Jacada Travel is thrilled to be the winner of the Support Africa Award at We Are Africa's Innovation Awards. The award comes in recognition of our efforts to lead an industry-wide campaign to enforce the wearing of surgical face masks for people visiting the critically endangered mountain gorillas of Uganda and Rwanda.

With no immunity to viruses such as the common cold, gorillas are very much at risk when in proximity to people. For this reason, places like Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo have mask-wearing as a requirement for anyone aiming to visit the gorillas. However, this is not the case in Uganda and Rwanda, largely because the government and local companies are nervous about seeming alarmist or scaring away tourists.

Jacada Travel's aim is to encourage mask-wearing by leading by example. From January 2017, we started providing surgical masks for our clients to wear when visiting gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda.

Jacada Travel founder, Alex Malcolm, says of the win, “We are thrilled to be recognised for the work we've been doing to promote our initiative, and we're even happier that we've been able to encourage other companies to follow suit. We still have a long way to go, but this is a great start.”

Examples of those who have stated their intent to join us in introducing mask-wearing as a company policy and supporters of the campaign include Tusk, Conservation Through Public Health, the Gorilla Organization, cazenove+loyd, Natural World Safaris, Pulse Africa and World Fusion Tours.

More information on the blog.

About Jacada Travel

Jacada Travel is a luxury, award-winning travel company specialising in creating bespoke, inspirational journeys to Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australasia and the polar regions. Founded in 2008 by Alex Malcolm, Jacada Travel offers unique and inspired itineraries for travellers seeking a truly personal travel experience with attentive service from start to finish - from Amazon tribe encounters in Peru to archaeologist-guided private tours of the Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana.

Developing strong, lasting relationships with their local partners, Jacada Travel works to promote a sustainable and long-term boost to the economy of their destinations. For every trip they sell, they donate to a regional charity, the ultimate aim of which is to make travel uplifting for everyone.

About We Are Africa

We Are Africa is an annual event in Cape Town, giving key international buyers and press the opportunity to encounter the most extraordinary experiences Africa has to offer alongside a conference, awards ceremony and networking events. A part of Beyond Luxury Media, We Are Africa works to project a modern, dynamic image of Africa to world, encouraging tourism to the amazing continent.  

For more information:

Leila Al-Qattan
leila@jacadatravel.com

Jacadatravel.com

#MaskUpForGorillas