ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK
This is one of the largest national parks in Namibia an Africa at large. It was proclaimed a game reserve in 1907 in Ordinance 88 by the German South West Africa governor Freidrich von Lindequist. It was later designed in 1967 and was elevated to the status of the national park in early 1958 by an act of the parliament of the Republic of South Africa. This national park has an area of 22,270km2, 8600 square miles. The name Etosha was derived from the Etosha pan which almost entirely within the park.
Wildlife
This national park has almost unparalleled wealth of large mammals, including 4 of the big5 (only buffalo is missing), and many more which are rare or endangered. The high population of the black Rhinos, black faced impala, that is indigenous to Namibia and southern Angola
Animals like springbok zebras, Oryx, kudu, giraffe and wildebeests are common in this national park, the most famous elephants can be sighted in the bush and other species at the waterholes. The most seen predators include, lions, leopards and cheetah. Other mammal includes, hyenas, bat-eared fox, honey badger, warthog and ground squirrel.
This national park has recorded habitat of over 340 bird species. Half of these are migratory birds which are there and some of the common species include, European bee-eater, the 35 raptor include several types of vulture as well as eight species of owl. Larder birds found in the park are ostrich and the world’s heaviest flying bird, the Kori bustard.
Estosha Pan
The Estosha Pan is a vast, bare, open expanse of shimmering green and white that covers around 4800km2 almost a quarter of the beautiful Etosha National Park. At 130km long and up to 50km wide in places, its comfortably the largest salt pan in Africa and is the park’s most distinctive and dramatic feature, visible even from space.
Salt springs on the pan have now built up little hillocks of clay and salt which are used by some of the park’s wildlife as salt licks. In the wet season, parts of the form rainwater pools and in particular wet years the entire pan becomes a lake once more, standing at about 10cm deep and drawing thousands of migrating flamingos
Activities carried out at Etosha National Park.
Wild life
This national park has a large number of wildlife species. Most of the visitors who came at Etosha national park came with the main aim of watching the fantastic wildlife in its natural environment. This national park is famous to harbor over 114mammal pieces and among the big 5, Etosha has 4 of them and these include, elephants, lions, leopards, Rhinos. This national park in particular is known for being a Rhino conservation stronghold-both for the indigenous black Rhino and the reintroduced white predators, and the cats 3 ranging from smaller cats like caracal and several to brown and spotted hyenas, aardwolves, blacked Jackals, and bat eared foxes. The desert dwelling antelopes including eland, gemsbok, springbok, and endemic black-faced impala thrive, Buchelle’s and mountain Zebras also exist in this national park although they are restricted and put in a separate section of the Etosha park.
Birding
This is also among the fantastic activities within this national park. The national park recorded over 340 different bird species and the recorded ones include, Hartlaub’s francolin, the Carp’s tit, and the Ruppell’s and Meyer’s parrots. Three species of endangered or critically endangered vulture can also be seen. In rain season, between the month of November to April, Etosha Pan and Fisher’s Pan occasionally fill up with water, at which time feat flocks of pelicans and flamingoes take up residence.
There are also other activities in Etosha of which include, nature walks of which some are guided mostly at Halali resort Etosha National Park.
ACCOMMODATIONA AT ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK
Some of the common known accommodation facilities within the park include, Okaukuejo resort located 10.5 miles from the southern Anderson gate. It offers a wide range of accommodation, including premier waterhole chalets, family and bush chalets, and double rooms, Halali Resort is located in the middle of the park, between the Anderson and Von Lindequist gates. Surrounded but Moringa trees and overlooked by a pair of dolomite hills, its often thought to be the most beautiful of all the camps, Namutoni resort has a somewhat surreal appearance, having been built in and around a German fort that dates back to the 19th century. The camp offers bush chalets and double rooms in addition to 25 fully equipped campsites and its own floodlit waterhole, Onkoshi resort, those looking for more exclusive experience will find it as this resort. Dolomite and many others