In the wild, one day can be completely different to the next. Our first day in Etosha was spectacular, with animals around every turn. Our second day was entirely different. For the first half of the day we saw almost nothing. Where did all the zebra and springbok go?! They were everywhere yesterday!
Our highlight this morning was driving into the Etosha Pan – a vast, bare, open expanse of shimmering white that covers almost a quarter of Etosha National Park. At 130 km’s long and up to 50km’s wide in places, it is comfortably the largest salt pan in Africa. The pan was originally a lake but over time the earth’s climate forced the rivers that once fed the lake to change course and flow into the Atlantic Ocean.
We amused ourselves by climbing onto the truck to get a better view of the nothingness that stretched for miles.
Entertaining ourselves if the animals don’t want to
Making ourselves useful while up there
When there is nothing around you, jump!
Cynthia, me, Derek and Elles
A secretary bird checking out the giraffe
We had to be back at the lodge before sunset (or get a fine) so we rushed back to the camp with the most beautiful sunset ahead of us.
Despite being ridiculously late, our awesome driver still stopped for one final rhino photo before the gates of the camp closed behind us.
Before dinner we saw the most beautiful sunset by the waterhole, complete with an elephant drinking. It looked like he knew the attention was on him as he posed for photos for more than 30 minutes.
We still had one chance this evening to spot a leopard on the night game drive. If finding a leopard in the day was hard, by the glow of a red spotlight it was going to be way harder. While we didn’t spot the elusive leopard (or much else for that matter), we did see a nocturnal bat-eared fox with ears double the size of his head, some more elephants and also a barn owl sitting in the road.
As we were getting ready for bed (I was actually already in bed), we heard lions roaring from what felt like inside the camp! Sure, their roar can travel over 10km and it was night time which made it feel much closer but I could swear they were not even 100m away. We decided to get dressed and head to the camp’s watering hole to check it out. As we left the chalet we heard the lion again. This was loud. This was close! I was clinging to Derek.
We got to the waterhole to find five rhinos having a pool party. One was already waist-deep in the middle with two others ready to stroll in. The other two were just getting their toes wet. As a pool attendant, a huge bull elephant was standing right in front checking on matters. The lions were providing the vocals.
It seemed that there were two lions on either side of the camp competing or communicating. And it was getting closer. Out of the bushes a male lion approached. The rhinos were not happy about this and jumped out of the pool. One took it upon himself to confront the lion to chase it away, which it duly did. But when the rhino returned to the pool, it got too close to the elephant who then decided to chase him away. The rhino darted, the elephant followed and all the while the other four rhinos were relaxing in the pool.
After everyone had cleared off, Derek noticed a shadow moving in the bushes on the other side. Sure enough it was a lioness, emerging for a drink. She was so thirsty but clearly did not want to chance her luck with all the other activity around. So when she finally got there, she spent a good 10 minutes lapping up water before silently disappearing into the bush again.
As we turned to leave, right behind us were two black-backed jackal also watching the commotion. What a wonderful end to our time in Etosha and what a way to spend midnight on a Thursday night.
Now you have seen and experienced the “National Geographic” part of Africa and the African Sky’s. Your elephant pictures were interesting. I’m glad you didn’t join the pool party!