Ongava Camps Opening Date
Warm Greetings from Namibia, I hope this missive finds you in good health and spirits? After such a tumultuous year we would like to say thank you very much for your understanding and support as we navigated through the various trials and tribulations. The wonderful vaccines news, and taking cognisance of Guest and Agent feedback, we have a firm announcement of Ongava’s re-opening:
The Ongava camps re-open on Tuesday June 1st, 2021.
It follows that Ongava hospitality operations closure, previously April through December 2020, is extended to Monday May 31st, 2021. We sincerely regret the inconvenience for Guests affected. Ongava Reservations will be in contact with you for bookings affected by Ongava closure. Affected Guests are encouraged to select new dates with our no-fee change / no annual rate increase offer through to 31st December 2022, or, cancel, and be fully refunded.
The 2020 Coronavirus experience shows the seasonal decrease in northern hemisphere infection rates in summer, coupled with the roll out of immunisation programs. Based on this we believe mid-2021 will see safe travel commencing at scale. Please see below for more details on how we anticipate this to develop.
To further emphasise and mark the Ongava re-opening of hospitality we are extending two great Specials:
° in recognition of their selfless commitment and courage all bona fide Frontline Healthcare workers qualify for a full -35% off Ongava Recommended Rate up to 31 December 2022.
° the Ongava Long Stay Special - less 25% for bookings from four days and more - will also be available through High Season 2021.
For nature's sake
We are savouring the spectacular news on vaccine advances - thank you science. Now for the next mighty challenge - to achieve production, logistics and immunization at global scale will take years. That puts the pandemic end date around 2025 or longer. Or never if anti-vaxxers get their way.
The trickle of pilgrims and domestic visitors now braving the risks and travelling is currently insufficient to pay the rent for nature tourism. In the absence of safe travel at scale the failure of nature based tourism will be severe. Natural habitat will succumb to the cow and the plough. Decades of conservation successes are staring into the abyss of permanent failure. The rollback of conservation estate will be immense. And permanent. Appetite for global donations will become harder to stimulate as developed world nations look increasingly inward to address their internal challenges brought on by the pandemic destruction. With most community and conservation projects now running on charitable donations the prospects are dim. Nature based tourism may not survive another year. Never mind five or more years until herd immunity is judged to be sufficient to end the pandemic.
What are the options to create safe travel conditions at scale? Will Switzerland based non-profit CommonPass in partnership with The World Economic Forum and backing from The Rockefeller Foundation already engaged with 140 countries offer a system for safe travel at scale during the pandemic?
If CommonPass, and similar systems, succeed then economies, airlines, travel agents, hotels and lodges and their myriad support services will have a chance of survival.
We believe the Digital Health Passports will instill confidence in travellers and in the national authorities - as negative COVID-19 tests will become much harder to fake with digital technology that verifies the test with registered and certified pathology labs.
As the systems gain traction we believe that Digital Health Passports will enable safe travel at scale by mid-2021.
Irina, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the Digital Health Passports and please use every opportunity to advocate for this technology among your friends, family, social and business network.
Safe travel at scale
For safe travel to resume at scale requires Health Bubbles / Safe Corridors / Vaccine Tunnels. Several major airlines will soon use a digital platform to assess passenger Covid-19 status; “The Commons Project, The World Economic Forum and a broad coalition of public and private partners are collaborating to launch CommonPass, a trusted, globally-interoperable platform for people to document their COVID-19 status (health declarations / PCR tests / vaccinations) to satisfy country entry requirements, while protecting their health data privacy.”
“JetBlue, Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines, United Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic will begin the roll-out of CommonPass in December on select flights departing from New York, Boston, London, and Hong Kong.”
About CommonPass
CommonPass allows a safer return to work, school, travel and life by enabling you to share your health/vaccine status while protecting your data & privacy.
For global travel and trade to return to pre-pandemic levels, travelers will need a secure and verifiable way to document their health status as they travel and cross borders. Countries will need to be able to trust that a traveller’s record of a COVID PCR test or vaccination administered in another country is valid. Countries will also need the flexibility to update their health screening entry requirements as the pandemic evolves and science progresses. Airlines, airports and other travel industry stakeholders will need the same. The Commons Project together with The World Economic Forum is working to initiate the CommonPass framework to address those challenges.
CommonPass is not a contract tracing app and does not collect location information on its users, except for when explicitly granted by the user. In addition to being GDPR compliant, CommonPass allows individuals to control who has access to their data and when. At any time, an individual can remove their personal data from the CommonPass app.
How it works
The CommonPass framework will allow individuals to access their lab results and vaccination records, and consent to have that information used to validate their COVID status without revealing any other underlying personal health information. Lab results and vaccination records can be accessed through existing health data systems, national or local registries or personal digital health records (Apple Health for iOS, CommonHealth for Android). Apple Health and CommonHealth let individuals store their health records securely and privately on their phones, entirely under their control.
The framework will assess whether the individual’s lab test results or vaccination records (1) come from a trusted source, and (2) satisfy the health screening requirements of the country they want to enter. The framework delivers a simple yes/no answer as to whether the individual meets the current entry criteria, but the underlying health information stays in the individual’s control. The framework is being designed such that it can be accessed directly through other apps and services.
CommonPass media and resources
STAT, reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine CommonHealth, the Android answer to Apple Health Records, expands to 230 health systems December 4, 2020
Travel Weekly, UK: Trials of Switzerland based CommonPass have started positively
Eyewitness News, ABC7, USA: Group works to return international air travel to normal
Forbes, USA: Some Air Passengers Are Faking Negative Covid-19 Test Results, Per U.K. Reports.
Safe, unrestricted travel
Our sympathies to those who are suffering. And who have lost loved ones. We wish you good health while we wait – with great anticipation – for safe, unrestricted travel.
As always please feel free to contact us at any time if you have any questions.
Kind Regards
Rob Moffett
Ongava Game Reserve
