Etosha National Park

Etosha is built around a mineral pan of roughly 4,800 square kilometres, dry for most of the year and visible from space. Game viewing here is the opposite of a delta safari: you park at a waterhole and wait, and in the dry season the animals come to you in numbers that are hard to believe. Black rhino are seen more reliably here than almost anywhere in Africa, often at the floodlit camp waterholes after dark.

June to October concentrates game at the waterholes; after rain the animals disperse and viewing becomes much harder work. The camps sit inside the park, so you are at a waterhole at first light rather than queueing at a gate. Entry is charged per person per day plus a vehicle fee.