EMBRACING THE ENVIRONMENT / TREAD LIGHT, FUTURE BRIGHT / CONSCIOUS LIGHT LIVING
Gonana Guest House is Paternoster’s first sustainable and environmentally conscious guest accommodation.
For Swedish entrepreneur and owner Jonas Sandström, treading lightly on the fragile West Coast environment is a no brainer.
“If we want to enjoy earth’s gifts, we need to also give back to her. And by doing so we give back to each other,” says Jonas.


Being virtually off the grid and completely environmentally ethical, Gonana practises what it preaches – every day. All water used in the guest house is recycled to use in toilets and other appropriate places. If you visit Gonana, you’ll see that bathrooms only have showers and even the shower heads are water saving. This dramatically decreases potable water usage without any inconvenience to guests. Rainwater is also harvested and stored in collection tanks, to be used in the house and for maintaining the waterwise indigenous gardens. Even the pool is saltwater.
Electricity is a scarce and unpredictable commodity in South Africa, but at Gonana the lights always stay on. This, because all power for the guest house is solar generated; even the geysers and pool are solar heated and the kitchen has a gas stove. So, power to us … always.
Of course we recycle too: paper, plastic, glass and metal. But we also bring in as few of these materials as possible to start with. We just don’t do wastage and junk. Because we do respect the environment in a big way. So even the furniture created for Gonana is of alien pine, and no indigenous hardwoods have been used at all.



Then, in our immediate environment, we have started a conservation project to stablise and conserve the dunes between the house and the beach. Guests are requested to only use the dune path to protect delicate dune fauna and flora.
So maybe we are justified in being proud, because we have created a space that is as kind and friendly to the environment as we are to our guests.
From me, Joy and Thandi, here’s wishing you a restive and safe holiday season.
Jonas Sandström
Gonana Guest House
Paternoster, South Africa