Etosha and the wild savannah
We arrived late one afternoon in Etosha wildlife park, Namibia, https://www.etoshanationalpark.org/park-info with a local safari group, Wild Dogs and Krazy Kudu. We camped at the main enclosed site in the middle of the park, near a large waterhole. It had a viewing platform just a brief walk from our tents, giving us magnificent views of wildlife, including zebra, warthog and rhinoceros!
Early next morning we left the camp and drove across the grassy plains to see haughty ostriches, nervous giraffes that looked very funny when they drank from a waterhole. We also saw herds of antelope such as Impala (sometimes called the McDonalds of the bush – look at the markings on their bottoms! Lots of other animals eat them, too!), herds of Springbok some of which seemed planted in the ground.
On one dirt road we found a ground squirrel and nearby a huge monitor lizard which eats them. Herds of gentle Wildebeest and a lone Hartebeest wandered not far away, while a pink breasted Roller kindly perched on a bush for us to photograph.
Exhausted by the excitement of what we had seen that morning, we went back to camp for a leisurely lunch – Etosha is not a sensible place to picnic because of the jackal and hyena that live there as well as the lions!
Late in the afternoon we set off again down to the Pan to see if we could find some elephants. Well, first we found some Giraffe. Then we found some Gemsbok, sometimes called Oryx, specialist desert dwellers. Then, just as we were giving up, there was a cracking and snapping of wood beside our safari vehicle and an Elephant popped out of the bush. She gave us a stare and shambolled off down the track behind us.
Time to get back to camp as it was getting dark and the camp gates would shut for the night. Then we saw them glaring at us from beside the road, their eyes glistening in the fading light. A complete pride of lions waiting for an unwary passer-by! Were we glad to get back to the safety of the camp and watch the sun go down by the waterhole!
