Wilderness Namibia brings relief amid worst drought in decades

“The people of Namibia have experienced one of the country’s worst droughts in a century, and we recognise our responsibility to help support our most vulnerable community partners, who have experienced high levels of food insecurity. Wilderness Namibia has strong ties to the communities neighbouring our areas of operation, which have been established through trust and respect over more than 30 years. They are our neighbours, colleagues, family and friends, and by working together during times of crisis, we hope to ensure the long-term value of conservation tourism, which forms part of our dedication to our “Empower” Impact pillar”, noted Alex Henderson, Wilderness Namibia Managing Director. 

Thanks to generous support from the Michael and Karen Stone Family Foundation – to the value of USD50,000 (NAD892,000) – Wilderness Namibia was able to respond quickly with this three-month Drought-relief Nutrition Programme. The company also provides vegetable seeds and fruit trees on an ongoing basis for sustainable gardens in many of their partner communities.

“We spend a lot of time in these communities, and have seen first-hand just how devastating this drought has been for the people who live there, as well as for the livestock and wildlife they rely on for livelihoods. Without rainfall, communities have faced serious water shortages, meaning their crops have failed and their livestock has perished. While we have had some recent rains in Namibia, they haven’t reached all areas, and some communities are still battling this drought. We recognise these realities and hope that our food-relief initiative has helped to alleviate the worst of the situation until more significant rains arrive”, added Agnes Tjirare-Kerii, Wilderness Namibia Impact Manager. 

Wilderness consulted its network of community leaders with the intervention plan, including the contents that made up each food parcel to ensure maximum nutrition. Each parcel was designed to support up to four people for one month, and included salt, matches, cooking oil, soup and soup mix, instant yeast, white bread flour, maize, sugar, rice, tea, and coffee.

“I was fortunate to have been on the road distributing the parcels, and personally witnessed the relief in the eyes of the elderly and the smiles on the faces of younger community members when our vehicles arrived. Our team at Wilderness will cherish their hopeful expressions for a long time to come”, concluded Agnes.

In addition to the crucial support rolled out across Namibia, Wilderness also extended its food-relief initiative to drought-stricken partner communities in need across Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. Supported by the Michael and Karen Stone Family Foundation, they delivered over 8,000 emergency food parcels to approximately 15,000 people between November 2024 and January 2025, with the entire campaign amounting to USD250,000 worth of assistance across the region.