Etosha National Park

For self drive or guided safaris to Namibia contact Your Safari

Sunset over Etosha pan image taken from Onkoshi lodge

"Thank you for sending me the updated Etosha eBook at no cost! The extra seventy pages with new lessons and featuring nice lodges outside the park really makes the book an indispensable resource for visitors." - Klaus Schmidt, Germany

Etosha National Park has three main rest camps;

Namutoni

Halali

Okaukuejo

they are situated on these grass plains to the east and south of the pan....

Namutoni Fort walkway

entrance gate to Halali camp

Okaukuejo main entrance gate

Etosha also has an upmarket lodge inside the park called Onkoshi  which opened in 2008 and is situated north of Namutoni....

Onkoshi Lodge overlooking the Etosha pan

In June 2011  Dolomite Camp opened in the most scenic area, on the far western part of the park. Dolomite camp offers 20 chalets- 3 Deluxe chalets with their own plunge pools and 17 standard bush chalets...

Dolomite camp from the waterhole

If you prefer to stay outside the park then you have a choice of Onguma The Fort which is situated near Namutoni on the eastern border of the park or Etosha Safari Lodge and Etosha Safari Camp , both situated near Okaukuejo on the southern border and, near Dolomite camp on the western border, Toko Lodge.

HDR image of Onguma the Fort Courtyard

Visiting Etosha also provides opportunities for people to visit   Himba villages, like the Himba village at Toko Lodge.

HDR image of a Himba family in their village at Toko Lodge

Stopovers are also an important part of your safari and it's crucial that you choose them wisely. Here we list some of our favorites to and from Etosha.

The image below is one of the suite bedrooms at Olive Exclusive in Namibia.

Olive Exclusive bedroom

The park is well-known for its waterholes and each of the three main camps has one;  Halali and Okaukuejo camps produce such good game sightings, visitors can sit throughout the day and watch procession after procession of game coming down to drink, however the waterhole at Namutoni Camp is generally not good for game viewing......

Kudus and Black face impalas at Halali waterole

You can even sit through the night as each waterhole is floodlit. We have seen leopard, lion, black rhino and elephant at the Okaukuejo and Halali camp waterholes at night....

elephants drinking at moringa waterhole in Halali

Leopard drinking at Halali waterhole

This picture shows a black rhino drinking at Okaukuejo waterhole after the sun has set. You will notice the pink afterglow in the water (no filters or Photoshop additions here)

the waterholes in camp also make for great landscape photographs, like at sunset....

Okaukuejo camp waterhole at sunset

The natural springs and man-made waterholes surrounding the pan to the South and East support the many different game species and make the park a photographer's paradise in the winter months.....

lions drinking at Salvadora waterhole

Lioness lying in wait at the waterhole

lioness drinking at a spring

Kudu at the waterhole

The park's 'big-five' comprise the lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and cheetah (there are no buffalo in the park)

lioness with two of her cubs

black rhino with her calf

cheetah on the open plains

Elephants walking to Okaukuejo waterhole

Leopard drinking at Halali camps waterhole at sunset

Keep a lookout for the rare Black-faced impala, found only here

Black faced Impala

You also have the choice of doing self-drive safaris, guided safaris or going on safari tours where you have the option of various activities and adventures around Namibia.

The park has a few picnic sites with basic ablutions and lovely viewpoints overlooking the Pan, where you can get out of your vehicle....

Etosha picnic site

basic ablutions at picnic site in Etosha

We sadly stopped visiting the park in 2002 as the bungalows, restaurants, air conditioners and ablutions were not adequately maintained. Namibia Wildlife Resorts did, however, upgrade all the facilities - with a more than doubling of fees of course - but the Park is still much more affordable than the East African safari lodges or the private lodges.

In 2009 we ventured back to the park and the decor is more appropriate for an African Game Reserve and all the air conditioners were new and working. Namutoni, in our opinion, is still not a nice camp as the waterhole is not productive in terms of game sightings and the accommodation, even though it has been upgraded, is expensive for what you get.

Not bad for 'cheap' accommodation hey! Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) have renovated in style - let's hope they maintain adequately in the future.

Here are two views of the room we stayed in at Halali.

Etosha has a low-season and a high-season - November to May is the low-season with lower rates while June to October is high season. 

The waterhole at Okaukuejo in the low season- summer

Gemsbok on the Etosha plans during the high season

Don't think there are no animals in the park during the low-season because there are plenty - you have to drive around to find them! The low-season is also a great time for birders as the park gets hundreds of thousands of flamingos, pelicans and other water birds in addition to the bushveld birds. 

egyptian geese bathing in the pan in Etosha

Pelican at Fishers Pan

Flamingos on the Etosha Pan

image of gulls taken at Klein Namutoni waterhole

To see some of our photographs please visit our Etosha Gallery page and for some tips on photographing in the park please see our interviews with Daryl Balfour who is a professional nature photographer and Kathryn Haylett who is a safari guide and wildlife photographer specialising in various Namibian wildlife destinations.

To get a feel for the Park please check out our Etosha Trip Reports:

September 2010 Trip Report

August 2011 Trip Report

October 2011 Trip Report

Jennifer also wrote a most informative article on Photographing in Etosha for PhotographyBB Magazine in their April 2011 issue. To download a PDF of the article please click here

To download an article on using filters to photograph landscapes in the national park please click here

To download a brochure on The Photographer's Guide to Etosha National Park site-guide / eBook please click here

To read a first-time visitor's experience of visiting Namibia's biggest national park click here

Old Etosha map for the Western side of the park

"The Photographer’s Guide to Etosha by Mario Fazekas, Jenny Fazekas and Kathryn Haylett is my favourite book (better said, it’s my bible!) for Etosha National Park in Namibia.  

For me this book is a “must have” for Etosha, it is perfect for everyone, wildlife enthusiasts, beginner photographers or pro photographers, this book is packed with excellent information and it not only tells you what waterholes or areas are the best for wildlife sightings or what frequent or resident wildlife there are in each area of the park, it also shows you how to position the car/jeep to get the best angle and light for your photography.

I wish I had this book 10 years ago when I first started going on safaris to Etosha, it would have saved me a lot of time and effort - and it probably would have helped me get many more photos that were “keepers”! - Lucy Beveridge

Etosha Maps

To download some park and camp maps please click

here

Mountain zebras and giraffe on the Western side of Etosha

Share Your Etosha Stories with Others

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Namibia - Beyond Etosha

wild horses of Namibia

HDR image of Deadvlei in Namibia

Namibia has so much more to offer in addition to Etosha. There is the Fish River Canyon, Sossusvlei, Deadvlei, Kolmanskop, Solitaire, Damaraland, the Kalahari, Namib Naukluft Park, Caprivi Strip and the Skeleton coast to name some of the more famous tourist hot-spots.

We have travelled to most of these hot-spots and share them with you on our Photographing Namibia page.

Jenny photographing in one of the old houses in Kolmanskop

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