Arnoud Quanjer Wildlife Photography

Etosha National Park is one of Namibia's largest wildlife parks. It was first established in 1907, when Namibia was a German colony known as South West Africa. At the time, the park’s original 100,000 km² (38,500 mile²) made it the largest game reserve in the world. Due to political changes since its original establishment, the park is somewhat less than a quarter of its original size, but still remains a very large and significant area in which wildlife is protected.

Etosha, meaning "Great White Place", is dominated by a massive mineral pan. The pan is part of the Kalahari Basin, the floor of which was formed around 1000 million years ago. The Etosha Pan covers around 25% of the National Park. The pan was originally a lake fed by the Kunene River. However the course of the river changed thousands of years ago and the lake dried up. The pan now is a large dusty depression of salt and dusty clay which fills only if the rains are heavy and even then only holds water for a short time. This temporary water in the Etosha Pan attracts thousands of wading birds including impressive flocks of flamingos. The perennial springs along the edges of the Etosha Pan draw large concentrations of wildlife and birds.

Wildlife

I visited Etosha for the first time in 2003. I found that Etosha is an awesome park for wildlife watching. I had been to Kruger and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park numerous times, but Etosha was something unlike any park I'd been before. Etosha lies at around 1100m above sealevel and is is basically as flat as a dime. There are some hills in the Halali area but most of the park is flat. There are also not a lot of trees and bushes so you can see for miles in a fair part of the park. This means that finding animals in Etosha is very easy, you don't need to be an experienced guide to spot the animals. If you visit Etosha in the dry season then it gets even easier. In the dry season animals will go to the waterholes to drink. The waterholes aren't the only source of water in the park, but there isn't a lot of water in Etosha besides at the waterholes. It's not uncommon to see hundreds of zebra and wildebeest at one single waterholes in the dry season. As all the general wildlife comes to drink at the waterholes this is usually also where you'll find lions and leopards. In the dry season it pays of to choose a waterhole in the morning or afternoon, drive there and just wait and see what turns up.

In October 2007 I sat at Goas waterhole watching lions (who had a rhinoceros kill) when suddenly a white rhinoceros turned up. This is a pretty rare event as white rhinos are seldomly seen in Etosha. When I saw the white rhinoceros it was slowly walking into the bush when it suddenly stopped. It stopped because it had spotted a black rhinoceros, which promptly charged the white rhinoceros out of the bushes. It was funny to see a black rhino charge a white rhino and the best part was that the white rhino had decided to walk towards the waterhole. That meant it was out in the open so I could take pictures. As I was following the white rhino I spotted a leopard through my lens. It had probably been there the whole time but it was too well camouflaged to see. This meant that in one view I could see black rhino, white rhino, leopard and lions. That will only happen in Etosha.

Accomodation

When I visited Etosha in 2003 the state of the accomodation was shocking. Years of not doing any maintanance had taken their toll on abulutions, bungalows, etc. I must say that I was shocked that any National Park could be in such a dismal state. When I returned in October 2007 I was expecting the situation to be the same, if not worse. I was surprised to see that all the camps in Etosha have had a makeover. The communal ablutions and kitchens had been upgraded to a level that I've only seen in private lodges and the bungalows had either been upgraded or completely rebuild. I can safely say that in October 2007 accomodation in Etosha was in excellent shape, I've seen nothing like it in any National Park in Africa. A big thumbs up for Namibia Wildlife Resorts!

I am wondering how long it's going to look like this though. Already you could see showers getting clogged by the calcium in the water, doors not closing properly anymore, etc. It was all small things, but if they don't start doing maintanance right now then in a couple of years Etosha will be in the same state as it was a couple of years ago.

Etosha, will it become a playground for the rich?

All this upgrading of accomodation comes at a price though. On November 1st 2007 Namibia Wildlife Resorts increased the price for accomodation in Etosha by 300%. Granted, the accomodation is very nice now but it is not worth the money that you now have to fork out to stay there. I got the distinct impression that Namibia Wildlife Resorts is trying to lift Etosha out of the mass tourism market into the more exclusive market segment. This is most evident at Namutoni restcamp. At Namutoni restcamp the waterhole has been moved from its original location to a location next to the fort. The only way to see the waterhole now is from the viewing deck at the fort. If you're not an overnight visitor then you'll have to buy a N$100 voucher for the right to see the waterhole. Not only do I think this is a ridiculous rule, but because of the vantage position from the fort photography at the waterhole is useless now. Presently (November 2007) Namutoni is the only camp where day visitors have to pay to see the waterhole. Because of the way the waterholes are laid out and accessed in Akaukuejo and Halali similar measures can easily be implemented there. I fear that this will happen in the future, and it wouldn't surprise me if in the future you'll have to pay for the privilidge to see the waterhole if you're camping.

I personally don't like the way that Etosha is developing. I fear that Namibia Wildlife Resorts have chosen the path that Botswana has also taken: low volume, high price tourism. I think that in a couple of years Etosha will be the playground of the rich, just like the Okavango Delta is today. Lets hope that I'm wrong...