Etosha National Park Namibia

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World Watch Advisory 03/17/04 04:54 GMT
Authorities warn March 16 2004 that serious floods are likely in northern Namibia in the coming weeks. Namibian Department of Water Affairs officials March 16 warned that impending floods in the Caprivi Strip in northern Namibia are likely going to exceed those seen in 2003 - which was described as a major disaster. Anticipate significant disruptions including road closures in this region in the coming weeks.

Officials have been reporting rising river levels in the Zambezi and Kavango rivers since mid-January. The water level in the Zambezi River March 14 was measured to be at least 1.6 meters higher than last year's level taken at the same time. Authorities estimate that additional rains in southern Angola are likely to push the levels well beyond those experienced in 2003 when floods submerged large parts of the Caprivi Strip and caused serious population displacements. Fears are even expressed that Katima Mulilo - a major town in the Caprivi Strip - may be flooded. Lake Liambezi in southern Caprivi has already begun flooding. Significant flooding may impact the major east-west road running through the Strip connecting Namibia with Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Expect disruptions in road travel and public services, including power outages; allow additional time to reach destinations. Consider postponing road travel to and through affected areas. If travel is unavoidable, carry plenty of food and water, and a radio with spare batteries. A personal satellite locator is also recommended. Avoid driving through water on roadways, as it could cause the vehicle's engine to stall. Do not attempt to move a stalled vehicle; abandon it and immediately move to higher ground.

As always in Namibia, drink bottled water only and use bottled water when brushing your teeth. Flooded conditions may lead to health risks and diseases such as malaria. Monitor media reports for local impact and follow the guidance of local authorities.

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"Southern Africa's Etosha is a vast and ancient land of seasonal paradox. During the blooming of the wet season, this an Eden of glorious abundance in which spring boks, elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, jackals, zebras, and giraffe thrive. It is also an Eden that slowly disappears when heat, drought and thirst put all life at risk, except for that of opportunistic vultures". "The Living Edens: Etosha, Africa's Untamed Wilderness" -PBS Documentary

A wildlife reserve without peer, Etosha National Park in northern Namibia is a crucial sanctuary for many of Africa's rapidly dwindling bird and game species, including the endangered black rhino and roan antelope and the rare black-faced impala. It is also one of the largest game parks in the world, stretching more than 350 kilometres from east to west and covering an area of 22 275 square kilometres.

Central to the park is Etosha Pan, some 120 kilometres long and 70-plus kilometres wide at its furthest points. More than two million years ago this was a vast inland sea, but as a result of topographic and climatic changes the river that fed it, the Kunene, altered its course and flowed westwards into the Atlantic Ocean. Today Etosha Pan is a stark, salt-encrusted reminder of this once-great lake, a seemingly endless greenish white depression made up of clay, silt and mineral salts left behind as the water evaporated. Baking and shimmering under a golden white sun, the pan has not been filled within living memory, although in years of above-average rainfall vast glistening sheets of shallow water spread over it and attract thousands upon thousands of flamingos, waders and other waterbirds.

The birds appear miraculously overnight and for a while the pan teems with life, perhaps as it did millions of years ago. Then, quietly, the water recedes and evaporates, leaving a harsh wasteland devoid of anything but mirages and a few ostriches and animals that venture out over the parched surface.

Although the pan is central to the park's existence, it is the surrounding woodlands and sweetveld savanna plains that support most of its inhabitants. Etosha is home to more than 110 mammal and at least 340 bird species. Among the most notable of the mammals are about 2 000 elephants, a dynamic lion population, increasing numbers of black rhino and the full gamut of typical plains species, including springbok, wildebeest, zebra, gemsbok (oryx), eland, hartebeest and giraffe.

While Etosha may not have the vast herds of the Serengeti or Masai Mara, nor the scenic beauty of the Okavango Delta or Amboseli, nor even the varied topography of the Kruger Park, it is remarkable for its large herds, its diversity of species and its easy accessibility. What makes Etosha so extraordinary is the fact that, in general, its wildlife is readily visible, primarily because the animals tend to congregate at a limited number of permanent watering places.

Although some animals extract what moisture they require from their food and are therefore independent of surface water to a large extent, many others, especially the bigger species, must drink every day. Their feeding range is thus limited to within a day's walk of a water source. Etosha Pan itself provides no potable water. Only in the wettest of years – and only for a few months of those years – does it hold water and that, being twice as saline as sea water, is not fit for consumption. But along the pan's southern shore there are perennial natural springs and seepages, and these provide the key to Etosha's wildlife bounty. Further away, across the grassy plains and hidden among acacia and mopane thickets, are other waterpoints, both natural and manmade, and they also sustain the teeming herds.

Before fences were erected around Etosha in 1973, the larger grazing species were free to migrate over huge distances as the seasons changed. They had distinct ranges in the wet and the dry seasons, and in many instances these were well beyond the park boundaries. Today Etosha's animals have to rely on the food and water available inside the fences, and to provide for them park management has had to not only introduce artificial watering points, but also manage them to prevent unnatural concentrations of animals and, ultimately, overgrazing.

Many of these artificial waterholes are conspicuous, bristling with solar panels and concrete structures that spoil photographic opportunities, and it is the natural waterholes that are generally more productive for photographers. Perhaps most photogenic of all are the seepages that occur along the edge of Etosha Pan, notably Okondeka (in the region of Okaukuejo, the most westerly of the three restcamps), Sueda and Salvadora (near Halali camp in the centre) and Okerfontein (in the vicinity of Namutoni camp, to the east). Although these seeps generally yield little water, they are important watering places for the wildlife in their respective areas and frequently host spectacular concentrations of game.

Over the years I have witnessed lion kills at both Okondeka and Salvadora, black rhino at Salvadora, a cheetah kill and regular cheetah sightings at Sueda, and countless elephants mud-bathing in the white clays of Okerfontein.

Artesian springs also occur throughout Etosha, usually in the form of raised limestone hillocks such as those at Klein Namutoni and Koinachas in the eastern sector of the park. In recent years Koinachas seems to have benefited from an increase in the water table beneath it and has become a prime watering point close to Namutoni. It has always been a favoured drinking spot of leopards, and it also attracts a wide range of plains game.

Klein Namutoni ranks as one of the most popular sunset spots in the park, not so much for the views of the sun going down as for the wonderful evening light that bathes it and the hordes of animals, giraffes and elephants in particular, that drink there in the evening. As it is only five minutes from Namutoni camp, visitors are able to enjoy their time there to the full before having to race back to camp to get through the gates before the strict 'sunset' closing time. (Perhaps camp authorities could consider closing the gates half an hour after sunset, to give visitors the opportunity to enjoy the spectacle of the sun setting over the African bush, or Etosha Pan?)

The third type of natural waterhole that occurs in Etosha is a spring which forms where the ground surface breaks into the subterranean water level, either when an underground cave collapses or when the ground subsides. The two Okevi waterholes in the Namutoni area are fine examples of this, and both are highly productive places at which to while away some hours.

I have been a regular visitor to Etosha since 1990, when my wife and I spent a full year in the park. We find the most rewarding method of game-viewing to be an early game drive to scout the area for predators, followed by several hours at one of the waterholes – usually with a cooler box of cold drinks, a picnic lunch and perhaps a pile of Among our preferred waterholes for extended stays are Olifantsbad, Gemsbokvlakte and Aus in the vicinity of Okaukuejo; Rietfontein and Goas near Halali; and Okerfontein, Chudop and Tsumcor in the Namutoni region. Unfortunately one of my favourites in the eastern sector, Kalkheuwel, has become drier in recent years and is no longer the attraction it once was. This could change, though, given a few good wet seasons.

For many visitors the most lasting impression of Etosha is of the waterholes at the restcamps of Okaukuejo and Halali. Here it is possible to sit quietly in comfort and observe the comings and goings of rhinos and elephants, lions and leopards, as well as a host of other creatures. Both waterholes are floodlit – as is a smaller one outside the fence at Namutoni camp – so the procession of animals can be viewed 24 hours a day. I have rarely failed to see black rhino when I have spent an evening at either waterhole – between nine and 10 is apparently the best hour of the night to see these shy and temperamental animals. Many times visitors have witnessed lions hunting and killing at Okaukuejo, and during the dry season it is not unusual to see as many as 40 or 50 elephants shoving and jostling to take a turn at the water inlet pipes.

In the dry season – usually from May/June until November – the waterholes are undoubtedly the main attraction both for the animals and for the humans who want to see them. But during the summer months, when rainwater fills puddles and natural pans throughout the park, they lose their appeal and the animals disperse into areas they are unable to utilize at other times of the year. Sitting at a waterhole in summer can be a waste of time – and yet Etosha in the 'green' season still has much to offer. Wild flowers blossom across formerly parched plains, and parts of Etosha Pan as well as Fischer's Pan in the east may flood, attracting thousands of lesser and greater flamingos and a plethora of other waders and water birds.

Summer is when many of the antelope species drop their young, the wildebeest generally throughout December and early January, and the springbok a little later, from the middle of January until early February. These antelope produce their offspring synchronously, possibly in order to overwhelm predators, and when the summer rains are late they also seem able to delay giving birth by feeding on certain plants.

From a photographer's perspective, summer is a wonderful time to visit Etosha. Storms build up in spectacular fashion, regular rain showers wash dust and haze from the air, and the park undergoes a rejuvenation that is invigorating to experience. While the big game, in particular the elephants, may be far scarcer than in the drier months, smaller subjects can be in abundance. Roadside ponds appear after heavy rains and giant bullfrogs that have been aestivating underground for a year or more emerge from them to feast, fight for mates and breed – then burrow underground again to await the next season's downpours. Summer is the season too for migrant birds – and the birdwatchers that flock into Etosha to see them.

The great white place.
The place of dry water.
The place of mirages.
The place where you see what is not there – and what is there, eludes you.
Etosha is all of these places, and more...

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