Namibia Wildlife

Etosha National Park and Damaraland are Namibia's leading wildlife destinations.

Travel to Namibia and see the extradordinary adaptation the wildlife and plants have made to living in this harsh environment. From large trees to small insects everything seems to make every effort to conserve water simply to exist.

• See the Desert Elephants in Damaraland who have adapted to live for water for up four days
  
• The Terebrionid Beetles collect fog for water in the Namib Desert
  
• Photograph the Oryx in Sossusvlei who can control the temperature in their brains by passing it through capillaries
  
• Damaraland is a hot bed of Ghecko evolution and home to the largest population of Desert Black Rhino in the world
  
• See the seals at the Cape Cross Seal Colony
  
• Caprivi Strip is a verdant oasis of rivers and wetland not unlike Chobe and Okavango

Namibia is often referred to as a land of contrasts and its wildlife is no exception. Travel to Namibia and you will see a landscape of pristine and remote landscapes. First impressions are usually of a hot and somewhat harsh landscape, but throughout your trip to Namibia you will be captivated by the special and extraordinary adaptations that the wildlife has made to these conditions. The thing that makes Namibia’s wildlife so incredibly unique is the adaptations that they have made to living in harsh desert like conditions. Encounter elephants that have learnt to live for days without water or beetles that feed off condensed fog.

Namib Desert: Wildlife specially adapted to harsh and dry conditions.

The Namib Desert is one of the worlds oldest and extends more than 2000km from Southern Angola along the Namibia Coast into western South Africa. It is believed that the desert came into existence about 80 million years ago, but it’s most recent change came about 5 million years ago, following the establishment of the cold Benguela Current. Winds blowing onto the landmass from this cold ocean current contain very little moisture which means that little or no rain falls in the coastal region of Namibia. These dry conditions mean that the Namibia Wildlife living in the Namib Desert has specially adapted to living in the dry conditions. Moisture is of course critical for life, and plants such as the Nara and Spiky Love Grass utilize the fog that rolls in off the cold Benguela Current, which in turn provides sustenance for a host of wildlife species.

The Oryx controls its body temperature by passing its blood through a network of capillaries before it reaches the brain. The Bat Eared Fox’s large ears have a fine network of veins which serve a similar function, while the Ground Squirrel raises its bushy tail to act as a shady umbrella. Most comical of the wildlife, is arguably the Desert Lizards who appear to dance as they alternate feet off the hot desert sand – an effective way of keeping cool!

Its not just wildlife that has specially adapted itself. The largest tree in the Namib Desert is called the Camel Thorn, this tree has a very deep roots, enabling it’s to get water from below surface level. Its kidney shaped pods are very nutritious and relished by Springbok and other herbivorous wildlife. The rough bark of the tree provides hiding places for skinks, geckos, scorpions, spiders and numerous insects. The branches of the Camel Thorn being home to many birds of Namibia including Sociable Weavers, Eagles and Vultures.

Etosha: the leading wildlife destination in Namibia

If you want to see Namibia Wildlife in all its glory then you should definitely visit Etosha National Park. Proclaimed a game reserve in 1907 by Governor Fredrich Von Lindequist, the reserve is Namibia’s largest, and at a staggering 2.27 million hectares, one of the largest in Africa. The area is home to Africa’s Big Five as well as local species such as Black faced Impala and Damara Dik Dik.

Etosha has been interpreted as meaning ‘place of mirages’, ‘place of dry water, or ‘huge white area’ and even to this day much of the game viewing in the area is concentrated on Etosha Pan. Namibia Wildlife Resorts (the Namibian government run Wildlife agency) have 3 lodges in the Etosha National Park namely Okaukuejo, Namutoni and Halali – Okaukeujo is well known for its flood lit waterhole from which Black Rhino, Elephant and Lion often drink. There are a variety of private reserves adjacent to the Etosha National Park, these include Onguma Private Game Reserve and Ongava Private Game Reserve, the advantage of these reserves is that you can view wildlife at night, as well as on foot.


Damaraland & Kaokoland: North Western Namibia

From a wildlife perspective the area known as the Kaokoveld is importantly due to its relatively healthy population of Desert Black Rhino and Desert Elephant. The area is a true wilderness which has enabled the Desert Black Rhino to thrive. In 1960 there were an estimated 100,000 black Rhino across Africa, today there are only about 2600, its wildlife significance therefore critical. The Desert Elephant are not a separate species from the African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) but have adapted to the dry conditions of the Kaokoveld, and only need to drink every 3rd or 4th day, and have learnt to be less wasteful when eating and utilize leaves, shoots, bark, flowers, bulbs, tubers, roots, grass and sedges.


Atlantic Coast: Skeleton Coast and Swakopmund, Namibia

Compared to the wildlife species in the rest of Namibia, the Atlantic Coastline is truly unique.

Most notably is the Cape Fur Seals which have a huge colony of 80,000 – 100, 000 at Cape Cross near Swakopmund. This is only one of six breeding colonies of the species on the South Africa and Namibia Mainland and is visited by the bull seals when territories are demarcated and aggressively defended. For the first few months of their lives the seal pups are very vulnerable and attract Black Backed Jackal and Brown Hyenas that prey on the pups.

The Skeleton Coast is a very interesting National Park and is named after the many ships that ran aground here in the past. The waters around here are very nutrient rich and attract large numbers of fish such as Hake, Pilchard, Anchovy and Cape Horse Mackerel; this in turn attracts sea and shore birds that prey on them. Another wildlife species endemic to this part of Namibia is the Heaviside Dolphin a species limited to shallow waters in coastal areas. Interestingly the first scientific accurate description of this species was only published in 1988.



Caprivi Strip Namibia: Okavango and Chobe all rolled into one

The Caprivi Strip is a very different part of Namibia, a verdant land of woodlands and floodplains where rivers never run dry; it is a panhandle of that joins Namibia to four countries, across an extraordinary convergence of rivers.

Wildlife here is includes African Buffalo, Common Impala, Roan antelope, Red Lechwe, Puku, Tsessebe, Puku, Reedbuck , Elephant and the only place in Namibia where you can see Hippopotamus and Nile Crocodile. Birdlife here is prolific and attracted to the waterways and woodlands are over 400 species of bird.