John Muyamba
Khaudum-Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, last Thursday inaugurated new facilities in Khaudum National Park, which include a new park management station, tourist receptions with workshops and 42 staff houses.
The project cost N$136 million.
The construction of the facilities was made possible with funding from the Federal Republic of German through that country’s development bank, KfW, which contributed N$107 million, while government contributed N$29 million.
Out of the 42 houses, 24 were built at Khaudum’s north entrance and 16 at Sikerete Camp. They comprise one or two bedrooms, with a shower, toilet, open lounge, kitchen and sitting room. The houses have an electric fence to keep elephants and other wild animals at bay. The actual construction included 61 staff houses, 19 of which were built at Nkasa Rupara National Park in Zambezi Region.
According to Shifeta, the inauguration of this park development is the latest outcome of the excellent cooperation between Namibia and Germany.
“We are working hard to establish our parks as viable tourist destinations that will benefit the people who live alongside them.”
The Minister thanked the German Government for the continuous support, which enabled the government to build the two park stations at Khaudum.
The new houses are a huge improvement on the old dilapidated wooden structures the staff have been living in for years.
“This is in fact only an intermediary step in Germany’s endeavour to continue to support Namibia’s efforts to modernise the national parks infrastructure. What happened today, therefore, marks an important milestone in our bilateral relations,” said the German Ambassador to Namibia, Christian Schlaga.
These new park facilities complement the three other park stations that were built during previous phases of the Namibia National Parks Programme (or NamParks) at Mahango, Susuwe and Ngenda in Bwabwata and Mudumu National Parks that to date were bereft of infrastructure.
The German assistance to the Namibia Parks Programme (NamParks) is now in its fourth phase. The first two phases began with the Bwabwata, Mudumu and Mamili Parks projects. Phase three focused on Khaudum, Bwabwata, Mudumu and Nkasa Rupara national parks. The fourth phase is now in full swing and would complete the work in the northeast and also focus on the development of Tsau//Khaeb National Park, formerly known as Sperrgebiet, in the //Kharas Region.
The fifth phase is about to begin and will be devoted to Namibia’s Coastal Parks in the Kunene, Erongo and Hardap Regions.
Khaudum is part of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), which covers parts of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola and aims to enable free movement of wildlife between those countries. Khaudum is special; it is hidden away in the Kavango East Region and is not easy to access but for many of its visitors that is part of its attraction. It is a real wilderness and besides having more than 2 000 elephants, it is also famous for its roan antelopes, African wild dogs, leopards and lions.
NEXUS Building Contractors handled the Khaudum construction project over a period of 18 months. The construction of Khaudum station took more than 400 000 bricks, nearly 20 000 bags of cement and more than eight million litres of water.