Everything about The Etosha Pan totally explained
The
Etosha pan is a large
endorheic salt pan, forming part of the
Kalahari Basin in the north of
Namibia. The 120-kilometre-long (75-mile-long) dry lakebed and its surroundings are protected as
Etosha National Park, one of Namibia's largest wildlife parks. Herds of
elephants occupy the dense
mopane woodland on the south side of the lake. Mopane trees are common throughout south-central Africa, and host the mopane worm, which is the larval form of the moth
Gonimbrasia belina and an important source of protein for rural communities. It was first explored by the Europeans
Charles John Andersson and
Francis Galton in
1851. American commercial traveller
McKeirnan visited the area in
1876.
The area exhibits a characteristic white and greenish surface, which spreads over hundreds of kilometres. The pan developed through
tectonic plate activity over 10 million years. About 16,000 years ago, when
ice sheets were melting across the
Northern Hemisphere land masses, a wet climate phase in southern Africa filled Etosha Lake. Today, Etosha Pan is seldom seen with even a thin sheet of water covering the salt pan. It is assumed that today's
Kunene River fed the lake at that time but over time plate movements caused a change in river direction causing the lake to run dry and leave a salt pan. Now the
Ekuma River is the sole source of water. Typically, little river water or sediment reaches the dry lake because water seeps into the riverbed along its 250-kilometre (55-mile) course, reducing discharge along the way. The year-round meager vegetation lends gives the Etosha its characteristic green colouring. In particularly rainy years the Etosha pan becomes a lake approximately 10 cm in depth and becomes a breeding ground for
flamingos, which arrive in their thousands.
The Etosha area was used as a backdrop during the filming of .
Image:Zebras_in_Etosha_Pan.jpg|Some Zebras in the park surrounding the pan
Further Information
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