Otjozondjupa Region

Otjozondjupa contains Etosha National Park, the salt pan that creates one of Africa's greatest wildlife concentrations and the tourism that wildlife attracts. The region's capital Otjiwarongo serves as gateway to Etosha, the commercial town capturing visitor spending while surrounding areas maintain the cattle ranching that colonialism established.

The contrast between wildlife tourism and livestock farming creates tensions that characterize much of southern African conservation—commercial ranchers seeing game as competition for grazing while tourism operators see cattle as landscape degradation. The conversion of beef farms into game ranches accelerated as commercial beef production declined, the 1.5 million cattle of the 1970s-80s falling to 1.0 million by 2018.

The 2024 drought caused severe cattle mortality and very poor grazing conditions throughout Otjozondjupa, the stress on pastoral livelihoods potentially accelerating the shift toward wildlife-based land use. Land rights conflicts arose as farmers from other areas entered the Tsumkwe District with cattle, grazing and fencing illegally in areas where San communities and wildlife conservancies claim priority. Whether ranching or wildlife tourism defines Otjozondjupa's future depends on climate trajectories that favor one land use over the other.