We left Damaraland and entered Namibia’s famous Etosha National Park through the western gate, to begin our 3-night stay, camping and staying at a couple of lodges as we did our self-driving game drives. We’d love to say that Etosha was greener than the rest of Namibia (so far), but even at the tail-end of the rainy season the giant pan at the heart of Etosha and the surrounding area were extremely dry. When we first entered the park we were afraid that we wouldn’t see very many animals. This impression was reinforced when at our first campsite at Olifantsrus we were almost skunked with nothing to see during two visits to the blind except a couple of antelopes and some turtles!
However, as our time in the park progressed, we realized that spotting wildlife in Etosha was simply a matter of luck, completely depending upon season, recent rainfall, and the unpredictable movements of the animals throughout the more than 22,000 sq.km. (That’s bigger than the entire country of Israel!) We tossed out our lists of “best Etosha watering holes” and just enjoyed popping in to as many of the 40+ watering holes along the main roads through the park along the southern edge of the pan as possible. Sometimes a stop at a watering hole would come up empty (in fact some holes were dry), sometimes there would be just a few animals, and sometimes there would be 6 or 8 different species milling around waiting to drink.
The watering holes at the camps where we stayed on our second and third nights (Okaukuejo and Halali) were outstanding. These holes are illuminated at night so we could see the constant parade of giraffes, elephants, antelopes of all sizes, jackals and hyenas, and even rhinos. It was rather amusing to see the rhinos come wandering down for a swim in groups of 5 or 6 when we’d spent half a day to find just 2 when tracking rhinos on foot just a couple of days earlier.
It wasn’t only at the watering holes that we spotted wildlife. The gravel roads in Etosha have a speed limit of 60 km/hour (and even that limit was sometimes impractical) so there was a lot of wildlife to be seen grazing at the side of the roads, sheltering in the little shade to be found, or taking a dust bath right in the middle of the road! The only lions that we saw during our entire trip were just lounging under some trees a few metres off the road, not at a watering hole at all.
We’ve been on many safaris and road trips throughout Africa, and found that Etosha was unique in its combination of great wildlife viewing and amazing scenery. Perhaps it is the starkness of the landscape and the mystery of how all these animals manage to survive with relatively little water and food that make the park such an attractive destination. We were happy having spent 3 days in Etosha, but left knowing that we’d have a couple of more days of wildlife spotting (including leopards!) before our Namibia road trip came to an end.
See images of Etosha on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/100countries/albums/72177720316094887
