Etosha

One of the largest national parks in Africa, dominated by a vast white salt pan visible from space

Area

22,270 km²

Protection category

UICN II

Parque nacional — what the IUCN categories mean

Declared in

1907

Region

Southern Africa

Climate

Árido / desértico

Best time

May to October

Length of its routes

3–5 days

Difficulty of its routes

Media

Plan your visit

Best time: May to October
Length of its routes: 3–5 days
Difficulty of its routes: Media
Area: 22,270 km²

Highlight

One of the largest national parks in Africa, dominated by a vast white salt pan visible from space

Proclaimed a game reserve in 1907 by the governor of what was then German South West Africa, with more than 100,000 km² at the outset — making it the largest game reserve in the world at the time — before successive reductions left it at its present size in 1970. The park is dominated by the Etosha pan, a basin of almost 5,000 km², visible even from space, formed millions of years ago when tectonic shifts diverted the rivers that fed an inland lake, leaving behind a dry saline bed that takes up almost a quarter of the park. The Haiǁom, the traditional hunter-gatherers of the area, were forcibly evicted in 1954 to leave the land solely to wildlife, and only since 2004 have they had a traditional authority officially recognised by the Namibian government to negotiate their relationship with the park.