There are three types of accommodation
20 Main Tukel rooms
There are twenty main rooms which are about 60 metres from the main restaurant area so as to provide total peace and tranquility. There are two rooms with double queen sized beds and all the other rooms have 2 large single beds. The single beds are one metre wide for a good nights sleep. The beds all have duvets but extra blankets are provided for those who feel the cold.
It is sometimes forgotten that the Simiens are high and at night it is cold. So we do our best to take the chill off the rooms with an underfloor heating system which works by solar energy. During the day, hot water is pumped underfloor and stored in the thick concrete floor. This raises the temperature by about ten degrees during the day. Guests often say to us that they cannot feel the heat. This is because it is not like a steel radiator which warms up and gives off its heat quickly. With a concrete floor it is an inertia system and the calories of heat are given off over a 24 hour period.
2 Safari Suites
The safari suites have all the facilities of the main rooms but with an extra lounge. This lounge can be converted into an extra bedroom for families. The main bedroom has a queen sized bed (1.8m wide). The lounge has two twin beds (as photo).
The lounge converted to extra bedroom Family room bathroom
The dormitory is a 16 bed room split into four rooms. There are bunk beds in each room. This is normally now used for drivers and guides but can be used for tourists when we are full.
There are common showers and toilets.

There are 4 rooms in the dorm. Each has 4 beds (2 x 2 bunk). The bathrooms are at the end of the corridor.
The solar heating system

The picture shows the main solar collector field and the underfloor pipe layout. The pipes are coiled under the bathroom and bedroom floors and water is pumped at about 40°C on sunny days. This raises the temperature slightly but it is not a full central heating system. Only the 20 main rooms and the safari suites have heating; the dorm does not.
|