Dumbo Eco Camp: Forming a Village in Guria with Lika Dumbadze

Dumbo Eco Camp brought a new life to the village in Guria, which has no other tourist facilities or infrastructure. Lika Dumbadze inspired the group of international travelers with her idea and within two days they hit the road to build a campground based on sustainability and community. Lika together with her team not only constructed a comfortable living space in nature but a place that embraces diversity. 

It all began during the pandemic when a traveler and wedding planner Lika stayed in Georgia and rekindled with the Guria region. She ran us through all the interesting stages that bring us to today. 

Gathering like-minded people

Since 2014 I have lived abroad, but always kept a strong connection to Georgia and especially to the Guria region, where I purchased the land to take part in rural development and build my little nest there.

I have a passion for traveling, meeting new people, learning new languages and discovering new cultures. Even when I am in my home country, I always try to meet foreigners living in Georgia. I am curious to learn about their experiences and how they perceive my Country. That is how I met my American friend Taylor and his friends who were living in Gudauri and working as ski instructors. 

In 2020, when Covid-19 hit the World and the borders were closed, luckily I was stuck in Georgia. After a month of the Pandemic, I started to think it was a perfect time to bring my plan to action and decided to build a campground. I was an experienced traveler, but I had zero experience in construction, so I started to call my friends asking them for suggestions and help. Taylor was among the first who offered me help and he brought all his ski school team with him. I already knew half of them, but there were new faces as well. 

After our first meeting, when I shared my project and ideas, everyone got very excited and just 2 days later we were already on our way to Guria. A team of international travelers from Georgia, the USA, Poland, Italy, and the Czech Republic started to build a campground in the village where there were no tourist facilities, no market and on the land where there was no water, no electricity and no bathroom. Moreover, it was one of the most difficult and challenging periods of Covid -19. People were not allowed to even walk outside and I brought so many strangers into the village.

In the beginning, I was feeling a bit tense, but fortunately, the villagers welcomed us very warmly. Very soon, the project got social attention and our community started to grow. People from Australia, Russia, Switzerland, and Argentina, started to join us. We even had two volunteers who got married at our place, Luke and Ania officially signed the marriage papers in Ozurgeti city hall, then we celebrated a symbolic ceremony in Gomi mountain and finished the day with a beautiful wedding reception in Dumbo Eco Camp. For me, as a wedding planner, it was one of the most memorable wedding days. Eventually, with a lot of hard work, commitment and power of co-creation in just 2 months, Dumbo Eco camp was built and from August 1st, 2020 we started to receive guests from around the world! 

Choosing a Location

I have a very long family history in Guria. My grandfather was born in Gomi village, but after finishing school, he moved to Tbilisi to study at the University. Since then, none of our family members went back to actually live in the village, but I am very grateful that they have conserved the 200 years old the wooden house where I have spent all my childhood summers. Surrounded by hazelnut forest in the subtropical jungle of the lower Bzhudzhi River valley, the feeling of freedom, the smell of the forest, sound of the Bzhuzhi River imprinted on my mind and followed me everywhere. I deeply believe it is a place where my soul rests. It is a place where I walk barefoot all day, connect with nature, stay alone with myself and most importantly, I love Gurian people, it is so much fun to be around them. After building my little nest, that place became even more special to me. I am so happy and proud that travelers from around the world come to visit my paradise, they have so many stories to tell and skills to share. At one glance, the place is so simple, but when you spend time there, you feel the luxury! Many visitors mentioned there is unexplainable energy around and people just feel good to be there.

Locals Welcoming Tourists

My idea was to bring a new life to the village where I had a very strong connection. I wanted to build the perfect campground and blaze the trail toward a sustainable tourism economy in Guria. The campground concept was hard for people to understand, though. I had difficulties explaining why I did not want to build a Hotel, but a campground.  Moreover, as I mentioned before, when we arrived in the village it was the time of Covid-19 when foreigners were directly associated with the virus. Surprisingly, the village welcomed us with an open heart, they were very happy to see me coming back, the village is small and almost everyone knew me. If they did not know me, they knew my grandparents and I received a lot of love and support from them. I have many childhood friends there as well. People were happy that Dumbo Eco Camp brought the first tourists to the village. They understand it is good for their economy, but they still need to learn how to work in tourism. I have difficulties finding a workforce.

Challenges along the way

I could never imagine building a campground involved so many challenges. First, I had zero experience in construction; also, I was leading a project that was based on voluntary, so I did not have professional workers that were working for me. I was spending all my savings, I had no job, nor income, I was very low on budget, I wanted to use recycled materials as much as possible and I wanted to build everything in a very short period of time as I was very afraid, the Pandemic would finish and I had to go back to normal life.

Besides that building a campground was physically very demanding, it was also very difficult to think about every detail, make decisions without having a proper plan, and lead a group of people from different cultural backgrounds. Everyone was happy to join us, but it was not just fun, people were actually working hard to build the campground and making people work, without paying a cent, is not an easy task. You need to create an atmosphere where everyone is satisfied and has a desire to help. My idea was to make people believe in what I was believing and enjoy the process by myself; I think I succeeded in that. However, there was a moment when I was emotionally and physically so exhausted, that I did not know if I could continue. At that crucial moment, there was my father who helped me out, he believed in me and encouraged me to continue what I was doing. I am forever grateful to my family and friends who made that project possible. 

Launching the project

First 2 years, it was only possible to sleep in tents, but as the project evolved, we started to receive a lot of requests for alternative accommodation. Many people are interested to see our concept, experiencing eco-living, would like to be close to nature, meet new people, but are not ready to sleep in tents. So we built an A-frame Cabin to spread Joy, Comfort and Connection throughout the land. From the 1st of May 2022, we already started to receive guests and it seems like we will need to add one more Cabin this autumn.  Dumbo Eco Camp is an ongoing project, we are growing slowly, but sustainably.  

Creating atmosphere

Dumbo Eco Camp serves to expand awareness of human diversity and offers comfortable living space in nature. 

Our campground is built around the principles of sustainability and community. Our goal is to create a safe and comfortable space where people from diverse backgrounds can relax, enjoy each other’s company, and explore the wonders of the Guria region together while having a minimal impact on the local ecology. 

The campground is designed with function, aesthetics, and community in mind. The fire pit is the main gathering place where campers can meet each other, share stories and advice, and plan further adventures together. The kitchen is conveniently located next to the fire pit to promote group meals.

There are a lot of activities you can do, such as swimming in the river, cycling, fishing, day hiking, jogging, skateboarding, gardening, attending community activities, perfect space for yoga & meditation, sightseeing, visiting tea plantations, and Chkhaveri wine tasting. We are planning to incorporate workshops with locals (cheesemaking, cooking, woodworking, milking a cow, etc). 

The ultimate goal is to create an atmosphere where people slow down and are present, where they generate a multitude of positive emotions, and creativity. We want Dumbo Eco camp to be a place where people make new discoveries within themselves, find joy in simplicity and expand people's vision in relation to humanity and the world as a whole.