Namibie safari | Etosha | gemsbok
Etosha National Park is famed for its endless views and abundance of game. The most notable part of this park is Etosha Pan, which is a large, shallow salt plain that measures 5000 km². For the majority of the year, this area is a dried up mud plain that glistens with mirages, allowing you to experience the unique sight of a number of different types of game over a distance of several kilometres.
The first thing you see in Etosha National Park is the series of white salt plains, which reflect the sunlight so brightly in the afternoon that you really need sunglasses. The refraction of light in the early morning and late in the afternoon causes the salt plains to produce an astonishing succession of colours: orange - pink - purple - deep blue.
Etosha can quite rightfully be referred to as the park of many numbers: its 100,000 km² made it the largest national park in the world until 1967, when the government returned the majority of this land to a number of tribes. Its current surface area is a mere 22,275 km². Etosha Pan was once the largest lake in the world, until the water supply dried up. When this happened, the jungle transformed into savannah, with acacia and mopane forests.
Despite the fact that this is a semi-desert, the abundance of game in Etosha National Park is vast. For this reason, many game enthusiasts regard it as one of the best and most fascinating game reserves in Africa. There are more than 340 bird species, 110 different types of reptiles and 100 mammal species. You can view kudu, wildebeest, zebra, springbok, roan antelope and impala around the water holes in the park. Other animals include giraffes, lions, leopards, cheetahs and jackals, as well as 3000 elephants and 300 black rhinos, making the latter one of the largest populations in Africa.
During the years that have sufficient rainfall, the salt pans fill up with water that is rich in nutrients that attract thousands of wading birds, including flamingos.
