Waterberg Plateau Park, Namibia, 29 August 2012

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Waterberg Plateau Park, Namibia, 29 August 2012

After a 4 hour drive over a good road (roads in Namibia were excellent), we arrived at the Waterberg Plateau Park. This was almost completely surrounded by an escarpment. It was beautiful.





Waterberg Plateau Park is located on the Waterberg Plateau in Northern Namibia. The nearest major city is Otjiwarongo about 68 kilometres to the west of the park, by conventional roads. The park is 40,549 hectares in area.





The term "Waterberg" refers to the fact that sandstone of the plateau absorbs moisture which runs off on the southeast side of the plateau as springs, hence, the name "Waterberg" or water mountain.





The vegetation of the plateau is green subtropical dry woodland. This contrasts the acacia that grows at the base of the plateau. We saw that the north slope of the rocky formations have colourful lichen growing on them in contrast to the reddish colour normally found.





We were told that there were approximately 200 species of birds located within the confines of the park. It is currently home to the only breeding colony of Cape vultures in Namibia. It is also the breeding ground of several rare game species including rhinoceros, buffalo, and sable and roan antelope. We did not see any rhinos or buffalos.







In 1972, the Waterberg Plateau Park was proclaimed as a park for the purpose of breeding and maintaining populations of rare and endangered animal species in Namibia. (Since the proclamation of this area, many endangered species such as the white & black rhino, buffalo, tsessebe, sable, and roan antelope have been successfully relocated to this region where their survival is now ensured.) A total of 18 000 ha of the park was set aside by the Directorate to be preserved as a wilderness area.









After we had a late lunch, we decided to go for a walk up the escarpment. After 45 minutes, we were at the top, and wow, what a view. It was beautiful. We sat up there for about 15t minutes, wanting to stay longer but we were conscious of the time and wanted to get back long before sunset.







We saw a little Dik Dik (the smallest antelope) who stood still for us to get 2 metres away from it for wonderful photos. We also saw baboons – many of them. We took photos of the swimming pool when we got down the bottom and then stopped at the bar next. The weather was still very warm and dusty so an icy-cold Windhoek Draft beer was called for. We stayed there until just before sunset then went back to camp for another glorious African sunset.









The next morning, we left at 8.00am to drive to Etosha National Park, another highlight in our trip as there was going to be an opportunity to see the black rhino, the only big 5 animal we haven’t seen.

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