Etosha Area Cont.
Etosha was first established in 1907, when Namibia was a German colony known as South West Africa. At the time, the park's original 100,000 km² made it the largest game reserve in the world. Due to political changes since its original establishment, the park is now slightly less than a quarter of its original area, but still remains a very large and significant protected wildlife area.
The tourism facilities are managed by Namibia Wildlife Resorts; a State owned enterprise mandated to run the tourism facilities within the protected areas of Namibia. The company was created by the Namibia Wildlife Resorts company Act, and has been in existence since 1998. Shops, restaurants, toilets, petrol stations, swimming pools, bars and accommodation are available in all three of the park's rest camps.
There are very few places in the park itself where you can legally get out of your vehicle, these are general picnic areas and rest rooms, and please keep in mind that it is an average of one hour's drive between these designated places. The park is surrounded by many private properties that have lodges and guest farm establishments not to mention other tourism amenities. They work hand in hand with park officials to conserve the area's species and breeding of these species, hence you will find that some of the park's neighbors have some very impressive nature reserves and wildlife stock.
