Etosha: A slice of barren beauty

by Dalene Ingham-Brown

While on my journey through Namibia on an overland trip in Africa, I passed through Etosha National Park’s Etosha Pan in northern Namibia. What an experience!

Etosha Pan is a salt pan lake bed that is dry for most of the year, until a heavy rain rolls in and covers the earth with a thin layer of water. This water is said to be super-salty because of the ground’s mineral deposits.

Playing with distance and beacons. Photo ©Dalene Ingham-Brown

What an absolutely amazing place. Basically, the salt pan is an enormous stretch of flat, flat, flat white crusty land that goes on for as far as your eye can see. I tossed my shoes aside and planted my footsteps one after the other on earth that crunched and cracked beneath my feet. It felt like I was walking on thick phyllo pastry. Crunch, crush, crack.

Playing rugby on the salt pan. Photo ©Dalene Ingham-Brown

Curiosity got the better of me and I simply had to see if the ground was really as salty as they say it is. I popped a tiny piece of dry earth into my mouth. BOOM – saltiness took over my taste buds. Spluttering, I felt satisfied the ground has sufficiently earned its name as a salt pan.

Loving Etosha. Photo ©Dalene Ingham-Brown

I stood in one place, looking out over the pan; the white ground and unblemished, bright blue sky made a perfect African Top-Deck.

With no trees, rocks or shrubs in sight to help you judge distance, size and depth, our guide grabbed a beacon from the overland truck and two empty coke cans and showed us how to mess around with making ourselves look really tiny in comparison to the objects. Playing around with distance and angles, we took some really fun photos.

Etosha Pan’s salt earth. Photo ©Dalene Ingham-Brown

When we were done, it was back on the truck again to explore a different slice of Namibia’s beauty.

More from blogger Dalene: My five most memorable moments in Namibia

More about guest blogger Dalene Ingham-Brown

After kissing her 9 - 5 job in the urban jungle goodbye, Dalene decided to combine her flair for writing and her undeniable adventurous streak to become a freelance travel writer. Country by country, Dalene hopes to uncover Africa's most beautiful places - one sunset at a time.