Naval Base Impalila is a riverine base of the Namibian Navy. It is located on

Impalila Island Impalila (sometimes spelt Mpalila) is an island at the far eastern tip of Namibia, bounded on the north by the waters of the Zambezi river and on the south by the Chobe River. It is home to some 2500-3000 people in 25 small villages, including Tsw ...

at the confluence of the

Zambezi The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

and Chobe rivers.

History

The base was originally constructed by the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

and used by the South African Marine Corps. It was abandoned in 1989 during South Africa's withdrawal from Namibia. After Namibia's independence it was used as a secondary school. In 2011 the

Namibian Navy The Namibian Navy is the maritime warfare branch of the Namibian Defence Force. History Development of Namibia's navy has been slow, and the force was only formally established on 11 September 1998 as a maritime wing and in 2004 as a fully ...

conducted a Navy Coastal-land, Riverine and Meteorological survey, which found critical security gaps. The report led to the creation of the naval district covering

, Chobe and Okavango rivers. Rehabilitation of the base began in 2014 and was completed in 2017.

Current status

The base was commissioned into service by the Minister of Defence Penda ya Ndakolo on 21 June 2019. A

Namibian Marine Corps The Namibian Marines Corps is the Naval Infantry of Namibia and is part of the Namibian Navy and the Namibian Defence Force. History The Marine Corps are a recent addition to the Namibian Defence Force due to the gradual establishment of the ...

Operational Boat Team is permanently stationed at the base and conducts

riverine A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

patrols.

Commandants

References

{{reflist Military of Namibia 2019 establishments in Namibia