Namibia’s Great White Place
In the Owambo language, the name Etosha means “Great White Place”. Etosha National Park is dominated by a vast salt pan covering approximately 5,000 square kilometres. Millions of years ago, this area was a lake fed by the Kunene River; today it is an immense arid white expanse. Water reaches the pan only occasionally, during particularly abundant rainy seasons, and even then its salinity is roughly twice that of seawater.
The high concentration of salt prevents most vegetation from growing and discourages wildlife from remaining in the area. Animals instead gather around freshwater waterholes fed by underground aquifers. As a result, most wildlife is found south of the Etosha Pan. Moving away from the salt flats, the landscape gradually changes, giving way to shrubs, acacia trees, mopane woodland and the striking moringa trees, often known as “ghost trees”.
Around the freshwater waterholes of this southern region, visitors may encounter leopards, lions, rhinoceroses, elephants, zebras, wildebeest and black-faced impalas. In the western sector of Etosha National Park si possono incontrare anche le zebre di Hartmann.