Malkoha stands in sand forest, a rare and fragile kind of dry tropical forest growing on dunes laid down when the ocean sat further inland. It is a smaller and more particular ecosystem than the woodland around it, and it is classified critically endangered. Much of what remains has been degraded by past cattle farming and by invasive plants, and because the surviving patches are fragmented, each one carries genetic diversity that no other patch holds. Protecting one is not enough.

That is the ground the lodge sits on, inside a UNESCO World Heritage Site and beside Africa’s largest estuarine system. Water here comes from on-site reservoirs. Power runs through a generator when the grid goes down. Firewood is sourced on rotation and, when the bush needs clearing, branches are trimmed and buildings are placed around the trees already standing.