Etosha National Park Quiz: Waterholes and the Great Salt Pan

This Etosha National Park quiz watches the waterholes of northern Namibia, where wildlife gathers around a huge white salt pan. Play 10 interactive questions on the Etosha Pan, its name meaning great white place, the 1907 reserve, floodlit waterholes at Okaukuejo, black rhinos, dust-white elephants, springbok, flamingo years and the dry season.

Start Etosha National Park Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Country
Which country is Etosha in?
Pan
What lies at the center of the park?
Name
What does Etosha roughly mean?
Year
When was the area first made a game reserve?
Watch
Where do animals gather in the dry season?
Night
Which camp has a floodlit waterhole?
Rhino
Which rare rhino is often seen at night?
Elephants
Why do Etosha's elephants often look white?
Antelope
Which antelope is common on the plains?
Wet
Which birds can breed on the pan after good rains?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which country is Etosha in?
Answer: Namibia
It lies in the north.
Q2: What lies at the center of the park?
Answer: A huge salt pan
It covers thousands of square kilometers.
Q3: What does Etosha roughly mean?
Answer: Great white place
The pan glitters in sunlight.
Q4: When was the area first made a game reserve?
Answer: 1907
It was once even larger.
Q5: Where do animals gather in the dry season?
Answer: At waterholes
Springs and boreholes feed them.
Q6: Which camp has a floodlit waterhole?
Answer: Okaukuejo
Visitors watch rhinos at night.
Q7: Which rare rhino is often seen at night?
Answer: Black rhino
Namibia has many of them.
Q8: Why do Etosha's elephants often look white?
Answer: They are coated in pale dust
They bathe in chalky mud.
Q9: Which antelope is common on the plains?
Answer: Springbok
It is famous for leaping.
Q10: Which birds can breed on the pan after good rains?
Answer: Flamingos
Water covers the pan briefly.

Waterholes Around a Great White Pan

Etosha National Park in northern Namibia surrounds the Etosha Pan, a salt flat covering thousands of square kilometers. The name is often translated as great white place, and in the dry season the pan shimmers with heat. The area was first protected as a game reserve in 1907.

Because the pan is usually dry, animals depend on springs and boreholes around its edge. Visitors drive between waterholes or wait at floodlit ones in camps such as Okaukuejo, where black rhinos, elephants and lions come to drink at night. Elephants often look white from the pale dust and mud.

Plains game such as springbok, zebra, gemsbok and wildebeest roam the grasslands. After good rains, water can cover parts of the pan and flamingos sometimes breed there. The dry season from about June to October is the best time to see animals gathered at water.

What This Quiz Teaches

Safari fans will enjoy these questions.

What the pan is
Where animals drink
Which rare species appear
Why elephants look white
When to visit

Did You Know?

Visitors must stay in vehicles.
Namutoni camp is a white fort.
Camps close their gates at night.
Giraffes splay legs to drink.
Rains usually come in summer.