After breakfast on Monday morning we drove along the coast to Kalk Bay. We spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering up the main street with the beach side train line and quaint harbour full of fishing vessels. We visited a bakery and some shops selling antiques, art, African collectibles and old books. Then we turned the car around and drove along the scenic cliff side drive to Chapman's Peak. We turned inland and drove over the Constantia Nek pass before getting back on to the N2 to drive to Cape Town International Airport. We returned the car to Avis and checked in and then we went to the food court to find some lunch. The food court was really busy and it took ages for us to be served and then get our lunch. We were just washing our hands after lunch when we heard a boarding call for our flight over the PA system. We had only just got through security when we heard them call our names. We managed to jump the queue though passport control and then had to run to the departure gate. We vowed never to do this again!
We arrived at Windhoek Airport and went to Avis to collect our car. We drove along a long straight and largely deserted road into town. On the way we saw a jackal! Thanks to the detailed instructions from the guy at Avis, we found our hostel really easily, checked in (our room was optimistically called "The Ritz") and parked the car in their secure car park.
On Tuesday morning we drove into town. We went to Trip Travel first to organise our seats on the Intercape Bus from Otjiwarongo (where we were returning our rental car) to the Zambian border. This took quite a bit of time as we wanted to get off the bus at Kasane (Botswana) and the bus didn't have an official stop there. Then we went to the Namibia Wildlife Resorts Office to book our accommodation at Etosha National Park. There we were very happy to find out that there was a last minute special and we were able to get a 50% discount on our accommodation at the park. It was already 10.30 am by the time we left Windhoek. We drove out of Windhoek along the B1 – a long straight road through African savannah. On the way we saw a mongoose, lots of warthogs and baboons and three police speed traps. We had lunch and filled up our car at Otjiwarongo and drove the rest of the way to Etosha. Once inside the gate, we had to drive another 17 kms to the Okaukuejo Camp where we were spending our first two nights at Etosha. On the way in, we drove past Maribou storks and a jackal feeding on a leftover kill, springbok and zebra. We checked into our room which was really luxurious and then made our way to the waterhole at the bottom end of the rest camp. When we arrived, the waterhole was surrounded by a herd of elephants with lots of little babies. Hovering in the background were four nervous looking giraffe who didn't approach the waterhole until after the elephants began to leave. They were soon joined by a herd of zebra and a couple of springbok. In the background we could see three dark jackal. It was really magical and we sat there watching for over an hour and a half. We had to tear ourselves away to go back to our room to update our diary before dinner. We had a lovely dinner while we watched Holland defeat Uruguay 3-2. Then we returned to the waterhole in time to see a couple of rhino leaving with elephant and giraffe still around. We stayed a little longer to listen to the night sounds and admire the starry sky before heading for bed.
We woke up early on Wednesday morning and made a cup of tea to take with us to the waterhole. We sat and watched the guinea fowl, zebra and springbok there for almost an hour before heading off to breakfast. It was windy and dusty after breakfast. Back at the waterhole we saw the usual zebra and springbok who were joined by impala, kudu, a wildebeest and eventually some very skittish gemsbok. Then we drove to the Wolfsnes waterhole. On the way to the waterhole, an inquisitive jackal came right up to the car and we saw a Kori bustard – an extremely large bird. At Wolfsnes waterhole we got our first sight of the Etosha Pan. We drove on past some springbok and jackal to the Okondeka waterhole. There were gemsbok, springbok and ostriches around the waterhole and way out in the distance were wildebeest. On the way to the Adamax waterhole, we photographed a small group of zebra with a baby on the edge of the road. We drove past three warthogs (mum, dad and baby) across a small section of the Okahakana Pan to the M'Bari waterhole where we saw zebra, wildebeest, gemsbok, springbok and ostrich. Then we drove back to Okaukuejo to check the game sighting register and the waterhole. Then we drove to Ombiko waterhole near Anderson Gate where we saw two fully grown giraffe. We did a side trip back via Gaseb waterhole and saw a couple of secretary birds furiously chasing a jackal down the road. Further on we were lucky enough to see a male and female lion by the side of the road. We got back to camp and went to the waterhole for an hour where the main entertainment was two adolescent male elephants doing some elephant wrestling. After dinner we went to watch the Germany vs Spain game. At half time we went back to the waterhole. We saw lionesses, rhinos and a herd of elephants with two small babies and various other children in tow. There was also a tiny pearl spotted owl in the tree above us which would fly down to the ground every now and again to catch something in the grass. The rhinos were pretty aggressive and they were happy to butt heads with the elephants. It was really funny to watch the animals interacting. One junior elephant trumpeted, flapped his ears, charged at the rhinos and then quickly ducked back behind the older and bigger elephants. It was the cutest thing that I've ever seen! We saw a lioness unsuccessfully chasing a springbok. When the lionesses approached the waterhole they were chased off by a grumpy hissing rhino. The grumpy hissing rhino actually came right up to the edge of the enclosure and then sprayed right in front of the spectators to mark his territory.
The next morning we spent over an hour at the waterhole watching the steady stream of animals coming for a drink and then went to breakfast. After breakfast, we checked out and then went back to the waterhole. In addition to the usual zebra and springbok herds, we saw gemsbok, kudu and wildebeest. We also saw one very black zebra. We spent a couple of hours there and then headed off to Halali via the Gemsbokvlakte, Olifantsbad and Aus waterholes. On the way we saw a rhino and six giraffes grazing. There were the usual herds of zebra and springbok at Gemsbokvlakte, but at Olifantsbad we saw red hartebeest, impala and a warthog playing in the mud. At Aus we saw five red hartebeest, four female kudu, three warthogs and a impala. On the way to the Ondongab waterhole we came across a group of impala feeding by the side of the road and we were able to drive quite close up to them and get some good photos. We drove to Sueda and Salvadora overlooking vast stretches of flat grey salt pan. We saw Charitraub and Reitfontein and on the road we came across a group of approximately twenty giraffe and got some great photos of them eating and galloping away after another car went past and spooked them. We arrived at the Halali Camp (where we were staying for the next two nights) at 4.30 pm, checked in and walked to the Moringa waterhole in time to see a rhino leaving. It was a very picturesque spot overlooking the small waterhole from the rocks above with the bush stretching as far as the eye could see into the sunset. We saw four nervous female kudu who didn't even drink and a bit later a hunting leopard passed by in the same direction. After dinner we walked back to the waterhole admiring the starry night sky, and arrived just in time to see a rhino leaving and we saw a few scrub hares and an elephant.
On Friday morning we sat at the waterhole watching the entertaining guinea fowl before breakfast. After breakfast we went back and watched kudu, impala and zebra coming down to drink and then feeding in the surrounding bushes. A nervous adult and baby warthog put in a brief appearance. After a couple of hours we gave up and decided to walk up to the Tsumasa Kopje (little hill overlooking the rest camp). We met a couple of Belgian guys who were on the way down and one had a rock in his hand so we asked him if he had found a fossil. He explained it was for protection - they didn't reach the top because they had been scared away by a large cobra which was raising itself, hissing and spitting at them. We continued anyway and thankfully there was no sign of the snake. There were panoramic views of the park from the top of the Kopje which seemed to be made up of volcanic rock slabs. After walking down the Kopje, we collected the car and drove to the Etosha Lookout. The Etosha Lookout was right on the edge of the salt pan and it was the only place where you could actually drive on to the pan itself. It was a flat plain of greenish brown earth which seemed to stretch out in all directions as far as the eye could see. After that we drove along some really dodgy gravel roads to the Goas waterhole. There were the usual impala and springbok and apart from some geese and ducks nothing new. We sat there for a short time and then decided to head back to Halali and the Moringa waterhole. We drove to the waterhole where a couple of black faced impala were sparring in the background. Just before sunset a black rhino appeared and rubbed himself on a tree stump with obvious pleasure. Then he had a drink and ambled off. After that it was only the bubbling noise of thousands of tiny doves and the scrub hare reappeared as night fell. Some people got really excited and we thought they must have spotted a lion or a leopard but it was a giant eagle owl! As we were getting ready for bed we heard a continuous call from the trees outside our room. We went out with the torch to investigate and found a tiny grey bushbaby running and jumping around the tree.
On Saturday after breakfast we saw a pair of black speckled hawks drinking at the waterhole then we checked out of Halali and drove to the Goas waterhole where we saw red hartebeest, impala, springbok and a grey hawk harassing a big eagle. We drove on to the Ngobib waterhole past a herd of elephants who were just crossing the road. We stopped at Ngobib for a while to watch four elephants drinking at the waterhole and nudging each other. As we left the waterhole we came face to face with a large adult male. We stopped the car and after taking a good look, he just walked around us – he was so close we could practically lean out of the window and touch him. It was heart stopping! Then we drove on to the Kalkheuwel waterhole and we were able to get quite close to it. There were two elephants, five giraffes and an impala there when we arrived. We sat there for a while watching elephants, giraffes, zebra, springbok, gemsbok and a nervous warthog arriving and leaving. We watched three groups of elephants taking it in turn to drink from the waterhole and then bathe and splash in the mud bath. This was followed by a liberal coating of dust and a nice back and tummy scratch against the trees and shrubs. From there we drove along a road that was lined with white termite mounds and we saw a baby giraffe and mum on the way to Namutoni Camp where we were spending our final two nights at Etosha. It was a short walk along a boardwalk to our room which was surrounded front and back by wooden privacy screening. Our room was even more luxurious than the ones we had at Okaukuejo and Halali. It had beautiful fittings and a queen bed and a monstrous bathroom with a large bathtub and an indoor and outdoor shower. We walked along the boardwalk passing some grey louries in a fig tree and a large family of banded mongeese on the way to the waterhole lookout near our room. The waterhole was different again with a lush reed-filled centre containing thousands of weaver birds. There was nothing to see so we moved to the white-washed German fort lookout where an elephant was feeding right in front of us and enjoyed a magical sunset. After dinner we went back to the waterhole for a last look before bed. As we sat there four giraffes materialised out of the shadows, they paced up and down for a while and then melted back into the darkness. We heard a whooping call which we thought was hyena but nothing else appeared so we went to bed.
After breakfast on Sunday morning we went back to the Kalkheuwel waterhole. On the way we stopped briefly at Chudop where we saw some zebra, springbok and a wildebeest drinking from the reed filled waterhole. There were weavers in the reeds and we saw a hawk dive into a flock of guinea fowl. At Kalkheuwel, we saw the usual kudu, springbok, impala, gemsbok, giraffe, jackal and zebra. After some time they were joined by five warthogs. Finally our patience was rewarded. We started hearing warning calls from the bush and then a large lioness in fantastic condition turned up to the waterhole to drink. All the other animals disappeared and then gradually returned to the waterhole after she left. We stayed at the waterhole for a couple of hours and then we drove back towards Namutoni. We drove along Dik-Dik drive to the Klein Namutoni waterhole where we saw a flock of vultures circling above a kill but we couldn't get close enough to see what it was. Dik-Dik drive was lined with broken trees and elephant dung. As we drove along we came across a pair of Dik-Dik (smallest antelope in the world - not much bigger than a domestic cat). We drove past Namutoni and across the Fishers Pan which contained quite a bit of water, to the Klein Okevis waterhole. When we arrived at the waterhole, a group of elephants were just leaving and it was surrounded by kudu, wildebeest, gemsbok and springbok. A jackal arrived to drink which spooked them, and they all retreated. However the jackal was soon shooed off by a solitary adolescent male elephant. As we sat there three more male elephants came to the waterhole. We went on to the Groot Okevis waterhole where we saw two kori bustards and some guinea fowl. Then we turned the car around and went back to Namutoni. We passed elephants with babies and giraffe on the way home. We caught sunset at the waterhole and then went for an early dinner so that we could watch the world cup final at the camp site bar.
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