Space: Image of the Day #44 - Hello Etosha Pan!

[Robert Bruce]

Image of the Day




The Etosha pan is a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Kalahari Basin in the north of Namibia.

The 120-kilometre-long (75-mile-long) dry lakebed and its surroundings are protected as Etosha National Park, one of Namibia's largest wildlife parks. The pan is mostly dry but after a heavy rain it will acquire a thin layer of water, which is heavily salted by the mineral deposits on the surface of the pan, which most of the year is dry mud coated with salt.

The area was first explored by the Europeans Charles John Andersson and Francis Galton in 1851. The American commercial traveller McKeirnan visited the area in 1876.

The Etosha pan is completely within the national park and is designated as a Ramsar wetland of international importance and a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion (Etosha Pan halophytics).

Courtesy of Wikipedia