Etosha National Park

Among the park's we visited, Etosha NP was by far the best. A lot of animals, long drives and many options of waterholes, many spots of the Etosha white goast Elephants and lion cubs.

An experience everyone should do!

Absolutely great landscape and wildlife

We saw a lot of different game, such as herds of Zebras, Springboks, Orys and lots of Elephants, Giraffes, Hyenas, Lion, Cheetahs and much more. The scenery was amazing, changing a lot from green to brown and green again. The pan is impressive too. We stayed at the Ongave Tented Camp just outside the park.

Beautiful landscape, but wildfires

I visited the southwest side through Galton Gate, for a single day, self-driven. Wildfire smoke obscured much of scenery, but we still have great views of zebra, kudu, springbok, vultures, and many other species at the waterholes. The entrance gate could use quite a bit of work in terms of providing maps, guidebooks, and other educational materials. We also visited Dolomite camp just for a look-see - very lovely and quiet.

Amazing

I went to Etosha for a week, and i have to say it has been awesome ! In just five days I had the chance to see 11 lions, a cheetah (with is usually rare in the area), Rhinos, and other wildlife... I was expecting that much.
the scenery was great, though the disappointing part, is that Etosha in July, August is so dry and deserted. The weather was fine, and the accommodation far beyond my expectations. Food is difficult to find in camps.

Unexpected landscape and plenty of wildlife easily reacheable at your own leisure

I stumbled to the Etosha National Park a little by chance as I am usually more interested in landscapes than safaris. Said that...I have being flabbergasted by the park. The nature there is very much different than anything I had seen before and the abundance of wildlife is just stunning. You are left to wander freely in the park, as long as you stick to the indicated roads, and I felt more like landscaping in a very much alive place more than doing a safari looking for this or that animal. I could just enjoy my time going around and wildlife will just be there...literally crossing your road and popping out. And it is peaceful, and quite, and not crowded at all. Not to mention that it is very easy to do on your own with definitely well organized campsites inside the park, indications and roads. Maybe it lacks a little bit the real bush feeling, being so well organized, but you can get that anywhere else in Namibia outside the park just by driving around and stopping to camp wherever you feel like to. I would love to go back there at the end of the rainy season to see how water would transform it, but August was amazing as it was as it felt even magical and eerie in its dryness. As a practical advice, if you plan to do it as a road trip on your own in August as we did, and want to stay inside the park at night, which I strongly advice to do, you should try to book the campsite quite in advance as it seems tour operators get a big chunk of the available places in advance. This means that already in February we had been told by some camps that they had no places available for private travelers. Last but not least, the Halali campsite, which probably is the simpler of the ones inside the park, is probably the one where you want to stop longer if you are looking for a more wild vibe and nature peacefulness. In all we spent 3 days in the park, 2 nights sleeping inside, and all 3 days we saw something different. And we could have spent easily more days there had we had the time. Cheers!

A very dry, very warm, very dusty desert paradise

My 3-day stay in Etosha National Park was the highlight of my Namibian Trip so there was lots of animal activity around the watering holes, both day and night. The game drives were excellent with knowledgeable guides, excellent cook and comfortable tents. On each game drive there was a variety of animals but on one special day we came upon a large herd of elephants which included bulls and babies. Mingling with this herd were zebra, springbok, kudu and giraffes. but I enjoyed sitting at the watering hole viewing area watching the dramas unfold.

The heart of the Namibian wildlife

The park lies in a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Kalahari Basin in the north of Namibia. The park thus has a unique combination of landscapes (spanning from waterholes to stretches of salt) and wildlife, in particular elephants, lions, zebras and birds. The park is very wide, as compared to other parks in countries like Botswana, so, in order to spot wildlife rangers often needs to communicate via radio devices.
The weather in winter (July-August) is relatively dry and days are mostly sunny.
Regarding the accomodations there are a few options just outside of the park, which are comfortable, cosy and often green. Inside the park, lodges put you very close to waterholes, where you can easily watch animals assembling.

My trip to Etosha National Park was a completely new experience for me that I enjoyed thoroughly.

From the UK we flew to the capital of Namibia (Windhoek) and hired a car from there. After travelling several hundred kilometres north to Anderson gate on the south part of the park we arrived at ongava lodge. The lodge staff were very welcoming and made our stay very special. The lodge has a total of 34,000 hectares of private land bordering Etosha and several styles of camp to suit people's adventure. On a daily game drive we entered Etosha through Anderson gate and spent several hours at waterholes and open plains watching all types of wildlife such as elephants and lions. After spending multiple hours in the fresh winters sun we returned to the lodge for lunch where we recieved a wide array of local cuisine. A proportion of relaxation time in the afternoon was quickly broken when we embarked a sundowner drive in the ongava reserve. Our very knowledgable guide took us to prime locations to make sure he would fulfil are passion to see a honey badger and secretary bird. After a lovely stay at ongava lodge we set off to the Far East of the park were we stayed at onguma lodge near the town of namutoni. This lodge was very different with a moroccan design. Are lodge like ongava where all separated and at least 50-400 metres from the main building, meaning we had to be driven by a electric car at all times back and forward, besides the mild inconvenience this definetly made our stay very more exciting. The onguma lodge had roughly the same private land and same agenda but the landscape had changed from a baron land to a place where there was many more trees. The trees attracted more wildlife like the higher possibility of seeing leopard and bush babies. After another 4 days in Etosha it was time to leave after an unbelievable stay. throughout my stay in Etosha everything was great, the guides, weather, lodges and wildlife and I can't say enough how much I recommend Etosha national park

Incredible experience

We went to Etosha using our car rental during 2 days. It was our first safari and i have to say it was amazing. From the entrance of the park until the last meters we literally felt like on another planet.
Imagine after 30 seconds in the park you see an elephant quietly walking along the road. This elephant is being looked at by 2 giraffes who seem to be waiting for you to move along.
The following hours were then exceptional. Srpingbocks, rhinos, gembocks, hyena, more elephants, more giraffes. We could barely ask for more.
We followed the main road for the first day and did a bit of side roads on day 2. Main roads are fine, used by most vehicles. Side roads were clearly more challinging, especially "Eland drive" with holes as tall as the 4x4.
Overall, Erosha was totally worth it and I would go back any time.

Etosha always delivers as a safari experience.

This was our second trip to Etosha National Park and like our first encounter, we were blown away by the variety and quantity of wildlife we saw.

We are experienced safari tourists but Etosha drew us back because the freedom of a self drive holiday and the quality of wildlife on offer is pretty near an unbeatable combination for us.

We spent 15 nights in the park and encountered numerous big 5 animals including 8 separate black rhino sightings in one day. We also saw several lions (including watching 6 lion cubs at play for over 2 hours at a waterhole), several cheetah, two leopards and a close up encounter with a magnificent Martial Eagle. But there are just droves of game at or near every waterhole and numerous birds and other creatures to be found between waterholes. The weather and light is also incredible for photography.

To maximise the hours we could spend inside the national park, we stayed at camps within the park's boundary. The lodges are basic but adequately clean. Food at the restaurants is pretty good although vegetarians may struggle to get variety. The new restaurant at Namutomi camp serves excellent food.

If viewing or photographing big game, birds and other wildlife is your aim, then you will have to go a long way to beat Etosha, and all of this against the surreal backdrop of the massive pan.