Etosha National Park - Day 2

I woke up early again and got up at 4.30am. After packing away my tent and eating some breakfast, I rushed up to the waterhole again to see if there were any animals there. There were only a few birds skimming the water for a drink but the early morning atmosphere was still calming and very enjoyable. Again, Lauren and English Brian joined me for a few minutes before we had to board our truck for a morning safari drive through the Etosha park. There was a beautiful sunrise as we were leaving the campsite with a large orange sun inching into the sky. I decided to go and sit in an area of the truck called 'the beach' which is an opening in the top of the truck over the front cab where you can kneel and have 360 degree views of the surrounding landscape. This was the first time I had tried sitting on the Beach and it wouldn't be the last as I really enjoyed the clear views of the surrounding countryside and wildlife. As we slowly trundled along white dusty roads we began to see animals. We saw herds of impala, a few eland and some oryx wandering between the sparse trees. Giraffe were also seen. Thousands of butterflies rose from the road verges before us and often filled the truck with flitting life. We saw a falcon fly elegantly into a tree and a lilac crested roller flash multi-colours through the sky. We saw a tiny duiker antelope and kudu. We then drove out towards the huge salt pan, dried lake. Many ostrich strutted around this area, flapping their wings to display to the females. We drove out onto the salt pan which stretched beyond the horizon with cracked, salty crust but damp wetter mud underneath.
As we continued along the edge of the salt pan we saw large herds of springbok, zebra and wildebeest. We arrived at our next campsite, Okaukuejo, at around mid-day and Often the driver let us know that there were animals at the waterhole by the campsite so we immediately went there past the plush chalets of the large and upmarket campsite. We were greeted with a stunning and timeless view of many different animals coming down to the waterhole. There was a herd of wildebeest sniffing and snorting as they drank the waters. Hundreds of zebra walled around the waterhole and drunk the water in stripy lines of threes and fours before departing and being replaced by more zebra. Several oryx walled deep into the water to drink. Springbok also added their delicate, thin legged presence to the scene. This was the quintessential experience of the animal filled waterhole in Africa that i had hoped for and it was one the highlights of the entire trip. The animals began to leave the waterhole in numbers and we left to put up our tents, eat some lunch and cool off from the intense heat with a swim in the campsite swimming pool. At 4pm we set off for an evening game drive on Chui the truck through the Etosha park. There were less of us on this trip and we took some alcohol to drink. I drank some red wine which allowed me to open up more to the landscapes and animals before us. We saw lots of animals in the park again. We saw large herds of zebra by the road, rolling extravagantly in the dust and living their lives as they have done for millennia. We saw herds of impala and springbok and red hartebeest. We saw a jackal running quickly through the low scrubland, ostrich, a falcon, and a vulture. We saw a lone hyena lopimg it's way through bushes. At one point we turned down a road towards the vast salt pan. As we passed the herds of zebra and springbok, with the wine relaxing me into this epic scene, I had an epiphany of sorts, where I deeply felt the spirit of Africa in this ancient place with the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth playing out over millions of years. As we returned towards the campsite, our special experience was capped off by seeing a young male lion close to the road with two of his make companions further on in the distance.
We returned to the campsite and went over the waterhole to view the sunset with a big orange sun dipping below pink and auburn clouds. We then rushed back for some dinner of burgers and fried potatoes. Lauren and I then headed back over to the waterhole as the stars began to appear in the night sky. Lauren and I have always been very fortunate when we view wildlife together, and this night was no exception. A female black rhino and her young infant were arriving at the waterhole just as we were arriving. We watched the mother gently lap water with her infant also taking a drink. After a few minutes the mother and her baby walked back up the hill and into the night. We waited and whispered conversation by the waterhole until the mother and baby returned again for another drink, sniffed the air as if to try to smell the humans watching on the other side of the waterhole and somewhat nervously retreated back in the darkness. We heard lions roaring in the distance which always makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. We waited late into the evening with the tantalising hope of the lions we heard in the distance visiting the waterhole. We didn't see the lions, but we were rewarded with seeing a different lone black rhino (all the rhino we saw in Etosha National Park were black rhino) come down to drink. As I watched it through my binoculars, I suddenly saw a hyena behind the rhino also making it's way down the bank to drink. We then had the amazing scene of a wild rhino drinking at the edge of the water with a hyena also lapping the water noisily only a few metres away from the rhino. They didn't seem to be bothered by each other at all and both eventually left and went their separate ways in the darkness. We waited and talked until 11.15pm until tiredness overwhelmed us and we returned to our tents. I watched the milky way in the clear sky and the flashes of lightning in the far distance before retiring to my tent and taking a long time to fall asleep with thoughts on my mind and lions roaring in the distance.

Animal list - Impala, eland, oryx, giraffe, falcon, lilac crested roller, duiker, kudu, ostrich, honey badger
Game drive evening- zebra, impala, springbok, red hartebeest, jackal, goshawk, wildebeest, vulture, ostrich, hyena, ground squirrel, lion x3Read more