Sharm el Sheikh-based Camel Dive Club and Hotel has been awarded the first-ever Clean Sharm Company of the Month award to recognise its initiatives to help the environment. The centre developed its Eco Tribe group - headed by Camel dive instructor Cath Bates - in September last year to help to preserve the marine environment and educate guests and the local community about the importance of eco-friendly diving tourism.
‘Camel received the award for various important measures that contribute to a cleaner Sharm, and protection of the unique South Sinai eco-system both on land and underwater,' said the local environmental volunteer group Clean Sharm.
Clean Sharm highlighted various points which made Camel a worthy winner. These included a ban on plastic bags within all of its outlets and the installation of a 40-kilowat generating solar panel in the centre’s training pool - the first system of its kind to be used in the Middle East. Beach and underwater clean-ups; energy efficient measures within the hotel and outlets; sponsorship of a waste bin project at Naama Bay Jetty; presentations to holiday representatives in Sharm to help highlight marine environment protection to non-divers; local school presentations at St Joseph’s in Hadaba; and the support and active participation in conservation group schemes such as Coral Watch, Red Sea Turtle Project and Shark Week, were among other initiatives highlighted.
www.cameldive.com.