MARIENTAL: Firefighters were on Monday struggling to contain a fire which had broken out at the /Huibes Conservancy, which is situated at the Uibis village in the Gibeon Constituency.

By Monday, it was not yet known what had caused the fire which started on Sunday evening.

The /Huibes Conservancy was launched by Environment and Tourism Deputy Minister Uahekua Herunga in July his year, and is located 80 kilometres west of Mariental on the road to Walvis Bay via Maltahöhe.

A firefighter from Maltahöhe Village Council who only identified himself as ‘Apollus’, told Nampa in a telephonic interview on Monday that the fire had destroyed about five to six kilometres of vegetation.

Detective Inspector Samuel Gariseb of the Namibian Police Force (NamPol) in Mariental said the fire started at around 19h00 on Sunday, and was put out by the Gibeon fire brigade and Mariental police.

“The fire was put out last night, but it started again immediately after the teams left and it is still blazing right now,” he said, before stating that the police would be departing for the conservancy to help the other teams to extinguish the fire.

Gibeon Village Council Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Lamberth confirmed that firefighters from Gibeon had gone to /Huibes to assist.

The conservancy covers 122 417 hectares of land, and has a variety of wild animals such as kudus, leopards, oryx, ostriches, steenbok and jackals.