Wildfires destroy tracts of land in Namibia

New Era (Namibia): Bush fires recently destroyed thousands of hectares of grazing land in the maize triangle area. The fires damaged property and infrastructure running into thousands of dollars. For four days from Wednesday until last Saturday last week, 8000 hectares of land were engulfed in flames that also killed wildlife.

According to a forest ranger from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Robert Simasiku, the large inferno, fired up by an abundance of dry vegetation, burnt to death five kudus, 20 warthogs, 10 duikers, 10 steenbok and countless birds. Five farms were affected with damage to infrastructure, particularly farm fences, estimated at between N$70000 and N$100000, he revealed.

"Looking at the hectares destroyed, 800 cattle could feed from that area until the next rainy season," said Simasiku. The worry right now is if the rainy season comes late, farmers would have to wait longer for nature and existing wildlife to restock itself. The cause of the fires is careless human activity where someone left burning charcoal in the bush after preparing a meal, Simasiku said…..

Map of Namibia from the CIA World Factbook