A fire has devastated vast tracts of Zimbabwe's Matopos National Park and is threatening many of its wild animals.
Reports say that three-quarters of the central part of the 43,000 hectare park has been engulfed by a raging fire that has forced hundreds of wild animals to flee the flames.
Officials at the park, which was recently designated a
world heritage site by the United Nations, say the blaze was probably started by poachers.
The BBC's Themba Nkosi in Bulawayo says the park has been closed to visitors, while firefighters try to put the fire out.
Visitors who tried to enter the park on Monday were greeted by the carcasses and remains of bush bucks and reptiles such pythons, our correspondent says.
He says that lions, black rhinos and baboons are among the animals trapped by the fire, which began at the weekend.
A state-owned radio station described the fire as "an act of arson" probably caused by poachers or by reckless villagers.
Hunters sometimes set fire to bushland to flush out wild
animals, while small scale farmers light fires to clear bush in
readiness for planting crops.
Earlier this year, the UN cultural organisation, Unesco, listed the Matobo Hills as an area of world significance because of its distinctive geological formations and ancient rock paintings.
It also contains the grave of Cecil Rhodes, who led Britain's colonisation of southern Africa.
It is the third time in four years that the park has been hit by fire.
