Etosha National Park is a wonderland for wildlife that congregates around the incredible salt pan – so huge it can be seen from space, and safari lodge accommodation so impressive it meets the needs of all visitors to this amazing destination in northern Namibia.
Experience the waterholes and plains, amazing Mopani trees and open spaces. You too can appreciate the most captivating sunsets ever recorded in Namibia’s most famous park. We have a wide range of camps to suit all budgets so let us help you plan your Namibia holiday with tours along the way into the Namib desert, the Skeleton Coast and Damaraland.
Etosha National Park is one of the largest national parks in Africa and was proclaimed a game reserve in March 1907, then elevated to the status of a national park in 1967. It spans an area of 22,270 square km and is home to hundreds of species of mammals, birds and reptiles, including several threatened and endangered species such as the black rhinoceros.
Tourists to Namibia love Etosha National Park thanks to its incredible beauty and many positive points – it is malaria free and you can traverse its well-graded dirt roads in a normal vehicle.
Diverse choices of accommodation range from camping under shady trees to rustic cabins and luxurious safari lodges. Modern amenities include shops and petrol stations, banks and cafes. The three main camps in Etosha National Park – Okaukuejo, Halali and Namtoni – all offer camping, chalets and water holes, floodlit at night. The more exclusive camps – Dolomite and Onkoshi – promise an upmarket setting.
Game viewing at Etosha is astounding so look out for the 114 mammal species, many rare and endangered. Tick off Black rhinos, Black-faced impalas, Honey badgers, warthogs, Bat-eared foxes, ground squirrels, jackals and cheetahs. Sightings of elephants and lions are common alogn with kudu, gemsbok, giraffe, wildebeest, hyena, springbok and zebra.
Discover this vast conservation area in the Kunene region on the boundaries of Oshana, Oshikoto and Otjozondjupa. The salt pans are visible from a spaceship, the most remarkable geological features in the national park and the main depression covering an area of about 5,000 square km. The pan is so salty that few species can live there except for tiny microorganisms – it is usually dry except for the summer rainy months when pelicans and flamingos arrive en masse to find these microorganisms. In the dry season, winds blowing across the salt pan pick up saline dust and carry it across the country adding minerals to the soil on which some wildlife depends – but this salty dust can affect farming.
Etosha’s gates and certain landmarks have been named after people who were part of the park’s origins. Did you know that explorers Charles Andersson and Francis Galton first discovered this wild region with Ovambo traders in 1851? And that Etosha actually means ‘Great White Place’ in the Ovambo language?
German troops occupied the Namutoni region in 1896 where they built the fort. The Ovambo burnt it down at the turn of the century and today it is a national monument. The original Etosha was the largest national park in the world. But politics in the ‘60s shrank that 100 000 square kilometre area of the present 20 000 km2.
Take your family on a thrilling holiday to a vast and dry wilderness – Etosha is a fascinating place in northern Namibia with plenty of watering holes and a huge salt pan so provides adventure for families and friends who love wildlife viewing.
Choose luxury and rustic camps and lodges close to incredible sightings yet packed with modern amenities and close to shops and cafes. Kids will feel in awe at this epic environment and want to run free in this vast magic place so take them on all the offered outings. Many of the Etosha camps offer game drives, guided walks and birding safaris and kids will see rare black rhinos, herds of elephants and amazing antelopes and lions endemic to this saltpan region.
Get out to find the Fairy Tale Forest near Okaukuejo where hundreds of moringa trees grow on the plains. It’s a ‘great white place’ and is extremely dry in winter but very lush in summer – two extremes.
Most Etosha camps and lodges feature swimming pools too and kind staff are keen to make a difference in your kids’ holiday experience. Treat your family to this once-in-a-lifetime experience in the Namibia wilds of awesome Damaraland – a time to be active and to be quiet, a time to chat and a time to listen. Nature beckons.
Plan a Namibia tour and safari with Voyage2Africa, the African travel experts, and enjoy signature experiences to premier wildlife destinations south of the equator. We bring you thrilling adventures in the infinite spaces of the Etosha conservation region packed with wildlife and perfect sunset moments. We offer you the best of the best safari accommodation in and around this craggy terrain, in lavish lodges, splendid family resorts, eco villas and rustic wild campsites in nature. Take a look at some beautiful safari camps here for starters.
The Etosha Pan was one of several sites in southern Africa in the Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI) during a programme to collect a wide variety of data on aerosols, land cover and atmosphere to study and understand the interactions between people and the natural environment – scientists used satellites, aircraft, and ground-based data from sites such as Etosha.
