The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism (MEFT) says it prioritises the enhancement of road infrastructure to maintain accessibility and enjoyment of all tourist attractions within Namibia.

This comes after the Ministry received a number of complaints about the state of its road infrastructure, especially in the Etosha National Park, recently.

The Ministry's chief spokesperson, Romeo Muyunda, said in an interview with nbc News, that the Ministry has noted with concern the state of some roads in the park from tourists and tour operators visiting the Etosha National Park. 

"We have actually established that the condition of that road has deteriorated because of the high traffic volumes we have experienced in the park. We have seen a lot of tourists that have come to the park post-COVID, and this has resulted in gravel roads washing out, leading to potholes, and as a result, we have seen these roads becoming bad for tourism."

Most concerns raised were about the road from Okaukuejo to Namutoni, which is said to be in poor condition. 

"The ministry wants to assure our tourists and operators that we are urgently addressing this situation in the park. There is an immediate intervention where we have urgently deployed three graders to the park to clear and grade the roads, and that's the road between Halali to Namutoni, Okaukuejo to Halali, and Namutoni to King Nehale Gate. We anticipate that this intervention will improve the road condition in the specified sections; within a period of two weeks, these roads will have been improved."

He also revealed that, as part of the ministry's long-term solution, the road upgrade from gravel to low-seal volume will soon commence. 

"A contract has already been given to a contractor who is going to upgrade the gravel road that we have between Okaukuejo, Halali, and Namutoni to King Nehale into a low seal volume, which means a tarred road, so these contracts have already been given and the construction is soon to start to have these roads upgraded. Issues of roads being washed away will soon be of the past."

Since 2018, the Ministry has successfully rehabilitated the western section of the tourist road from Okaukuejo to Galton Gate, completing over 200 kilometres of road upgrade by March 2024.

"We know that ENP is our flagship, and therefore we commit to maintaining the infrastructure and enhancing the road conditions. There are other projects like rehabilitation of gates, toilets, and now the roads so that we continue to improve the standards of the infrastructure in that park."

For now, visitors have been encouraged to consider alternative routes from Okaukuejo to Halali via Gemsbokvlakte, Olifantsbad, and Aus.