Wildfire in Namibia is contained, says PM, after criticism of response

A third of Etosha national park has been burned despite efforts of volunteers, who say troops were sent in too late

Wildfires that raged through one of Africa’s largest national parks have been brought under control, Namibia’s government has said, amid criticisms over the response mechanism and limited resources.

The fire broke out in Etosha national park, in the arid desert nation’s north, on 22 September. The government said it suspected charcoal production next to the park, which is home to 114 mammal species including the critically endangered black rhino, was to blame.

On Saturday, the government said 49 soldiers were being deployed to fight the fires and a further 500 on Sunday. It said more than 775,000 hectares inside the park, about a third of its area, had been burned and another 171,000 outside it.

“All fires contained / mop-up and monitoring continues,” the prime minister, Tjitunga Elijah Ngurare, posted on his Facebook page on Monday morning, listing 10 separate blazes in the region.

However, Sean Naude, a businessman who leads Namibian Marshall Rangers, a group of rescue service volunteers, said there were at least four “active fires”. He said: “Fires in the park are pretty much contained, but not extinguished and the others running from the park are still out of control. However there is not much in the park left to burn.”

He criticised the government for not coordinating with citizens and private organisations sooner. “Why did they take so long to accept our help? [It took them] five days… [and] only on the fourth day was the army deployed.”

Frank Stein, who runs Bay Air Aviation, a medical air ambulance company, flew reconnaissance flights at the weekend to help farmers battling to stop the fires spreading further south of the national park on to their land. He said: “I read in the news that the Namibian Defence Force is fighting the fires and this might very well be, but I didn’t see them on the ground.

“All I saw was a handful of farmers, maybe 50 people in total, different groups, trying to fight the fires with, I wouldn’t even call it limited resources.”

Cover photo:  Elephants drink at a waterhole in Etosha national park in Namibia on 23 September. Photograph: Werner Pillich/AP