Namibia Wildlife Safari Pictures
Etosha Photos

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Elephants hogging the Halali restcamp waterhole, Etosha National Park, Namibia, August 2005

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Etosha National Park is a huge and spectacular game reserve, with hordes of beasts in various locations, though there are no sighting guarantees, especially as far as predators [i.e. big cats] are concerned.

The huge, dry salt pan is Etosha's main claim to scenic fame, but actually the animals don't use it much as there's generally no water or food there, only useful minerals. Most of the wildlife action takes place in the arid scrub land and struggling trees bordering the pan, with vast herds of zebra, wildebeest and antelope trudging from water hole to feed to waterhole.

Tourists mostly do self drive safaris along the hundreds of kilometres of dirt roads visiting different waterholes in the hope of getting pictures of something interesting there or en route. Much depends on luck, but research also helps - what you're doing now [i.e. web checking], as well as checking restcamp reception areas where reports on animal sightings are recorded.

Each of the three wildlife safari rest-camps has its own waterhole, nighttime floodlights and seating area.
In Bugbog's humble opinion Namutoni is the least successful of the three, with slightly inferior accommodation and a less-populated waterhole.
Halali, pictured above, has a hole that requires a ten minute walk and has no shade but seems to attract more than its fair share of elephants and giraffes and is a great site for bigger wildlife pictures.
Okaukuejo's is [or more precisely was in 2005] clearly the winning waterhole, with constant wildlife activity very close to smart, new visitor huts. Low, odd numbers are the very best huts .e.g. 3,5,7 and so on. This waterhole seemed to attract the smaller wildlife but that meant that it was a target for the big cats so this was one of the few places to get lion photos in 2005. We didn't manage to stay there, having booked late. [Actually, not having booked at all].

Tour Operators are permitted to run wildlife safaris on the far west side of Etosha where regular tourists are forbidden.

Best time to travel in Etosha: Winter [June-September], when temperatures are hot in the day and a little chilly at night. This is the dry season so grass is shorter giving better visibility, animals tend to wander less since water is harder to find, and importantly, there's no water for mosquitoes to breed in so the little whiners disappear and malaria is not such a problem.
At other times the heat may be close to unbearable.

Photos of other wildlife destinations:

Namibia Wildlife Safari Pictures Etosha Photos

Click for more Etosha Wildlife Safari Pictures or choose other photos from below.

Namibia Wildlife Safari Pictures
Etosha Photos