| Waterberg Plateau Park | |
|---|---|
 On top of the Waterberg plateau | |
  Location of Waterberg National Park | |
| Location | Namibia |
| Nearest city | Otjiwarongo |
| Coordinates | 20°25′S 17°13′E / 20.417°S 17.217°E |
| Area | 405 km2 (156 sq mi) |
| Established | 1972 |
| Governing body | Ministry of Environment and Tourism |
Waterberg Plateau Park is a national park in central Namibia on the Waterberg Plateau, 68 kilometres (42 mi) south-east of Otjiwarongo. The plateau and the national park are named after the prominent table mountain that rises from the plateau, the Waterberg (Afrikaans: Water Mountain). The Waterberg Plateau is a particularly prominent landmark, elevating high above the plains of the Kalahari of Eastern Namibia. Waterberg Park and some 405 square kilometres (156 sq mi) of surrounding land were declared a Nature Reserve in 1972. As the plateau is largely inaccessible from beneath, several of Namibia's endangered animal species were relocated into the area during the early 1970s to protect them from predators and poaching to extinction. The programme was very successful and Waterberg now supplies other Namibian parks with rare animals. In 1989, the black rhinoceros was reintroduced to the area from Damaraland.
The Waterberg Plateau Park is ecologically diverse and rich and has over 200 different species of bird with some rare species of small antelope on the lower hills of the mountain. Geologically, the oldest rock stratum is over 850 million years old and dinosaur tracks were left there some 200 million years ago.
The plateau was declared a National Monument in 1956.[1]
- ^ Voigt, Andreas (2004). National Monuments in Namibia: An Inventory of Proclaimed National Monuments in the Republic of Namibia. Gamsberg Macmillan. pp. 1–3. ISBN 9991605932.