Boundary layer winds over the Etosha Pan at Okaukuejo reveal a diurnal oscillation. Wind direction is characteristically northeast by day and south by night. Daytime winds appear to be synoptically forced, being part of the easterly airflow around the continental high, while the nocturnal airflow appears to be the result of thermo-topographical forcing between the higher standing plateau to the south and west of Okaukuejo and the Etosha Pan. The diurnal wind variation is suppressed by synoptic forcing when the high over the sub-continent strengthens or when a mid-latitude trough moves westward across the sub-continent.