Drive to Etosha National Park

Mark didn’t sleep very well as the inflatable mattress he was using developed a puncture overnight! We won’t have time to look at it over the next few days, so we will have to use a sleeping mat off the truck.

Breakfast this morning was French toast and baked beans. We were packed up and ready to go by 7.30am. We were heading for Etosha National Park for the start of the wildlife part of this tour.

Etosha National Park is a national park in northwestern Namibia and one of the largest national parks in Africa. It was proclaimed a game reserve in March 1907 in Ordinance 88 by the Governor of German South West Africa, Friedrich von Lindequist, and was awarded the status of national park in 1967 by an act of parliament of the Republic of South Africa. It spans an area of 22,270 km2 and was named after the large Etosha pan, which is almost entirely within the park. With an area of 4,760 km2, the Etosha pan covers 23% of the total area of the national park. The area is home to hundreds of species of mammals, birds, and reptiles, including several threatened and endangered species such as the black rhinoceros. Sixty-one black rhinoceros were killed during poaching in Namibia during 2022, 46 of which were killed in Etosha.

It was a long drive. We stopped after a couple of hours for bushy bushy and immediately afterwards drove through a town with plenty of places to use the toilet! Sometimes, I don’t really understand the decision-making!

We had another stop for Henry to buy groceries. This time, we could use the toilets, have a coffee, and even connect to wifi! It was all a bit rushed, though – just 20 minutes! An hour later, we had lunch by the road – salads and sandwiches – before driving on to Okaukuejo, our campsite within Etosha National Park.Read more