Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information See Box and Table 3 for key species. The park supports at least 340 bird species. The main pan is of particular importance as large numbers of both Phoenicopterus ruber and P. minor regularly breed here when rainfall exceeds 440 mm per year. Historically, up to 1.1 million flamingos have been recorded in years of exceptional rain. Etosha is one of only two regular breeding sites for these species in southern Africa, the other being Sua Pan in the Makgadikgadi Pans (BW005) in Botswana. Unfortunately, breeding success is very limited, and the pan cannot be considered to hold a viable breeding population. In recent years the pan has regularly held over 20,000 waterbirds during the wet season. Apart from flamingos, Pelecanus onocrotalus and Charadrius pallidus also breed here in large numbers in years of good rainfall. Rarities are also attracted at such times and Egretta vinaceigula and Aenigmatolimnas marginalis are unusual visitors. The pan and its surrounding grassveld are also good for Palearctic migrants, including important numbers of Glareola nordmanni and Charadrius asiaticus. Etosha also supports the only breeding population of Grus paradisea outside South Africa—a tiny population of about 60 birds, known to have declined in the last 10 years.

The park is particularly rich in raptors with 46 species recorded. It supports all vultures found in Namibia, including Gyps coprotheres, Torgos tracheliotus and the locally rare Neophron percnopterus. Scavengers such as Aquila rapax and Terathopius ecaudatus are particularly common, since they are unaffected by poisons here.

Site description Etosha, ‘the great white place’, is enclosed within a National Park c.400 km north of Windhoek and 120 km south of the Angolan border. The primary feature within the park is the Etosha Pan, a saltpan some 4,760 km² in size, up to 129 km long and 72 km wide, covering almost one-quarter of the park. Numerous smaller salt and clay pans exist to the west and north of the main pan, some of which lie just outside the park boundaries. The park comprises an area of closed drainage on the great African plateau. Most of the year the pan lies dry, appearing barren and desolate, but during the wet season it is inundated with water from the Ekuma and Oshigambo rivers, which drain catchments in former Ovamboland and southern Angola. Inflow from the east through the Omuramba Ovambo may also be important in flooding Fischer’s Pan and the southern ancient river course on the pan. The extent of the flooding is dependent on the amount of rain that falls in the catchment area, and not on surface rainfall. In exceptionally rainy years the pan becomes a shallow lake a few centimetres deep.

Geologically the area comprises calcareous sand, gravel and limestone with dolomite outcrops in the west. Soils are shallow and alkaline. The temperature is one of extremes, ranging from below freezing on some winter nights to above 45°C during the day in midsummer. Pan surface temperatures can then reach 60°C. The vegetation is primarily arid savanna, shrub and thorn scrub in the west, tending towards tree-savanna and broadleaved woodland in the east. Acacia woodland is found throughout the region. Patches of mopane Colophospermum and Combretum woodland are also characteristic of the park, especially in the eastern broadleaved savanna belt.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Species	Season	Period	Population estimate	Quality of estimate	IBA Criteria	IUCN Category
Hartlaub's Francolin Francolinus hartlaubi	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus	winter	-	9,770-100,000 individuals	-	A4i	Least Concern
Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus	breeding	-	-	-		Least Concern
Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor	winter	-	1,594-1,000,000 individuals	-	A1, A4i	Near Threatened
Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor	breeding	-	-	-		Near Threatened
Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus	winter	-	622-3,000 individuals	-	A4i	Least Concern
Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus	breeding	-	-	-		Least Concern
Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus	winter	-	present [units unknown]	-	A1	Near Threatened
Ludwig's Bustard Neotis ludwigii	resident	1998	-	-		Endangered
Blue Crane Anthropoides paradiseus	resident	-	15 breeding pairs	-	A1	Vulnerable
Chestnut-banded Plover Charadrius pallidus	winter	-	166-550 individuals	-	A4i	Near Threatened
Chestnut-banded Plover Charadrius pallidus	resident	-	-	-		Near Threatened
Caspian Plover Charadrius asiaticus	winter	-	119-382 individuals	-	A4i	Least Concern
Black-winged Pratincole Glareola nordmanni	winter	-	200-300 individuals	-	A1, A4i	Near Threatened
Burchell's Sandgrouse Pterocles burchelli	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Rueppell's Parrot Poicephalus rueppellii	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Monteiro's Hornbill Tockus monteiri	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Bradfield's Hornbill Tockus bradfieldi	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Chatshrike Lanioturdus torquatus	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Stark's Lark Eremalauda starki	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Barred Wren-warbler Camaroptera fasciolata	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Rockrunner Achaetops pycnopygius	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Black-lored Babbler Turdoides melanops	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Bare-cheeked Babbler Turdoides gymnogenys	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Burchell's Glossy-starling Lamprotornis australis	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Meves's Glossy-starling Lamprotornis mevesii	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Pale-winged Starling Onychognathus nabouroup	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Kurrichane Thrush Turdus libonyanus	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Kalahari Scrub-robin Erythropygia paena	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
White-breasted Sunbird Nectarinia talatala	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
Sociable Weaver Philetairus socius	resident	1998	present [units unknown]	-	A3	Least Concern
Black-headed Canary Serinus alario	resident	1998	-	-		Least Concern
A4iii Species group - waterbirds	winter	-	-	unknown	A4iii

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Etosha	National Park	2,215,140	protected area contained by site	2,287,950
Etosha Pan, Lake Oponono and Cuvelai drainage	Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar)	600,000	protected area overlaps with site	600,000

Habitats

IUCN habitat	Habitat detail	Extent (% of site)
Wetlands (inland)		21%
Rocky areas		1%
Grassland		75%
Desert		1%

Land use

Land-use	Extent (% of site)
agriculture	-
nature conservation and research	-
tourism/recreation	-

Other biodiversity Among mammals, threatened species include Acinonyx jubatus (VU), Loxodonta africana (EN), Diceros bicornis bicornis (CR) and Equus zebra hartmannae (EN), while Aepyceros melampus petersi is endemic and Madoqua kirkii is near-endemic to Namibia; efforts to reintroduce Lycaon pictus (EN) have failed thus far. Reptiles include Python sebae, P. anchietae, Psammobates oculiferus, Geochelone pardalis and Agama etoshae.

Management considerations Originally established in 1907, Etosha Game Reserve covered 9,324,000 ha; it was gradually reduced to 2,314,000 ha in area between 1947 and 1953. In 1958, it was officially designated a National Park under Section 37 of the Nature Conservation Ordinance 31, and on the recommendation of the Commission of inquiry into South West Africa’s Affairs (Odendaal Commission), the size of the park was increased to include sections of the Skeleton Coast, enlarging the area to 9,952,600 ha. By 1970 the park’s borders had once again been de-proclaimed to its current size to provide land to Herero-speaking tribes; the size has been reduced by 72% since 1907.

Etosha faces several persistent management challenges. It is surrounded on its southern and western borders by commercial farmland; double electric boundary fences, primarily designed to keep Panthera leo and Loxodonta africana in the park and poachers and domestic animals out, have been erected. This has resulted in serious disturbance to the migratory movements of ungulates. In particular, wildebeest migration was blocked by the northern fence, with a resultant decline from 25,000 to 2,300 animals in the space of 25 years. Loxodonta africana, however, still migrate out of the park in the wet season and may then create problems in adjacent commercial and communal farming areas. A disease, feline immune deficiency virus (FIV), affects wild cat species, particularly Acinonyx jubatus. Fire control in the past permitted the transition of the vegetation from open savanna to woodland, which allowed a concomitant increase in Loxodonta africana numbers from 100 in 1955 to 1,500 at present. Drought periods between 1979–1996 have further complicated issues, as ungulates have been unable to migrate away from drought-stricken areas.

Recent research has shown that while flamingos occur in spectacular numbers, they rarely breed successfully (one in nine years) because the water rapidly evaporates, exposing chicks and fledglings to predators and eliminating food sources adjacent to the colony. The low breeding success in the last four decades has shown that the pan does not support a self-sustaining population. Scientific research to find solutions to management problems is conducted through the Etosha Ecological Institute, which is located at Okaukeujo.

References Archibald (1991), Archibald and Nott (1987), Aves (1992), Berry (1972, 1997), Berry et al. (1973, 1987), Brown (1992), Brown et al. (1987), Clinning and Jensen (1976), Fox et al. (1997), Gasaway et al. (1996), Jensen and Clinning (1976), Lindeque and Lindeque (1997), le Roux et al. (1988), Simmons (1996a), Simmons et al. (1996).

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Etosha National Park. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 23/05/2013

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