Namibia: Etosha NP – Etosha Pan

The Etosha National Park is centered around the huge Etosha salt pan, which spans over 4,800 sq km (1,850 sq mi) and is so vast that it can be seen from space! was once a massive lake that dried up thousands of years ago, leaving behind a flat, salty basin. During the dry season, it’s a stark, white, cracked surface. In the rainy season, it briefly fills with shallow water. As we came at the beginning of the wet season, it was all soft deep foot-sucking-in white mud. The pan itself is usually mostly barren, but the surrounding grasslands and waterholes support large herds of antelopes and zebras and other animals.