|
|
Itinerary
- Introduction - Kunene
Trail - Desert Trail
- Rockart Trail -
Preparations - Namibia
Home
Etosha National Park Etosha, with it's wealth of anima land plant life, lies in the north of Namibia and covers an area of 22 270 square kilometers. It's one of the largest game parks in Africa. The pans cover an area of some 5 140 sq. km, the Etosha pan's size is 4 590 sq. km.
The word "etosha" means huge, white area. There are three rest camps in the park; Okaukuejo in the south, Halali and Namutoni in the north.
In 1907 Von Lindequist, Governor of German South West Africa,
the gate near Namutoni was named after him, declared an area of 99 526 sq. km as a game park. This area included the present reserve as well as the pans. The park's borders have since been changed a number of times, and became known as the Etosha National Park in 1958. In 1970 it was reduced to it's present size.
Winters in the park are cool and dry. This is the best time to for tourists, because animals tend to congregate around the water holes then. The rainy season usually begins in November, whilst February is the wettest month of the year. Summer temperatures can be as high as 40 degrees C while winter temperatures are mild with a minimum of 6 at night in July.The Pan
The Etosha Pan is 120 km at its longest and 72 km at its widest. Apart from the main pan there are few smaller ones to the west and north-west. The pan is mostly dry, except when heavy downpours occur and floodwater from the north flows into it. Near Namutoni the pan does in fact have water for the greater part of the year. The salinity of this water is sometimes twice that of sea water.
The pan is the bottom of a large, shallow inland lake which dried up.
It seems that the long-term climatic changes were responsible for the pan as we know it today. Evaporation at a rate of 3000 mm per year caused the lake to disappear quickly. In the process, the sandy clay floor became brackish. Once the lake was completely dry, the brittle, brackish soil was more easily eroded by the wind, so that the pan became gradually deeper.
Permanent springs are plentiful in the southern parts of the pan; water which gathers during the rainy period in the porous lime formation flows on to the impermeable clay floor of the pan.
Animals
There are close on 114 species of mammal in Etosha. They include the black-faced impala - there are no ordinary impalas in the park - and the endangered black rhinoceros. There are no white rhino, buffalo, hippo, crocodile or monkeys in the park.
The approximate numbers of large animals are as follows:
1500 Elephant, 300 Black Rhino, 2000 Giraffe, 6000 Burchell Zebra, 700 Mountain Zebra, 2600 Blue Wildebeest, 4000 Gemsbok, 250 Eland, 2000 Kudu, 600 Red Hartebeest, 70 RoanAntelope, 20 000 Springbok, 700 Black-faced Impala, 1500 Ostrich, 300 lion and an unknown number of leopards and cheetahs.
These figures will vary, according to factors such as disease, necessary cropping, drought, and at the other end of the spectrum, good rains and plentiful food.
The period of concentration of game and migratory patterns vary from year to year. The better the grasslands around Okaukuejo after the rainy season, the longer the concentrations of game. At the beginning of the rainy season, the animals disappear quickly from the tourist areas - springs and waterholes - but return gradually after the rains.
The rainy season is also the time when young animals can be seen, since it is also the lambing and calving season. The young of jackals, foxes and the felines are often to be seen, especially near Okaukuejo and Halali. After the first rains, most of the Elephant leave the tourist area for the northern and southern part of the park.
Birds
Of the 340 bird species that have been identified, approximately a third are migratory, as for example the European bee-eater and a variety of waders. During good rainy seasons there are large gatherings of water birds and waders at Fischers pan near Namutoni. The beautiful lesser and greater flamingos also assemble here.
Of the 35 raptor species, ten are migratory, and come to Etosha for the summer. Examples are the yellowbilled kite, the steppe eagle, the western redfooted kestrel, the lesser kestrel and the booted eagle.
The chestnut weaver is to be found only in northern Namibia. The crimsonbreasted shrike, Namibia's national bird, occurs fairly generally.
Accommodation
There are 3 rest camps in Etosha.
Okaukuejo
This is the main administrate camp of Etosha National Park and was officially opened to tourists in October 1957. Apart from accommodation and other tourist facilities, the Ecological Institute is stationed here.Okaukuejo was a control post after the outbreak of rinderpest in 1897 when the German authorities threw a cordon around the northern part of the country to prevent the disease spreading. In 1901 a military outpost was established here and a fortification with a round tower of limestone was erected. It was destroyed a few years later, after which it was converted to a police post.
The name by which Okaukuejo was formerly known was Okooquea, a word to describe the handle of a pulley, to be found at a well.
Apart from bungalows there are camping areas for tents and caravans. There is a unique waterhole where animals can be viewed without the limitations imposed by a vehicle. The drinking place is illuminated at night, and Elephant enthusiasts can have their fill as herds of at times more than forty come to drink. Black Rhino also pay the hole a visit at night. Other nocturnal visitors like lion, cheetah, and brown hyena.
Namutoni
Namutoni was opened to the public in 1958, and is, after Okaukuejo, the second oldest camp. The fort itself was declared a national monument in 1950. The first fort, completed in 1903, was put to the test in the following year when it was attacked by the Owambo. The garrison of seven defended the fort against 500 Owambo until late in the afternoon when their attackers retreated. Just after sunset the garrison slipped away, their ammunition having run out, and reached the safety of the farm Sandhulp and later Grootfontein. The next day the fort was plundered and razed to the ground.
It was rebuilt in 1956 according to the original design and opened in 1958 as a tourist camp. In 1983 additional accommodation quarters, a shop and a restaurant were added. There are also bungalows and a area for camping.
Halali
Opened in 1967, this is the newest camp in Etosha. The camp is halfway between Okaukuejo an Namutoni.The word 'halali' is derived from a bugle call made to announce the end of a hunt. The word has a German origin, and in earlier years the bugle was sounded when the gates of the camp were about to be shut.
The only hills in the park - in the area open to the public - are at Halali. The German Schutztruppe operated a heliograph station on one of these hills to send messages to Okaukuejo and Namutoni. The Helio water hole next to the hills gets its name from this station.
Great accommodation in air-conditioned huts and a big caravan park is available as well as a restaurant and shop. There are petrol stations at all the camps which sells petrol, diesel and gas.
A sight worth visiting is the Fairy-tale forest.
This unique forest is about 32 km west of Okaukuejo, and covers an area of about 1 sq. kilometers. The fairy-tale tree -Moringa ovalifolia - is to be found in Namibia only, and occurs from the Naukluft in the south to Kaokoland in the north. The trees usually only grow on the slopes of mountains or hills and their trunks are fairly smooth and upright.
What makes the Fairy-tale Forest unique is that the trunks of the trees are particularly knobby. It is also the only place where the trees grow in such numbers on the plains.
The Bushmen described them as upside-down trees, since they believed the trees were thrown out of paradise and landed upside-down.Bookings for accommodation is essential especially during the Namibia's school holiday periods.
Opsafari was designed and maintained by the author.
For more information contact: sdelange@mnet.co.za
