Namibia to upgrade gravel roads in Etosha National Park! [update #2]

update (06 August 2024): The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) reports, that the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism is satisfied with road upgrades in Etosha National Park ahead of the peak tourism season. The ministry's Executive Director, Teofilus Nghitila, assessed the progress of the road upgrade.

update (30 September 2023): According to the Namibian Road Fund Administration (RFA), it has been mandated in 2020 by a special cabinet resolution to financially support the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism in regravelling roads in hotspot tourist areas in Etosha National Park covering 270 kilometres valued at over N$200 million, with RFA contributing 79%. The solution for RFA to support the upgrading of the road section from Okakuekujo, Halali, Namutoni and King Nehale gate to low-volume seal roads valued at N$700 million was further re-confirmed in 2022. The construction is expected to commence in 2024.

The Executive Director of the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), Teofilus Nghitila, announced at the launch of the annual tourism statistical report for 2022 that the Government of Namibia took a decision to tar some gravel roads at hotspot tourist attractions in Etosha National Park covering 229 km. According to Mr. Nghitila, the road construction project includes a low-volume seal road with financial assistance of N$160 249 317 funded by the Road Fund Administration.

"We are already working on a big project to upgrade especially the road between Okaukuejo and the King Nehale gate to an asphalt standard. This means we have to get it tarred and from there we will see to it that other major roads in Etosha are all upgraded", said the Executive Director of the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), Teofilus Nghitila.

The state of the gravel roads in Etosha National Park has consistently been criticized by Namibia's key tourism players as rapidly deteriorating. 

Namibia received an increase of 461 027 tourist arrivals in 2022, compared to 232 756 tourists received in 2021. The increase of 98.1 per cent indicates a 28.9 per cent recovery level towards the 2019 arrival statistics. South Africa, Angola, Germany, Zambia, Botswana, France, UK, United States, Italy and Switzerland makes up the top ten tourist source markets for Namibia  in 2022. The majority of visitors, representing 53.1% of the total tourist arrivals came to Namibia  between September to December of 2022, 36.1% of the tourist travelled between May to August and 10.8% travelled between the months of January to April.