Etosha National Park, Namibia
Routine start to the day - pommy wash, pack our bags, put down tent, shove down breakfast and hit the road. Today we're heading to Etosha National Park, just a cool 700km in the truck.
We stop in at Rundu on our way for snacks and fuel. This is probably the biggest town we've been to to date, because it has a set of traffic lights and a proper soccer ground! With grass! On our way out of town Meesheck purchases some monkey fruit from the locals who's village is set up along the road out of town. The moment the truck started slowing, kids came running to sell him the goods. Sad and sweet at the same time.
Onwards we go and we arrive at our destination around 3pm. Etosha is Namibia's premier nature and wildlife reserve, spanning 22,700 km2 and surrounding the Etosha pan.
We stop off at reception on our way to the campsite and notice an impressive looking fort. Meesheck tells us a story about how one day, a tribe of African people came to the fort, which was back then held by the Germans. The African tribe came bearing oxen and asked the Germans if the could spare some rice in exchange. The Germans said ok, the African tribe went in, slaughtered the Germans, took over the fought and that was the end of that chapter.
We set up camp and given we've still got a few hours until sunset. Because the roads in the park are constructed of gravel, we head straight to the park in the truck for a game drive.
We still have one animal to tick off our Big 5 and Ugly 5 list. Ugly 5 consists of the Marabou Stork , Warthog, Black Spotted Hyena, Chacma Baboon and Vulture. We're waiting on the Rhino to show its horn and the Hyena it's ugly face, in order to complete our Big 5 and Ugly 5 respectively.
We're maybe 20 minutes into our drive when the truck stops, our driver signals us to look to the left and low and behold there it is. A black Rhino munching away on some dried twigs and branches looking less than appealing. These are two types of Rhinos here, the black and the white. The Black one is identifiable by its black mouth, the white because of its wide mouth. Yes, that is correct. Wide mouth, but called the white Rhino.
Today is our lucky day. We head to one of the many watering holes next where we spot some Giraffes and Hyenas having a glug! Namibia has not disappointed us today.
The campsite we're staying at borders a watering hole on one side. The park has set up a viewing area behind a fence, with a light trained on the watering hole for some night time game viewing. After dinner, we decide to have somewhat of a date night. We grab a bottle of South African red, plastic cups and head to the watering hole. We stay for about 2 hours and as everyone's given up on seeing any animals at the hole, we have the place to ourselves for the most part.
We spend a bit of time sipping and waiting. It's quiet and peaceful, which makes it easier to hear the animals when they're coming for a slurp. And they do.
We first see a couple of ducks that flock to the water, in an effort to evade the pesky jackal (basically a small dog that made an appearance during dinner earlier that evening). We're getting pretty excited, when a Wildebeest struts on past. We then spot what we think are Hyenas trolling around. Just when we think things can't get better (there's just something really special about watching animals when they don't know you're there), two very cautious Giraffes enter the arena. One hangs back as security, while the other heads to the watering hole for some H2O. If you haven't seen a Giraffe drink, do yourself a favour and look it up. The length of their legs and neck means they have to spread the front legs as wide as possible, in order for their mouth to be able to reach the water. The Giraffe is most vulnerable in this position, as the lion can easily come in and rip their throats out. For this reason, the Giraffe only has a few cautious sips before gracefully jumping it's front feet back together again and looking around for enemies. He repeats this a few times before heading off with his body guard.
The night time waterhole viewing having exceeded our expectations, we decide to hit the sack.
Day 2
High winds, thuender, lightning but no rain overnight, was the hot topic of conversation at breakfast, seeing as the only weather we've had consistently is hot, blue skies and no wind. Everyday.
The truck requires a little bit of maintenance before we head out, so Jeff takes the opportunity to get a game of footy going. With a German, Kiwi, 3 Aussies and a South African in the mix, it turns into a weird game of rugby/NFL /Aussie rules. We are surprised to note that our German friend can kick better than most Essendon players (zing).
Truck sorted, we head back into Etosha for another game drive. Because the park is so huge, it takes more than a day to cover it all. Our next campsite is on the other side of the park. As with all game drives up to this point, we aren't disappointed.
We see another black Rhino, even closer this time, munching on more horrible looking plants. Courts just about wets her pants when we see 10 snoozing lions and then further down the road and even closer to the truck, a lion and lioness in a deep slumber under a bush. Pretty lucky seeing as there are only 250 lions in the park. Like they say, it never rains etc.
We see a truck load of zebras up close today which is pretty exciting, seeing as they have been very flighty up until this point. Courts suggests the zebras look pregnant as some of their bellies are bulging. Meesheck confirms, Courts asks if she can take over this whole "nature guide" thing.
Next we head to the pan situated in the middle of the park which spans 110 kms by 50 kms and and is covered by a small amount of water only 2 to 3 days a year. From far away you could mistake it for the ocean. Up close, it's hot, dry and eerie.
We stop for lunch at one of the many campsites scattered through the park and a couple of us make use of the facilities (namely the huge pool), shovel down lunch and quickly hit the road again as we need to be out of the park by 3.
We set up camp a short distance down the road at what can only be described as a tribal council scene out of Survivor. The campsite is the coolest and most interesting yet. Jeff takes a stroll around and bumps into some Kudu. In Africa, you seriously cannot go 10 metres without spotting some form of wildlife.
In lieu of an immunity challenge, we teach our group Chase the Ace and Asshole (which every country seems to have a version of). We win everyone's money and head to bed, hoping our crew will let us back on the truck tomorrow.
Day 3
We have one last game drive on the cards before we leave Etosha. We head out shortly after breakfast and have our eyes peeled. Whilst we don't see anything new, we get to large groups of animals.
We are rewarded at the first watering hole with a jackal playing dead, so he can catch and kill the birds that come to close. We watch 2 Impala testing each other's strength, practising for the day they challenge the dominant male for breeding rights. The loser of such a challenge is banished to a bachelor herd where he builds his strength without the distraction of females, ready to one day again challenge a dominant male.
Later in the day, we see a journey of 26 Giraffe running to... well, we're not sure where. It was something else. We stop at a very active watering hole and see scores of springbok, zebras and gemsbok.
We come across a herd of elephants, with a couple of young ones in the mix, one actually feeding off its mother, which was a first for everyone in the group to see. The noob in front of us is driving a red car. Safari 101 is that elephants don't like the colour red. It makes them mad and you can see the elephant become agitated. Meeshack is a little nervous that our driver has completely stopped our truck, so we don't stick around long.
We also get to see some ostriches, Courts new favourite animal... For today anyway.
We head back to camp for dinner and sleep. No tribal council tonight though.