Drought

Namibia declares state of emergency as drought bites

Namibia's president declared a state of emergency for the whole of the desert-fringed country on Friday, due to a severe drought.

Wildlife

First Gray Whale Sighted South of Equator on Record

A gray whale that was sighted off the coast of Namibia in early May was the first-ever appearance of the marine mammal south of the equator.

The species has been extinct in the Atlantic since the 18th century and has been mainly confined to the North Pacific. One was also sighted in the Mediterranean in May 2010.

Experts say this could suggest the leviathan is recovering from the disastrous whaling hunts that ended in the 20th century, or it could mean changing climate is disrupting its feeding habits.

Another possibility is that the increasing population of the gray whale could be allowing it to regain some of its ancient migratory routes.

"The question is now, what is the origin of this whale," said John Paterson of the Walvis Bay Strandings Network.

He said photographs taken of it prove it is not the same individual that turned up in the Mediterranean.

“Is it another individual that has traversed the Northwest Passage, or perhaps travelled around the southern tip of South America and across the Atlantic?” asked Paterson.

“Unfortunately, we'll never know the route it followed to get here.”

Gray whales grow up to 45 feet in length and undertake the longest known migration of any mammal.

They complete a round trip of over 18,000 miles between their summer feeding grounds in the high Arctic and winter breeding area off the coast of Mexico, then usually return to the high Arctic.

Space Events

Meteorite Hits in Namibia

A Meteorite has hit mahangu field in the village of Oshika, Namibia. A piece of meteorite, the of a size of a small ball or two human fists put together made such an impact that people within a radius of over 200km were able to hear the explosive impact, feel the resulting tremor and observe the blinding light that followed as it landed.

Apparently thousands of locals came to see the strange object.

Wildfires

Firefighters rushed to protect more than 600 at-risk homes Thursday as a pair of massive wildfires threatened to merge southwest of Wenatchee., Washington, USA. The Table Mountain Complex and Wenatchee Complex fires have burned across some 70,000 acres.

Several relatively small wildfires continue to cause problems in the Dakotas, USA.

While a number of wildfires have been mostly contained by teams of firefighters, the military and volunteers, fires continue to blaze across Serbia and the Western Balkans, in what has been an exceptionally dry year punctuated by extreme heat waves.

Bushfires have destroyed 33 500 hectares of Namibia's vegetation countrywide, since the start of the southern winter.

Drought

The Kunene region in the north of Namibia is hit by a severe drought. Both humans and animals are suffering.