Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
13 October 2008
The Department of Forestry and Landrange Resources has confirmed the destruction of Gcwhihaba Caves by fire.
This follows an aerial survey of the caves, one of Botswana's most pristine nature reserves, by a helicopter borrowed from the Botswana Defence Force on Saturday.
Veldt fires have been raging in Ngamiland, where the hitherto unspoiled caves are located, over the past two weeks.
Although satellite photographs last week indicated that the fires were heading in the direction of Gcwihaba, it was not until Saturday that a chopper was secured to fly over the area of immense palaeontological interest.
Maun-based Regional Co-ordinator in the Department of Forestry, James Ellard, told the Monitor that the fires had scotched an area of 380 square kilometres around the caves.
"The whole area is now gone," Ellard said. "We did not have much manpower to protect the caves because the fires are burning all over Ngamiland now."
The destruction of the Gcwihaba Caves comes at a time when the National Museum, Monuments and Art Gallery had approached Unesco about declaring them a world heritage site. Botswana first submitted the caves for such consideration in 1999.
The Gcwihaba is made up of clusters of dolomite hills that include the Aha Hills along the Botswana-Namibia border and the Koanaka Hills, all characterised by caves.
The Gcwihaba Caves are estimated to be two million years old. Researchers say the caves contain sediments that were useful for the re-construction of life in the region two million years ago.
Thankfully, Ellard said another invaluable site, the Tsodilo Hills, has not been destroyed, according to information gleaned from satellite data. But he added that the fires remain a serious threat to Tsodilo - so far Botswana's only world heritage site - as they were within 13 kilometres of it.
"Our hope is that the fires will be contained," Ellard said. "There is a road that serves as a fire-breaker. If the fires do not come with strong winds, they can be contained."
The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, which has portfolio responsibility for nature reserves, has set aside half-a-million pula in emergency funds to rescue Tsodilo Hills.
The Director of National Museum and Art Gallery, Gaogake Phorano yesterday confirmed that the Female Hill, one of the three hills making up the world heritage site, Tsodilo Hills, has caught fire the previous night.
Last week Monitor quoted the acting director in the Department of Forestry saying that the Hills caught fire. It turned out that the fires had not yet reached the hills, until this weekend.
Phorano told Monitor the fires that attacked the tourists attraction site over the weekend came from Namibia in the North, while the other fires attacked from the West.
However the Museum director expressed hope that they will be able to put out the fires before they move East wards where the Female Hill boast over 4000 rock paintings, as well as caves.
"I can confirm that as we speak the fire is attacking the core area, it has gone past the buffer zone. However our panels have not been affected yet. The police, and the community are battling to contain the fires. The fires have climbed the hill. We will keep on updating you about the state of he heritage site," Phorano said.
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