APT’s Kimberley Wilderness Adventures has been selected by the Western Australia Government to develop and operate Mt Hart Wilderness Lodge, in the King Leopold Ranges Conservation Park.
Situated north of the popular Gibb River Road adventure route and on the doorstep to the King Leopold Ranges Conservation Park, Mt Hart Wilderness Lodge is a key base to explore some of the major attractions of the Kimberley region.
KWA was recommended as the preferred proponent by an assessment panel.
Western Australia’s Environment Minister Bill Marmion and Tourism Minister Kim Hames congratulated KWA, which is a partnership between the Wunan Foundation, a Kimberley-based Aboriginal corporation, and APT, the family-owned Australian company.
Existing KWA lodges are Bungle Bungle, Bell Gorge and Mitchell Falls.
Marmion said planning and preparation of the Mt Hart site was funded by the State Government Royalties for Regions program and is the second project to be released under the government’s Naturebank program.
The program aims to provide low impact, sustainable nature-based tourism operations in Western Australia’s world-class parks.
Hames said the program helped develop nature-based tourism in regional areas and assisted in positioning WA as a renowned tourism destination.
WA offers many extraordinary natural experiences and Naturebank ensures that visitors can access these through the provision of eco-friendly accommodation within our parks, he said.
KWA/APT CEO, Chris Hall said the company’s involvement in the project would be a valuable opportunity and it looked forward to further developing and strengthening the quality of KWA’s operations in consultation with the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and traditional owners.