National Parks in Namibia

National Parks

Etosha National Park is famous as one of Africa’s very best and most beautiful national parks. ‘Etosha’ loosely translates as the ‘Place of Mirages’, ‘Land of Dry Water’ or the ‘Great White Place’ because of its vast pan of silvery-white sand where dust devils whirl around and mirages shimmer in the dry desert heat.

The most distinctive feature of Etosha is the enormous shallow depression - Etosha Pan, which probably is the huge bowl of an erstwhile inland lake, long dry but once fed by the River Kunene. The edges of the saltpans are mopane savannah stretching to the south, west and north, with mostly dry woodlands in the east. The "Haunted Forest" in the east is a dense stand of gnarled moringa trees that grow only in Namibia.

Etosha has a huge population of African wild life best seen during the late summer months when they are forced to visit the few waterholes not dry. Fortunately for the animals and the tourists, there are many such waterholes in the park.

Over 340 species of birds including many rarely seen members of the raptor family, elephant, giraffe, eland, blue wildebeest, kudu, gemsbok, springbok, impala, steenbok, and zebra are protected within the limits of Etosha National Park.  

Daan Viljoen Game Park is in a small park just an hour’s driving time from Windhoek. The park lies in the midst of rolling hills in the Khomas Hochland, a highland area with savannah type vegetation and a willow-shaded dam, tailor-made for picnics.

The 40 sq km contains a limited amount of wildlife; notable amongst them are steenbok, springbok, gemsbok, kudu, red hartebeest, blue wildebeest, eland, baboon, mountain zebra and over 200 species of birds. There are no large predators in the park, making it ideal for walking round and exploring on foot.

The Fish River Canyon National Park is actually a long jagged ravine 161 km long, 27 km wide and up to 549 meters deep.  The canyon is numbered as one of the best hiking and trekking areas in the world as its almost lunar arid landscape is one of the last surviving tracts of true wilderness. Ai-Ais Hot Springs are hot springs beneath the peaks of the southern end of Fish River Canyon from where hot water is piped to a series of baths.

The Skeleton Coast National Park: the Kunene River and the Ugab River form the natural boundaries of the park in the north and south respectively. The Skeleton Coast derives its name from the bleached bones of shipwrecked sailors that dot its length and breadth. When the icy cold Benguela ocean current from the Arctic meets with the warm temperatures of the African continent, it gives rise to a dense coastal fog that caused ships to flounder on the rocky outcrops, thus developing a very unsavoury reputation as shipwrecks along its coast increased in numbers.

The attraction of this dangerous area lies in the colours, changing moods and pristine virginal landscape that metamorphoses from expanses of wind swept dunes to rugged canyons with walls of multi hued and multi layered volcanic rock to extensive mountain ranges.