Okaukuejo area in the Etosha National Park

The Okaukuejo, 17 km from the Anderson Gate, was founded by settlers of South East Germany as a military outpost in 1897 to control the spread of muran; it was later used as a police station and has become a place open to visitors in 1955, while the tower was added later, in 1963.

 

Today the Okaukuejo is the seat of the Etosha Ecological Institute and a wide range of accommodation for visitors and other services like gas stations, shops, swimming pool, restaurant, bar and a pool, lit at night, where to spot the animals are present; here there is a higher probability than at other places, to spot black rhinos and elephants, especially in the months from June to December.

 

Near the field there is one of the largest social community of weavers that nest on the tall trees present in the area.

 

In the Okaukuejo area there are 15 pools, natural or artificial, where you may spot many species of animals including lions, elephants, elands, hyenas, African wild cats, porcupines, giraffes, red hartebeests, oryx and black rhinos; just North of the Okaukuejo is the natural source of the Okondeka that offers the best chance of spotting lions and other predators that often hunt their prey while they go to drink.

 

30 km West of the Okaukuejo, in Sprookjeswoud, that means "spooky forest", there is an area where it grows one of the most spectacular trees of Namibia: the Moringa ovifolia; usually this kind of tree grows in the hills, but here instead is located in the plains.

 

The particular silhouette of the moringa makes it immediately recognizable even though, a not very expert eye might confuse it with a baobab, due to the particular shape of the trunk and the way in which the branches depart from it.