Waterberg Plateau Park
The Waterberg Plateau Park eastern of Otjiwarongo is arising about 200 meters from the surrounding plane
scenery. The mesa massif is 16 kilometers wide and 49 kilometers long and consists of porous sandstone.
Whereas it's very dry on top of the plateau as a result of the permeable rock, there is on the foot a lot
of surface water in the form of strong permanent springs. The vegetation is relatively opulent and there
are some interesting game species. You can see wild fig trees, fire lilies and coral trees among other
things. Additional there is a rich fauna. Beside of the well known animal species (e.g., Kudus, Impalas,
Antelopes) you will also find some species which were settled here by human, like Giraffes, Black- and White
rhino, black horse and horse antelopes as well as stripe gnus. The rest camp seems to be a popular spot for
ornithologists. The Waterberg NP is under nature protection since 1972.
In the center of the park directly at the foot of the Waterberg is the nice rest camp
Bernabe
de la Bat situated. The single areas of the rest camp are joined each other by short approx. 2 km long
trails. Every single Trail is dedicated a specific subject. At the reception a "travel map" with short
descriptions for the trails in the camp is available, but in the remaining parts of the park it looks not
very rosy with hiking. Actually the area would be well suitable for hiking and in the current guides tours
of several days are mentioned, but in the reception nobody wanted to know about it. Because the short trails
are discovered in half a day, we decided to explore the plateau on our own initiative. The way up to plateau
edge is still allowed to walk without permit. From a certain marked place one needs a permit. We have this
"prohibited" way gone on nevertheless and found a interesting bush landscape with red-yellow sandstones
along the way. The way runs always in a certain distance to the plateau edge and crosses every now and
then little valleys on the edge of the plateau. Some care was necessary, because everywhere tracks of
Rhinos were to be seen. Particulary the white rhino it's noted for its aggressiveness an one should not
risk a meeting with these animals.
In the afternoon we still undertook a round trip of 4 hour through the reserve. These round trips are offered
two times daily and cost approx. 200,- Nam$ pP. Because of our previous 3-day stay in Etosha, the animal
world did not appear very spectacularly to us. However, the highlights were one of the very rare sable
antelopes in a big distance and a black rhino at the waterhole (our first and last rhino in daylight on
this trip). The park is predominantly dedicated to protect the animals and should not be a playground for
tourists like Etosha. Thereby the game is relative shy and to observe only from a big distance. But we
were not the onlyest "etosha-damaged" in the group, so we had good opportunities during the drive to
exchange with other tourists about the previous travel.
Result: The park is very varied and as a result of the opulent Vegtation a rest for the desert-hagridden
eyes. Bad: the possibilities for activities are a little bit limited. A whole day for the
inspection is enough.
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