Quiet beauty

Etosha National Park is iconic - rich in history and home to world-class wildlife. But in recent years it hasn't been managed as well as before, and the camps have become overcrowded with visitors. Here's how to sidestep the bustle without missing a single animal.

- Word and photos Sophia van Taak

The elephant bull is too close barely 10 m away - and you sit frozen. It's past midnight and, apart from his restless snorts, there isn't a sound. The moonlight is faint, but you could swear he sees you. Or at least smell you. What if he moves closer, straight through the little pan of water between you? Maybe it's time to slip away quietly...

Then, a bothersome lapwing crashes into the glass panel between you and the giant and you realise you'd been so caught up that you forgot about the one-way glass separating the hide from the waterhole. When you walk back to camp later, the handful of tents at Olifantsrus lie dark and silent. This is how the bush is meant to be.

OLIFANTSRUS

The Wild West

People have been camping in Etosha since the 1940s. Back then, it was still truly wild, with no rest camps – only the odd borehole for visitors and a few military outposts, such as Okaukuejo in the south and Namutoni in the northeast. Both would later become rest camps, along with Halali in between.

Olifantsrus is Etosha’s “newest” campsite and opened in 2014. Thanks to this addition, campers can now overnight in the western part of the park. Here, the mopane thickets grow dense – and so do the elephants. In the 1980s, their numbers increased to such an extent that the park board was forced to cull entire herds – a total of 525 animals. The gantry still towering above the old abattoir stands as a silent reminder of those grim events.