Exploring Etosha National Park on a self-drive safari is undoubtedly a highlight of any trip to Namibia, and maybe even the number one reason for your holiday. The name Etosha, meaning “Great White Place” gets it’s name from the salt pan. Much of the eastern corner of the park is dominated by a mineral pan so enormous it can be seen from space. This pan covers about 25% of the national park. To put it in context, that’s half the size of Switzerland! The largest variety and density of animals gather around the salt pan area of the park, which is why the most popular route into the park takes you from Anderson’s Gate to Von Lindequest Gate (or in the opposite direction). Emma visited Etosha in 2018 and has put together a few of her tips for a great day out. All photographs included were taken during her visit.
Self-drive safaris through Etosha National Park
You have the possibility to see lion, elephant, black rhino, white rhino, Hartmann’s and Burchell’s zebra, jackal, blue wildebeest, giraffe, warthog, pangolin, red hartebeest, porcupine, kudu, dik dik, springbok, eland, bat-eared foxes and more in Etosha. There are leopard living within the park but you have to be pretty lucky to spot one, so we would recommend including a visit to Okonjma Nature Reserve in your holiday itinerary, because you probably won’t see a leopard at Etosha.
Start preparing the day before
Have you got enough fuel for a day of driving? You could cover a couple of hundred kilometres over the day and it’s not a place to get caught short. Make sure you top up en-route to Etosha, or take cash to buy fuel at one of the rest camps inside the park.
Take plenty of water and cool drinks, binoculars, camera with a zoom-lense if you have one, a mammal guide book, sunglasses, snacks, cash and sunblock. You can buy lunch and visit the toilets at the rest camps inside the park. There are also pools within the park, so take your swimmers and towel if you want an easy way to cool off. Plastic bags aren’t allowed into the park, so keep your belongs in boxes or your travel bags.
The park gates open at sunrise and close at sunset and you can check with your lodge / campsite for the exact times. Early risers will be rewarded with the best wildlife sightings as game, sensibly, tends to snooze behind or under bushes in the heat of the day. Don’t be late to leave the park as substantial fines are enforced, and don’t buy meat inside the park to take out as this is prohibited for disease control.
When you arrive
You’ll pick up a ticket as you enter the park then need to pay the entrance fee per person and per vehicle. This is roughly £14.00 per adult, £5 for 8 to 16, and free for children under 8. Then it’s about £3.00 per vehicle (this cannot be purchased in advance) which you pay when you get to the first rest camp. The speed limit within the park is 60km but the key is to drive slowly so you see more. Remember, the wildlife doesn’t have any road sense and there could, quite literally, be a herd of elephants around the next corner!
When paying your entrance fee, check the boards and sighting books to see which waterholes game have been spotted visiting over the last couple of days. You can then consider whether to plan your day around the previous sighting spots.
Waterhole etiquette
Approach slowly and keep quiet!
One of the best ways to spend time in Etosha is sitting at a waterhole, watching, or waiting for, animals coming to drink. You can’t get out of your vehicle in the park so stay put inside! One of the best moments, for me, was being the only vehicle watching a watering hole and spotting an elephant in the bushes, mostly hidden at the far end of a clearing. Patience over the next hour was rewarded by the whole herd of around 11 elephants, with several juveniles and infants coming to the waterhole to drink and cool themselves off with a trunk-wash. These felt like incredible private moments to spend with these wonderful creatures.
You’ll want to visit a few water holes during the day and you’ll be given a map when you enter the park. You’ll see the waterholes are mainly located to the south of the pan. Remember to approach waterholes slowly and to keep quiet while you’re watching, with arms inside the vehicle. Game can be skittish around waterholes, especially when they are alone, as they feel vulnerable to prey. They may be unable to find water away from the holes so being able to drink undisturbed is vital. Giraffe, in particular, have to do a fair amount of delicate and intricate leg manoeuvring in order to drink, so being disrupted can make for a long afternoon trying to get to the bar!
A special note about black rhino
If you’re lucky enough to see a rhino, a golden rule is not to post it on social media. This helps keep its location safe from poachers, who hunt these animals relentlessly. Namibian conservationists have done a fantastic job of maintaining a healthy black rhino population, resulting in Etosha having one of the largest populations of black rhinos in the world. I was told that it’s more common to see these critically endangered animals at night, particularly around Okaukuejo Camp, but I was lucky enough to spot a few during the daytime. The two key spots for siting black Rhino are Etosha and in the region of Damaraland. In Damaraland, you can head out on rhino tracking excursions. Much less rare of course are the white rhino and there are plenty of these in the park, following their reintroduction in 1995, but these roam around the lesser-visited western end of the park, for those going in from the Galton Gate to visit the exclusive Dolomite camp!
Though Emma left Archipelago Choice after taking on a B&B in Keswick, we are still in close contact with her and you can find out more about the wildlife experiences in Namibia from our Namibia destination experts, Ian and Myles: team@archipelagochoice.com
