A fire on Wednesday, December 7, in Mokala National Park outside Kimberley in the Northern Cape, has destroyed the Dinokeng Treetop.

The cause of the fire and extent of damage is not known but additional accommodation in the park has not been affected.

According to William Mabasa, GM of Communications and Marketing at SANParks, rebuilding and repairs will start as soon as possible. He advised that SANParks would consult the insurance company and have engineers assess the damage before attempting to rebuild the treehouse.

In a separate fire in another national park close to The Crags in Plettenberg Bay, 3 000 hectares have been affected by a fire that started on Monday on private land and spread to the national park.

A Joint Operation Centre was established where various organisations and volunteers, including SANParks, the Bitou Municipality and the Provincial Disaster Management Centre, are fighting the fire. Fynbos areas where there are no structures have been burnt and no deaths have been reported.

There is no indication of when the fire will be contained.