Unique selling points

GAME PARKS AND NATURE RESERVES

Spread throughout Namibia on an amazing scale, game parks and nature reserves constitute some 18% percent of the country’s available surface area. Some, like the huge Etosha National Park, focus primarily on wildlife, while others like the Namib-Naukluft Park and Fish River Canyon are more landscape oriented, their natural beauty easily upstaging the game. Regardless, these parks represent a network of Namibia’s most sought-after tourist destinations and often include a wide-range of adventure, camping, hiking and wilderness activities.  

THE ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK

The Etosha national park, the third largest in Africa, owes its unique landscape to the Etosha Pan, a vast shallow depression of approximately 5 000km². A series of waterholes along the southern edge of the pan guarantee rewarding and often spectacular game viewing.

FISH RIVER CANYON

The Fish River Canyon is the second largest natural gorge in the world and the largest in Africa. Set in a harsh, stony plain dotted with drought resistant succulents, such as the distinctive quiver tree or kokerboom, the canyon is a spectacular natural phenomenon.

WILDLIFE

The shear abundance and variety of wildlife of all sizes is staggering. From big game such as lion, elephant, giraffe, cheetah and rhino to a wealth of small game and even many endemic species like the black-faced impala – the quest to see it up close is easily the nation’s top tourist pursuit. One that is rarely unfulfilled thanks to conservation efforts and an amazing network of national parks and conservancies.

 

KALAHARI DESERT

The world’s largest continuous stretch of sand, the Kalahari Desert isn’t technically desert at all. Thanks to a modest measure of rainfall the landscape is well vegetated with a variety of trees, shrubs, camelthorn, red ebony and other acacias.

THE SKELETON COAST

Once upon a time the entire coastline of Namibia was called The Skeleton Coast. Today, the moniker mostly refers to the Skeleton National Park, which stretches the northern one-third of Namibia’s shore. The landscape in the park ranges from wind swept dunes to rugged canyons with walls of richly colored volcanic rock and extensive mountain ranges.

The park’s ominous name is well earned given the scores of shipwrecks littering the beaches – the work of the Benguela Current, dense fog and rough surf. Bleached whale and seal bones also are visible back from days when the whaling industry was still active. But despite its appearance, the Skeleton National Park houses a great variety of species with its borders – big cats, desert-adapted elephant, black rhino and many more.