Etosha National Park

3 Sept
An early start this morning for a full day game drive in Etosha National Park with local guide Nation.
We watched the sun rise as we drove into the park. It was cold early in the open safari truck, and we were provided with quilted ponchos to keep us warm.
We saw lots of springboks and impalas and had a very close encounter with two giraffes right next to that track.
Most people aren't as interested in birds as us, but we occasionally stopped to see a special one, such as the beautiful goshawk.
A jackal came quite close before quickly disappearing.
Lots of beautiful zebras, kudus, a few red hartebeest, groups of beautiful oryx.
We had a close encounter with a female ostrich being pursued by two hopeful males.
Etosha is very dry, and many animals, including large groups of zebras and springboks were concentrated around the waterholes, which used to be natural but are now mostly fed by solar powered bores.
We had a few distant sightings of rhinos, and spotted a large lone elephant heading for a waterhole from some kilometres away, flapping his ears for cooling as he walked.
About the same time as they elephant reached the waterhole a lone rhino also did, so we got a close look at both of them.
Heading back toward the park entrance and our lodge, Nation spotted two or three lion cubs under a bush about 40 metres from the road. They were too well hidden to get a photo, and it's amazing the our guide found them while he was driving. Our first lion sighting!
A bit further along the road Nation saw a safari truck stopped on a track leading in to a waterhole, and we went in to investigate.
Nation pointed out a large lioness lying in the shade under a low bushy tree. Probably the mother of the cubs we had seen. She had left the cubs hidden and would return to them after a kill. Our second lion sighting!
A really amazing day.
4 Sept
This morning we met our Nomad guides, Dennis and Tobias, who arrived at 10am with the twelve seat Nomad truck to pick us up. There was some confusion as they thought incorrectly that they had to wait until 12 for two other people before picking up the four who had been with them since Cape Town. When this was sorted out we backtracked about half an hour to pick up the other four passengers before heading back up through Etosha NP.
Once again we lots of animals, including playful mongooses and families of zebras.
We had travelled a long way through the park when, in an open grassy area, we spotted a lioness in the distance, walking steadily parallel to the road. Groups of giraffes were running to stay away from her. Close inspection of the photos revealed that she had already eaten, with blood visible on her face. Our third lion sighting!
Our accommodation for the night was at Kupferquelle Resort in Tsumeb, a large spread-out hotel with an olympic sized pool.Read more