WINDHOEK, Oct. 24 — Wildfires have affected 3,513 square kilometers, or about 16 percent, of Namibia’s Etosha National Park during the current fire season, as extreme heat and strong winds threaten to complicate firefighting efforts, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism said Saturday.
No human or wildlife casualties had been reported as of Saturday, the ministry said. According to preliminary figures released by the ministry, fires affected 926 square kilometers of the park in October, compared with 2,587 square kilometers in September, bringing the cumulative area affected to 3,513 square kilometers.
Nearly 80 personnel, including members of the Namibian Defence Force, neighboring conservancies and farm workers, have been battling fires in various parts of the park since Oct. 20, the ministry added.
The ministry warned that temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius and winds of 20 km per hour on Saturday could cause the fires to flare up again, hampering containment efforts.
Meanwhile, the Namibia Meteorological Service has warned that a heatwave, with temperatures ranging from 36 to 42 degrees Celsius, would persist across much of the country through the weekend.
The weather service attributed the extreme heat to a strong high-pressure system over northern Namibia that is gradually shifting toward central parts of the country, causing sinking air to warm rapidly.
Last year, wildfires affected 37 percent of Etosha National Park, one of Africa’s largest and most renowned wildlife sanctuaries, and a cornerstone of Namibia’s conservation and tourism sectors. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
