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Giraffe and male lion
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Etosha National Park is the biggest wildlife park in Namibia covering more than 20,000 square km. Heading in to our camp for the night we were amazed by the number and variety of animals as we passed a large watering hole with kudus, zebra, oryx (gemsbok) and springbok all together. It was pretty cool as we hadn't really seen too many species mixing together so far in Africa's parks. After the usual setting up of camp (tents and kitchen) we went off to check the camps own watering hole. And there were a herd a elephant and zebra refreshing themselves. It was cool.
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Martin in Etosha Pan (salt)
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Later in the day when it was much cooler (around 4pm) we did a game drive in our overland truck and unlike the little cars that we hired though south Africa, we had a great view from the height advantage of our truck. Some great game viewing, the highlight being seven lions (incl 2 males with extensive, bushy manes) chilling out at a waterhole with four giraffe carefully watching them from (surprisingly) not that far! Again, we were amazed at the mix of animals, and especially this time - predators and prey in close proximity out in the open! Our guide Emma, reckoned that the lion (note correct technical game-speak for multiple lions is 'lion', not 'lions') were just seeing how close they could get without cover.
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| Drinking Giraffes at waterhole |
Back at camp there was time for a bit more animal watching before dinner just in time to see several giraffe rather cautiously approaching the water. Then still checking left and right, one by one they dipped their heads and spread their front legs wide to get a stable stance as they bowed down to the water. We loved watching them as not only did they look cute and clumsy, they had a comical way of getting back up: a synchronised kind-of hop so that the legs would scooche back together to normal standing position. Leaving them to quench their thirst, we went to fill our tummies. Dinner over, back to the waterhole to find not one animal around. It was dark now but we were prepared to see just how long we could stay up waiting. It seemed like we waited ages, but eventually we were rewarded: about 10 -11 giraffe - again with the super-cautious approach and precarious stance down to the water), and six black rhino (there are no white Rhino in Etosha).
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| Black Rhino at waterhole |
Valiantly staying up till 1.30am (Martin or Lori would nudge me if anything exciting came along), we were rewarded with a lonesome lion quietly coming down to the water's edge and then skulking off.
An early start the next day for a long day of game driving in our big truck high above the ground. A great day with game galore. Emma or guide-lady as she became known, was great because she wouldn't rush us away from a site if it was interesting. We sat for a long while watching the behaviour of a huge herd of elephant as another herd approached. Hoping for a bit of excitement, it seemed that the two herds were friendly. Highlights were: lion (of course) just sitting cooling off in the shade, and herd of zebra with one black zebra in its midst - apparently a local anomaly noted to be similar in colouring to the now-extinct quagga. To top off a great day, we stayed up at our camp watering hole that night and saw a total of 16 rhino, a large herd of nervous giraffe and later a male lion. An excellent day! * Mush
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| A Quagga??? Strange coloured zebra |
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