If you want to sleep inside Etosha rather than outside the gates, there is only one company to book with, and much of the advice circulating on travel forums about how to do it is out of date. Here is how the six NWR properties inside the park actually work, and the routes that reach a person when the website stalls.

The six places you can stay inside Etosha

Every camp inside the park is run by Namibia Wildlife Resorts, the state tourism operator, which describes them as five resorts and one camp. From west to east they are Dolomite in the remote western section, Okaukuejo with its floodlit waterhole, Olifantsrus (a campsite only), Halali between the two main gates, Onkoshi on the edge of the pan, and Namutoni in the old German fort. No other operator has rooms inside the boundary; everything else sits outside a gate. Whether you can drive between them yourself is covered in our guide to self-driving Etosha, and which waterholes are worth timing your day around is in how the park’s waterholes actually work.

The booking portal works again

For years the forum consensus was that NWR’s online booking never worked and you had to email instead. That is no longer true. NWR’s reservation portal at nwr.cimsoweb.com is live, takes your arrival and departure dates and guest numbers, and asks whether you are a Namibian resident, since residents pay different rates. It is the quickest way to check availability yourself. If the portal does stall, and it still can, the routes below reach a person.

How to reach NWR directly

NWR’s head office is at 181 Independence Avenue, the Gathemann Building, in Windhoek. The full list of numbers is on NWR’s own contact page.

Check you are on the real site

Because NWR’s own booking has a patchy reputation, a number of lookalike sites have appeared. One traveller on TripAdvisor described paying a deposit for Dolomite through a site that was not NWR, arriving to no reservation, and having to pay a second time. At least one prominent Etosha website states plainly that it is not affiliated with Namibia Wildlife Resorts. The rule is simple: book on nwr.com.na or nwr.cimsoweb.com, or by emailing an address ending in nwr.com.na, and treat anything else as a reseller rather than the park.

Book early, then build the route around it

Camps inside Etosha fill first for the May to October dry season, when animals concentrate at the waterholes. If a particular camp matters to you, reserve months ahead rather than weeks. Once your Etosha nights are fixed, the rest of the trip has to flex around them, so our note on whether your Namibia itinerary is too ambitious is worth reading before you lock in the surrounding days.

Frequently asked questions

Is NWR’s online booking system working in 2026?

Yes. NWR’s reservation portal at nwr.cimsoweb.com is live again and lets you check availability and book the camps inside Etosha yourself. Older forum advice that the portal never works and you must email is out of date, though email and phone remain good fallbacks.

Which camps are inside Etosha National Park?

Six Namibia Wildlife Resorts properties sit inside the park: Okaukuejo, Halali, Namutoni, Dolomite and Onkoshi are resorts, and Olifantsrus is a campsite. Every one is run by NWR; all other lodges are outside the gates.

What is the phone number for NWR reservations?

NWR’s central reservations line in Windhoek is +264 61 285 7200, and its Swakopmund office is +264 64 402 172. You can also email reservations@nwr.com.na.

How far ahead should I book Etosha’s camps?

For the May to October dry season, several months ahead. That is when wildlife concentrates at the waterholes and the in-park camps fill first, so a specific camp can be gone weeks out.

Is etoshanationalpark.co.za the official booking site?

No. Only nwr.com.na and its portal nwr.cimsoweb.com are Namibia Wildlife Resorts. Travellers have reported losing deposits on lookalike sites, so book through NWR directly.