Travelling from Windhoek via the sleepy villages of Otjiwarongo and Outjo, you will come to Etosha National Park, the most famous of all Namibia’s parks.
At just over 2 million hectares big, this park is home to an extremely wide variety of game, birdlife and vegetation zones.
Etosha means “the great white place”, which refers to the salt pan that makes up most of the park. The pan does sometimes get water from the north or from rain, but generally it is dry and white as far as the eye can see.
Etosha National Park has three camps where visitors can stay overnight;
Okakeujo
Okakeujo can be considered the main camp inside Etosha, and also boasts the most impressive waterhole.
This drinking spot is under floodlights at night, which makes it a truly memorable experience to just sit and watch life unfold in front of your eyes.
Halali
Halali is the smallest of the camps, but like the rest of Namibia has its own personality and attractions. The honey badgers that regularly visit the campsites in Halali are such an example. Pests sometimes, they are still there and lovely to behold – do not feed them, though. They can be vicious when provoked.
Namutoni
Namutoni used to be an old fort during German times, but now accommodates visitors. The area around Namutoni is the best in all of Etosha vegetation wise. Huge trees and dense bushes make this area ideal for game-like leopard and the elusive Damara Dik-Dik antelope.
Game in Etosha
The game which can be found in Etosha is too numerous to name.
Elephants, black rhino, lions, and leopards are the ones that everyone wants to see.
Game like springbok, plains zebra and blue gnu are, however, the species that occur in the greatest numbers.
Etosha Waterholes
Etosha has a lot of waterholes – man-made and natural – where you can park your vehicle and observe game in their natural environment.
It is a real experience to see big animals, free as life itself, as they approach the water hole. Each species has a different way of approaching water, and each depend on one another to make sure there are no predators around.
Birds in Etosha
Birds like the grey loerie play a major role in this protection sequence as they usually warn game if something is not right at the waterholes.
When in Namibia, a visit to Etosha is a must, if time allows. The smell and the sounds around a waterhole are an experience on the senses, but so typically Africa.
