The floodlit waterholes at the rest camps are Etosha's signature and the reason to sleep inside the park. Okaukuejo's is the most famous: it is walkable from your room after dark, and black rhino come in on most nights through the late evening, sometimes several at once, alongside elephant and lion. Halali's sits among boulders and is the best of the three for leopard; Namutoni's is quieter and strongest for birds.

The waterholes along the pan edge between the camps are the daytime work. Each has its own character and it is worth asking at camp reception which have been productive that week, since a waterhole that is busy in one month can be deserted the next when a nearby pan holds rain.

The pan itself is a glaring white void for most of the year and largely empty, but after good rains it holds shallow water and draws flamingos and pelicans in numbers — a completely different park for a few weeks.

The western sections beyond Okaukuejo are less visited and hold black-faced impala and mountain zebra, the drier-country specialities not found in the eastern half.

The dry season from June to October is when this works best, with concentrations building to a peak in the last months before the rains. Midday is genuinely productive at waterholes here, which makes Etosha unusually forgiving of a lie-in.

Practicalities

Etosha is one of Africa's most self-drive-friendly parks: the main routes are graded gravel manageable in an ordinary car, distances between camps are moderate, and the park is malaria-risk-reduced compared with wetter regions. Book the inside camps well ahead specifically for the floodlit waterhole access — it is the single biggest difference between a good Etosha trip and an ordinary one. Gates open at sunrise and close at sunset, and being caught out after closing carries a fine.