Visit the Noloholo Environmental Center
Visit the Noloholo Environmental Center
Our headquarters, the Noloholo Environmental Center, is a top-notch conservation and education facility. The only center of its kind in northern Tanzania, Noloholo consists of classrooms, meeting spaces, program offices, guest cottages, dining and kitchen facilities, staff housing, a dormitory, and outdoor learning areas. Noloholo serves as an important resource and meeting place for conservation organizations, local communities, and government authorities in the region.
Located just outside the border of Tarangire National Park on land donated by a Maasai community, Noloholo’s 10-acre campus operates on 24-hour solar power and utilizes rainwater harvesting. Our structures are a blend of indoor and outdoor spaces, providing comfortable yet progressive areas where people from all places—local and international—gather to further APW's work in conservation.
Great Room and Patio
Noloholo’s Great Room serves as a gathering area and meeting space. It features a large compass embedded in its floor and a ceiling covered with billowing cotton cloth. The adjacent patio is the ideal spot for youth to play educational games during environmental summer camps. The patio’s surface—which is also used for rainwater harvesting—consists of rocks collected from surrounding hilltops. The iconic red mortar was made by mixing clay from abandoned termite mounds with cement.
Seminar Space
Noloholo’s seminar space can accommodate groups of up to 80 people at a time and is fully equipped with projector capabilities and high-speed internet access. The room’s large windows are covered with lightly woven shades. During our environmental summer camps, the space is filled with fun learning activities and the songs of enthusiastic local students.
Program Offices
As a working conservation facility, Noloholo's field-based operations maximize the success of our community-driven model. APW team members possess a deep knowledge and understanding of human-wildlife dynamics and local approaches to conservation issues. Our programs are run from three local offices, each featuring high-speed internet and interactive desk spaces.
Outdoor Learning Areas
Noloholo’s field-based location provides an ideal environment to learn about and experience community-driven conservation. The center’s surrounding areas are excellent for birdwatching, studying wildlife tracks, and visiting local conservation projects. During our youth environmental summer camps, the outdoor spaces are used for educational activities and games.
Guest Cottages
Our three guest cottages provide high-end accommodations for groups of six people or less. Featuring running water, solar-powered electricity, and modern, private bathrooms, each cottage sleeps two people. Additional accommodations can be arranged for larger groups.
Dormitory
Our airy, spacious dormitory is equipped with eight rooms that house up to 32 guests in bunk beds (four people to a room). The dormitory hallway is divided in the middle by a lockable door and can easily be partitioned by gender. Separate men’s and women’s showers and composting pit toilets are a short walk from the building.
Green Facilities
Noloholo’s construction combines traditional building methods with the principles of sustainable architecture. The center is powered entirely by solar energy, providing year-round, 24-hour electricity that runs our headquarters and offices efficiently. Our freezer and refrigerator systems are also solar-powered, allowing us to bring fresh food from the nearby city of Arusha on a regular basis.
“The Noloholo Environmental Center was the ideal venue for the National Cheetah Coordinators course. Not only were the facilities comfortable and interactive, but the location offered excellent exposure to APW’s programs, local wildlife populations, and surrounding communities who face the challenges of living alongside the large carnivores that were our focus.”
NICK MITCHELL, PH.D., RANGE WIDE CONSERVATION PROGRAM FOR CHEETAH AND AFRICAN WILD DOGS (RWCP)
RELATED
Northern Tanzania is one of the world’s greatest centers of large mammal biodiversity. Learn more
APW is helping to grow the next generation of conservation leaders. Learn more