mental health and accessibility
We have sent 3 staff members on a mental health first aid course as the health and wellbeing of our team are incredibly important to us. Our work here at Watatunga is very seasonal which means August can be a little bit intense! For our team to perform at their best it is vital that they are all happy and content within their job roles. This year we will be hosting a ‘pay as you feel’ day of tours for local mental health charities on world mental health day in October – another initiative that supports the ‘people’ pillar of Green Tourism. We have also had all our properties assessed professionally and have had accessibility guides carried out on each property and the reception building, as well as installing a profiling bed in Major’s holiday let. We have purchased hearing loops for people with hearing aids and larger sized guidebooks for people that struggle to read smaller writing. It is important to us at Watatunga that we are as inclusive as possible across every Watatunga experience.
Creating a Biodiversity base
Perhaps one of the most exciting projects (from Molly, Operation manager, and Miranda our conservation officer’s point of view anyway) is the start of our Biodiversity Base. Regular visitors may remember the little fenced in area of woodland to the left-hand side of the reception building that wasn’t being used for anything. We have taken over this area and turned it into a biodiversity base! This base will complement our educational visits and will be a protected area where flora and fauna can thrive. We hope to get this up and running before the end of the 2025 season and will conduct lessons based on pond dipping, carrying out pit fall traps, IDing sessions, building bird boxes etc! It will be great for children that get itchy feet sitting in a classroom environment, enabling us to carry out more interactive sessions.
If you’d like to know any more information about any of the above, feel free to chat to one of our guides on your next visit! Our guides love nothing more than answering questions from people that are interested in Watatunga and that are invested in our green journey so please do reach out to them. In short – becoming more sustainable and improving the biodiversity of this planet are some of our core values, to conserve the species that we love we must conserve the planet – the two go hand in hand. We hope to see you at some point this season, book a safari tour here.