As the global vaccination roll out to combat Covid-19 gathers momentum, the Wilderness Safaris Namibia team recently took to the road in remote north-west to ensure staff living at Serra Cafema, Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp and nearby communities had the opportunity to be vaccinated. In partnership with the health ministry, Wilderness Safaris and Natural Selection Travel joined forces to host a mobile vaccination team at Sesfontein in early June, followed by a second vaccination drive at Serra Cafema on 22 July.
“Serra Cafema and its surrounding communities are the furthest north-western group of people living in Namibia. We are therefore proud to have played such a vital role in these vaccination drives and are encouraged to see so many people choosing to get vaccinated. We are also extremely grateful to Natural Selection for partnering with us at Sesfontein, and to the Ministry of Health and Social Services for their ongoing support to empower our staff and communities with the correct information, inspiring informed decisions that best suit each individual”, noted Alexandra Margull, Wilderness Safaris Namibia MD.
Wilderness Safari staff living near Windhoek, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay received their vaccinations a few months back. Now, the company has described the mobilisation of teams to service more remote areas this month as an exciting step in the vaccination roll-out programme.
“Anyone who knows the north-west will understand that even short distances can take a very long time – it took our Serra Cafema team a total of 22 hours to travel 615 km to the mobile clinic at Sesfontein,” noted Radimar Karsten, Wilderness Safaris Serra Cafema GM.
Working closely with the health ministry and the Marienfluss Conservancy Chairman, Harry Ganuseb, the second vaccination drive took place at Serra Cafema on 22 July to assist both staff and members of the Marienfluss community, many of whom are Himba people. A total of 49 people from the camp and surrounding community gratefully received their first vaccinations.
“It is encouraging to see so many of our staff receiving vaccinations, and to note an upward trend for the return of travel,” Alexandra concluded.