A mysterious fire broke out in the early hours of Friday last, burning down a restaurant at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary (KRS) to ashes.
The KRS, a community-based wildlife project, is located near Serowe Village in the Central District. Established in 1992, the sanctuary is mandated to save endangered rhino species that face imminent extinction. The sanctuary further provides prime habitat for white and black rhino as well as over 30 other animal species as well as more than 230 bird species.
KRS chief warden, Moremi Tjibaye, confirmed the fire outbreak in an interview with Sunday Standard, explaining that he received a call from one of his security guards informing him about the fire in the wee hours of Friday.
“The security guard called me at about 03:45 on Friday morning, telling me that the restaurant was engulfed by fire. He could not explain what could have caused the fire,” said Tjibaye.
A clearly shocked Tjibaye said that he then rushed to the scene and found out that the whole restaurant was in flames. He said that goods worth over P800 000 perished in the inferno.
Tjibaye also said that the whole ablution block and the storeroom were also destroyed by the fire but, fortunately, no one was injured. He said they then called the fire department and the police who found the whole place razed to the ground.
“We are still shocked as we do not have a clue as to what could have caused the fire. We are still waiting for a report from the police and the fire department as investigations are still at a preliminary stage,” Moremi said.
He added that the only time they encountered a similar incident was during the beginning of the year when one of their storerooms was burnt down by lightning.
“This is not the first time we have had a fire outbreak as our storeroom was also burnt down by a lightning strike during this New Year celebrations,” he said.
