Page 6 - LandscapeSA Issue 106

PROJECT
ANGAMA MARA’S SHAMBA
Angama Mara is a luxury lodge in
Kenya, overlooking the Maasai Mara
game reserve. Owner Nicky Fitzgerald
tasked landscaper Ian Dommisse with
designing a ‘magical food garden’ to
provide fresh, homegrown produce for
the remotely situated establishment.
The shamba (Swahili word for a
vegetable garden) is part and parcel of
the guest experience.
Raised calabash garden with pergola providing dappled sunlight sketch of the calabash garden in zone 3 of the shamba
4 Landscape SA • Issue 106 2021
Drone shot of the shamba. PHOTO BY DOOK.
ommisse’s work focusses on edible gardens in the hospitality
industry, but he has recently broadened this scope to include
Dcommercial and residential garden design. Landscape SA
featured his Octopus Garden at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town in
its August 2021 issue, No.104.
Design considerations and planning
To begin with, Dommisse was required to secure the shamba
perimeter from animals, and put in place the following structures:
• a tall, natural woven forest fence around the shamba, using flexible
branches sourced from a nearby forest;
• thorn trees were planted all along the outside of the fence to keep
• beehives were strategically positioned around the shamba;
animals out, and sharp stones were deposited around the perimeter;
• a manyatta was built. This is a traditional shelter to house the
shamba keeper, as the most potent defence against animals is the
smell of humans.
• given the remote location and sheer size of the shamba, a nursery
and service area were incorporated into the design, carefully
positioned and running parallel to the length of the garden.