29/09/2025
Namibia sends in army to fight devastating wildfire in Etosha game reserve.
Namibia has deployed hundreds of soldiers as part of efforts to contain wildfires that have burned through around a third of the territory of one of the largest game reserves in Africa.
The fires started on September 22 in the southwestern part of the Etosha National Park (ENP), according to a statement from the ministry of environment, forestry and tourism, published Saturday.
At that point, according to the ministry, an estimated 775,163 hectares (1.9 million acres) of the park had been burned, equivalent to 34% of its total area, with another 171,098 hectares (423,000 acres) of land outside the park also affected.
“The ecological damage inside ENP is extensive,” the ministry said in the statement, adding that the fires started “due to suspected charcoal production activities on bordering commercial farms.”
In a separate statement published Sunday on Facebook, the office of acting Namibian President Lucia Witbooi said 540 soldiers have been deployed to help fight the fires, along with helicopters.
“The fire poses a significant threat to the biodiversity, wildlife and livelihood of the communities in the affected areas,” it said, adding that an unknown number of animals have been killed but there have been no reported human casualties.
“Strong winds and dry vegetation contribute to the fire spreading rapidly,” read the statement, which added that authorities “continue to mobilise resources to reinforce ongoing efforts to enable the teams on the ground to extinguish the fire.”
On Monday morning local time, Namibian Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare Manongo said in a post on X that fires were still burning both inside and outside the park, but all of them had now been contained.
When there is teamwork there is no challenge we cannot overcome,” said Manongo in a separate post.
