Etosha…It’s Definitely Kosher!!
After returning from the lush green countryside of Angola, where one can buy huge avocados and other delicious fruit and vegetables from the roadside vendors, we are now back in the arid north of Namibia. We plan to spend a few weeks here before crossing over to Zambia in December.
Etosha, Namibia’s premier national park, is in the north and despite the high daytime temperatures, upwards of 35⁰c, we decided we could not leave without a short visit.
The park is huge, about half the size of Switzerland and has an immense pan which stretches from horizon to horizon. We purchased a day pass in the hope that we could stay at one of the three campsites (normally booked out for weeks in advance) and were lucky enough to secure three nights at the Halali campsite. After an initial day of game driving and not seeing a lot, we decided on a different approach, using Big Bertha as intended.
We were first out of the camp gate at 06:15 and settled at a local water hole and waited for the game to come to us. Cooking breakfast, lunch and numerous teas/coffee breaks whiled away the quiet times and of course having an on-board loo meant we could stay for hours. Which we did, eight in fact. This approach paid off. At the Rietfontein water hole we saw: lion, elephant, honey badger, springbok, zebra, eland, wilderbeast, hartebeest and giraffe. One day, on the way back to camp, we had a fleeting glance of a leopard.
In the evenings we walked to the camp’s waterhole and drank beer as the sunset. Shortly afterwards the rhino floor-show began, lasting well into the night.
35C isn’t high for YOU, is it?? Have you grown soft in your time away?
Ha Ha. Well yes, we did bash them dunes in 45c temps, didn’t we? But sleeping in those temps is a different story!!
Yeah, 35C is a bit hot for sleeping – not undoable, but your body does drip sweat everywhere. I’ve camped out once or twice in that or higher – I won’t do it again by choice. I forgot Big Bertha was your sleeping quarters, not just your ride! It changes the perspective…
Awesome!!
That looks fantastic!
Brilliant. You cannot get too many elephants in my book. The little ones you saw are always fun to watch and interesting. Thanks for sharing this.
Forgive my correction but the “Eland” in the next sequence are actually female Greater Kudu.
Whahhh!!! Whata mistaka to maka. Too difficult to correct the video – but we’ll be sure not to make this mistake again. Thanks Fred!!
I’m hoping that I will find the “Big Book of African Antelope” under my Christmas Tree! I could also do with a “Big Book of African Birds”, as we have seen some great ones and they’re very hard to identify! 😉
Mammals are fairly straight forward. Less of em.
Birds. You would need so many books you would need a Bigger Big Bertha.
Look out for “Birds of Africa south of the Sahara” by Sinclair and Ryan. “Birds of Southern Africa” by the same Ian Sinclair will cover your current travels.
Better still. Hire me. I am very low maintenance.
Wow sure did pay off, fantastic. Makes you feel you’re in a Disney movie doesn’t it?
It surpassed my expectations. What I did not mention that is that at times there was a bigger variety of vehicles around the waterhole than animals! Thanks Jo.