Etosha is more than a tourist magnet. It is a living archive of Namibia’s natural heritage and rhythms, a vast savanna where rain, grass and fire have long interacted to shape species and soils.
That normal cycle turned into a national emergency on 22 September when a wildfire raced through the park.
It was declared contained on 29 September.
The week-long blaze has left scars on the park and hard questions for our leaders and communities.
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Fire is part of Etosha’s ecology.
Before intensive human management, savanna and mopane woodlands typically burned on decadal rhythms after wet spells produced a flush of grass that later dried into fuel.
In recent decades, park managers introduced measured burning practices to mimic natural patterns and to limit areas affected in any single season.
This strategy is useful when fires are lightning-driven and seasonal.
They are far less effective when fires are large, fast-moving and start in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Magnitude
The scale of last month’s fire was exceptional.
Official and independent analyses put the burned area at roughly one-third of the park, totalling hundreds of thousands of hectares.
Satellite imagery and ground reports estimate it affected around 7 000 to 7 750 square kilometres.
That is a landscape-level event that removed grazing, damaged habitat and killed wildlife in numbers that will only be fully known after systematic surveys.
The human cost is real. Communities bordering Etosha lost grazing, and pastoral households face immediate pressure to find feed for livestock.
Tourism will feel the shock.
Officials project a dip in visitors over the next two to three years unless recovery work and confident messaging are done quickly and well.
Conservation staff have reported wildlife mortalities and injured animals.
The full ecological toll will be revealed only after careful field work.
RESPONSE
After early criticism over the pace of response, the authorities escalated their efforts and deployed hundreds of soldiers, helicopters and water tankers to support firefighting teams and volunteers.
This helped to contain the main fires within a week.
It shows that when a crisis becomes national, resources can be mobilised, but it also raises questions about preparedness and coordination at the local level in the first critical hours.
What caused the fire is under investigation.
Public statements and open-source analysis point to suspected charcoal production activities on land bordering the park.
If confirmed, the fire will reflect an unfortunate case where local land use practices had consequences that ripped across conservation zones and community livelihoods.
Confronting such root causes will require lawful enforcement, alternative income options for local actors and clearer agreements between the park, neighbouring farms and communal areas.
LOOKING AHEAD
There are practical steps we must take now.
First, rapid ecological assessments should be funded so that rehabilitation work is targeted.
Second, a national review of early warning and tactical response is urgent.
It should involve park authorities, regional emergency services, the military, the private sector and civil society.
Third, community engagement must move beyond emergency food or fodder relief to medium-term support for alternative livelihoods that reduce incentivising risky practices.
Finally, investment in fire-wise infrastructure, such as water points and trained local firefighting teams, will reduce reliance on emergency military action.
Satellite imagery and remote sensing mapped the fire in near real time, which helped quantify the burned area and identify hotspots needing urgent attention.
Geospatial tools can be used to prioritise response, assess habitat loss, and guide restoration.
They can also improve prevention by identifying high-risk zones where fuel loads and human activity overlap.
If Namibia expands using these tools within a national fire early warning system that links to local responders, we will be better placed to detect and suppress or curtail fires when they are small.
Reflections
This is a moment for tough choices and sober reflection.
Etosha will recover in ways the savanna often does, with grass returning and wildlife returning over seasons.
What will not repair itself without effort is the human arrangement around the park.
We need partnerships that reduce risk and spread benefits.
We need planning that makes communities less vulnerable.
We also need transparent investigations and to learn from what went wrong.
Etosha’s smoke was a warning. It told us that natural systems and human economies are entwined, and that neglect in either sphere can produce catastrophes.
It should prompt a national commitment to smarter fire governance, to community-focused alternatives to destructive livelihoods and to the routine use of modern tools that let us see fires coming and act before they become disasters.
- Oluibukun Gbenga Ajayi, associate professor of geoinformation technology, the department of land and spatial sciences, Namibia University of Science and Technology. The views expressed here are his own and not those of Nust. Email: oajayi@nust.na
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