Sal Salis Ningaloo
This Wild Bush Luxury (WBL) operation is located, tucked between the swales of the sand dunes adjacent to the nearest access point to the Ningaloo Reef. It is located at South Mandu. We met with the manager Justine who took us on a tour of the safari tents, and pointed out the features which include African styled canvas and pole tents, which is furnished with king size bed, night table, deck chairs, hammock, small set of drawers. The rear of the tent, through a zippered flap, reveals an ensuite complete with a rain-shower head, a toilet, sink and mirror, which is in an open air design with the tent fly proving privacy. The guest are given 20 liters of water per person daily which the staff must cart from the water holding tank. This water is trucked from Exmouth in a tanker, and unloaded to a stand pipe located on Yardi Creek Rd., and reticulated about 500 meters to the campsite’s holding tank. There are future plants to pipe the water to each of the 9 tents, however for now, the staff must manually distribute the water. Solar panels provide much to the power needs, and there is a back up generator. Perishable food must be brought in every second day, or daily when the camp is fully booked. While there is a small fridge onsite, due to limitations with available power, most perishable food stores are kept in a refrigeration unit at the company’s office located in Exmouth, which is about 80 km’s away. This requires clever and creative management of their scheduling for visitor pick up, staff pickup and supplies.
There is rugged staff accommodations, but staff is prohibited from bringing a vehicle to the site due to a requirement of their licensing conditions. Visitors arriving from the airport are transferred in the company mini bus to the South Mandu parking lots and their bags must be carried on an electric powered golf cart down the track to the tents, and guests walk in.
The accommodations are all inclusive with 3 meals, morning and afternoon teas, canapés, drinks, alcohol, kayak and snorkeling gear. Guided tours are also included in the fee and the options include hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, etc.
Justine spoke about the challenges of this site, which is labour intensive. The site is accredited under Earth Check which is a sustainability program that measures tourism businesses waste, water, energy and greenhouse gas emissions. Earth Check measures performance against other ecotourism businesses against similar typed operations which provide a bench mark, as a basis for the certification. This facilitates continuous improvement, as the bar get raised. This takes quantitative data to measure performance rather then many other programs that are largely qualitative.
They accredited under Ecotourism Australia’s Eco Certification program. The company donates a portion of it’s profits to Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
Justine touched on the fact that at one time they had more staff then number of guests. Through the help of consultation, they were able to address this imbalance. Being this business is operating in a World Heritage Area, there are terms and conditions that must be met and adhered to, making it very challenging to operate. But they seem to have overcome these challenges and continue to operate a profitable site, due to the location and activities offered, the site is so prenominal that WBL is able to charge premium price (>$1000 a night) and so far have been maintain this place in the market and remain profitable.
The guests have typically been about 60% domestic and 40% international, which is a reversal to the other operations of Wild Bush Luxury. Their site license restricts them to 9 tents at double occupancies (18 guest maximum)
Sal Salis satisfies the 5 A’s of tourism destination development, Access, Accommodations, Amenities, Activities & Attractions, Awareness. More on this later.
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