The upper view (March 2006) shows the point where the Ekuma River flows into the salt lake. In this image, there was enough surface flow to reach the Etosha pan, but too little water reached the mouth of the river to flow beyond the inlet bay. The lower regional image (June 2005) shows the same inlet—but dry—on the north shore of Etosha pan.

The Etosha pan is a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Kalahari Basin in the north of Namibia. An endorheic basin (from Greek endo ‘inside’ + rhein ‘to flow’ also terminal or closed basin) is a closed Drainage basin Natural salt pans are flat expanses of Ground covered with Salt and other Minerals usually shining white under the Sun. The Kalahari Basin (or Kalahari Depression) is a large lowland area covering over 2 Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast 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. Etosha National Park is a national park in the Kunene Region of northwestern Namibia. Herds of elephants occupy the dense mopane woodland on the south side of the lake. Elephants ( family: Elephantidae) are large land Mammals of the order Proboscidea. The mopane or mopani ( Colophospermum mopane) tree grows in hot dry low-lying areas 200-1150 m in the far northern parts of Southern Mopane trees are common throughout south-central Africa, and host the mopane worm, which is the larval form of the moth Gonimbrasia belina and an important source of protein for rural communities. Gonimbrasia belina is a species of Moth found in much of southern Africa whose large edible Caterpillar, the mopani or mopane worm It was first explored by the Europeans Charles John Andersson and Francis Galton in 1851. Charles John (Karl Johan Andersson ( March 4 1827, in Värmland, Sweden – July 9[[ 867]] in Angola) was a Sir Francis Galton FRS ( 16 February 1822 &ndash 17 January 1911) half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an 1851 ( MDCCCLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year American commercial traveller McKeirnan visited the area in 1876. Year 1876 ( MDCCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year

The Etosha pan

The area exhibits a characteristic white and greenish surface, which spreads over hundreds of kilometres. The pan developed through tectonic plate activity over 10 million years. Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere About 16,000 years ago, when ice sheets were melting across the Northern Hemisphere land masses, a wet climate phase in southern Africa filled Etosha Lake. An ice sheet is a mass of Glacier Ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50000 km² (20000 mile²) Northern Hemisphere is the half of a Planet that is North of the Equator —the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' Today, Etosha Pan is seldom seen with even a thin sheet of water covering the salt pan. It is assumed that today's Kunene River fed the lake at that time but over time plate movements caused a change in river direction causing the lake to run dry and leave a salt pan. The Cunene River (sometimes transliterated Kunene) is a River in Southwest Africa. Now the Ekuma River is the sole source of water. Typically, little river water or sediment reaches the dry lake because water seeps into the riverbed along its 250-kilometre (55-mile) course, reducing discharge along the way. The year-round meager vegetation lends gives the Etosha its characteristic green colouring. In particularly rainy years the Etosha pan becomes a lake approximately 10 cm in depth and becomes a breeding ground for flamingos, which arrive in their thousands. Flamingos or flamingoes ( are gregarious Wading birds in the Genus Phoenicopterus and family

The Etosha area was used as a backdrop during the filming of 2001: A Space Odyssey. 2001 A Space Odyssey is a 1968 Science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Arthur C

Some Zebras in the park surrounding the pan

References

• This article was originally developed from the [version at the German Wikipedia, see http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etosha-Pfanne.
• Ekuma River and Etosha Pan, Namibia. NASA Earth Observatory. The NASA Earth Observatory is an online publishing organization of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (US Retrieved on 2006-05-01. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor.
• Map of Etosha Pan