One of Africa's last great wildernesses faces an immediate threat from a proposed oilfield led by a Canadian oil and gas company.
The Okavango Delta in Botswana, designated as one of the seven wonders of Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is formed as the 1700 kilometre Okavango river flows into the Kalahari desert from Angola. The river spans three southern African countries; Angola, Botswana, and Namibia. The landscape of the interior delta consists of permanent marshlands and seasonally flooded plains and is inhabited by native plants and animals uniquely adapted to the region’s distinctive climatic and hydrological processes.
It's home to some of the most endangered animals in the world, including the African bush elephant — the largest living terrestrial animal. The African elephant is on a rapid decline, largely a result of a poaching crisis and habitat destruction. The last remaining population of this unique social creature is under threat from a proposed massive oilfield led by Canadian oil and gas company ReconAfrica.
Will an Oil Racket Destroy One of Africa’s Most Sacred Places?
AT THE EDGE of the Okavango Delta in northern Namibia, the land is so flat that I could see the top of ReconAfrica’s drill rig when we were about a mile away. ReconAfrica is a small Canadian oil-and-gas-exploration company that claimed to have discovered an oil-and-gas basin rivaling anything in Texas near one of the most pristine ecosystems in Africa, a remote, wide-open landscape where herds of wild elephants roam and endangered wild dogs hunt in packs. News of ReconAfrica’s alleged discovery had caused its stock price to shoot up, giving the company a value of nearly $2 billion before it ever pumped a drop of oil out of the ground. The discovery is also poised to kick off an oil-and-gas boom in Africa just when it has become clear to most scientists and political leaders that, to maintain a hospitable climate, fossil fuels need to stay in the ground. As we drove closer to the rig, I noticed a Namibian flag and a Canadian flag flying side by side on top, as if to suggest this rig were a symbol of international cooperation rather than one of planetary destruction.
An in-depth look at the fight to save the Okavango delta
A major investigative report by Rolling Stone Magazine has exposed how oil drilling is threatening one of the most pristine and important areas of Africa, first raised in a campaign led by The Duke of Sussex.
In October 2021, Prince Harry and the conservation charity Re:wild joined local activists and campaigners from Namibia and Botswana in calling for the drilling to stop, highlighting the dangers of drilling in the Okavango River Delta.
In this latest story, Jeff Goodell uncovers how this fragile and unique landscape is being put at devastating risk by a drilling company on a dubious hunt for oil, driven by the prospect of profit.
Canadian oil company pauses controversial drilling in Namibian wilderness
Standing at the border post between Botswana and Namibia, next to the looping streambed of the Okavango River, Max Muyemburuko waved goodbye. As chairperson of Namibia’s Muduva Nyangana community-based wildlife conservancy, he said he had come to warn local community leaders in Botswana about Canadian oil exploration company Reconnaissance Energy Africa’s (ReconAfrica) activities in Namibia. During the past three years, he’s been a vocal critic of the company and the Namibian government.
ReconAfrica has licenses to look for petroleum across more than 13,200 square miles in Namibia and Botswana. Since 2021, the company has drilled three test wells in northeastern Namibia within the Okavango River watershed, but it hasn’t presented any public proof of recoverable oil. ReconAfrica has said it now plans to explore in northwestern Botswana.
