THE Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism says the ongoing fires in and around the Etosha National Park are under control.
This is despite reports on and images of the blaze still ravaging the park.
The ministry this week confirmed that the fires, which started about a week ago, are still raging and that efforts to contain their spread continue.
A large portion of the Namutoni and Halali areas of the park has been charred.
The ministry on Monday indicated that about 2 535 square kilometres of the park is affected.
“Staff members have graded some firebreaks and started with back-burns yesterday [Sunday], and are still on site,” the ministry said.
Colgar Sikopo, newly appointed deputy executive director of the ministry’s department of natural resource management, last week said although the fire was spontaneous, it was in an area within the ministry’s fire-management plan and would have been burnt nonetheless.
“It has been burning in a block which was going to be burned for management purposes anyway because of the moribund material in the block. It is a natural resource management issue, which many people may not understand, and the situation is under control for now.
“Our team is on the ground. We have a grader on site to create new firebreaks when necessary, and we also have an aircraft on site to monitor the fire from the air and communicate with the ground team,” Sikopo said.
Romeo Muyunda, environment ministry spokesperson, said the fires serve as a management tool.
“Our staff members are monitoring the fire to ensure it doesn’t burn beyond the expected area and that no infrastructural or property damages are caused as a result,” he said.
The ministry has a national fire management programme aimed at detecting, preventing and suppressing blazes in fire-prone regions in anticipation of the country’s burning season.
Muyunda said the fires did not start in Etosha, although the ministry is not able to determine their exact origin.
On Tuesday, reports that a fire engulfed Onguma Tree Top Lodge just outside of Etosha circulated online.
The environment ministry confirmed that the lodge burned down, but said this particular fire involved a separate incident.
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