Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
north, they are bounded by four great rivers - the Kunene, Okavango, Kwando/Mashi/
Linyanti/Chobe and Zambezi - that flow year-round.
Wildlife
For wildlife watchers, there are really only three significant areas in Namibia: Kaokoland,
where elusive desert elephants and black rhinos follow the river courses running to the
Skeleton Coast; the isolated and rarely visited Khaudum, where Namibia's last African
wild dogs find refuge; and Etosha National Park, one of the world's finest wildlife re-
serves.
Further south is the largest wildlife reserve in Africa, the Namib-Naukluft Park, which
covers an astonishing 6% of Namibia's area. Much of it is true desert, and large mammals
occur in extremely low densities, though local species include Hartmann's mountain zebra
as well as more widespread Southern African endemics like springbok and gemsbok. For
aficionados of smaller life, the Namib is an endemism hot spot: on the dunes, Gray's
larks, dune larks, slip-face lizards and fog-basking beetles are found, while the scattered
rocky plateaus host long-billed larks, rockrunners and Herero chats.
The severe Namibian coast is no place to expect abundant big wildlife, though it's the
only spot in the world where massive fur-seal colonies are patrolled by hunting brown hy-
enas and black-backed jackals. The coast also hosts massive flocks of summer waders, in-
cluding sanderlings, turnstones and grey plovers, while Heaviside's and dusky dolphins
can often be seen in the shallow offshore waters.
In 2009 the Namibian government opened Sperrgebiet National Park, a vast 16,000-sq-
km expanse of land home to the threatened desert rain frog, dramatic rock formations and
disused diamond mines. The area's haunting beauty, which is highlighted by shimmering
salt pans and saffron-coloured sand dunes, provides one of the world's most dramatic
backdrops for adventurous wildlife watchers.
MAMMALS
Nowhere else on earth does such diverse mammal life exist in such harsh conditions. On
the gravel plains live ostriches, zebras, gemsboks, springboks, mongooses, ground squir-
rels and small numbers of other animals, such as black-backed jackals, bat-eared foxes,
caracals, aardwolfs and brown hyenas. Along the coast, penguins and seals thrive in the
chilly Atlantic currents, and in the barren Erongo mountains and Waterberg plateau the
last wild black rhinoceros populations are slowly recovering.
Namibia's largest and best-known wildlife park is Etosha. Its name means 'place of
mirages', for the dusty saltpan that sits at its centre. During the dry season, huge herds of
