Day 11 - Animals! Everywhere!

12:00
What a morning! I wake up after not quite enough sleep, but feeling fairly well rested. I want to get out into the park as early as possible this morning, as I’ve read the drive from Okaukuejo to Namutoni is both long, and amongst the best game viewing that Etosha has to offer. I decide to forego breakfast, but have a quick coffee to help blast the cobwebs from the corner of my eyes. I’m on the road and into the park dead on 06:30.

The first hour is pretty much a blank scorecard. Couple of small antelope and some birding. There’s a low lying mist this morning. The car reckons the outside temperature is as low as 9C. This, combined with the sun just rising straight in front of me makes it impossible to see any real distance out in front. I round a corner, and find a truck parked up in front of me. I slam the brakes on (as much as you ever can from 35km/h) and see the brush on the left hand side of the road shaking. Out walks a rhino - of the black variety, and I believe the South-Western species. I don’t want to get too close, so snap a quick pic through the windscreen in the hope it’ll come out well. By the time I’ve manoeuvred the truck to get a better angle, he’s into the brush on the other side of the road, and I mainly succeed in taking photos of his ass. Still, I spend a blissful 10 minutes just hanging out with this magnificent creature.

I spend some time with some Toucans (play that game), and a giraffe family that includes the smallest infant I’ve seen on this trip. Teeny weeny, and yet still over 8ft tall.

Next, I take a drive along the edge of the Etosha Pan, giant salt pans in the North of the park. Etosha is huge - bigger than Wales, and I’m crossing from one side of it to the other over 3 days. Turning away from the salt pans, I’m approaching the plains. I can see several trucks parked by the roadside, maybe 400m down the road from me, and I cruise up behind them. Lion! I’ve not had the best luck with lion spotting in the past. Vicki and I spent a frankly dull 90 minutes about 10m from two large males sleeping off a feed, on our last visit to South Africa. In Kenya, I spent 30 minutes watching a pride eat their recent kill. I’ve never really seen lion on the move though - until today. There’s a male sitting a little distance away from a couple of females, and I *think* a couple of cubs. He’s a magnificent looking creature, and is perhaps 10m away from where I’m parked. One of the females pads across the road in front of me. The other female follows, with the two cubs in tow. They look to be maybe 6 months old, and have definitely shaken off that very youngest of skitty kitten characters, but are still small enough that I’d like to pack one up and take it home with me to play with Scout and Gizmo. The male, when he stands, I can see is quite an old chap, and not particularly well nourished. I mean - he could probs still take me in a fight.

A few clicks further down the road, I encounter the biggest herd of zebra I think I’ve ever seen. The Masai Mara was covered with the things, but this is a single group of perhaps 100. I then stumble across an elephant - a big bull, I suspect in musth (on heat), and therefore best not fucked around with. I then spot ANOTHER rhino! This one is one of the white species. He’s a long way off, but the longer horn and paler hide are both clearly visible. Not convinced the few pics I snap will be any good though.

Finally, as I draw close to Namutoni Camp, a cheetah! These are my favourite of the big cats - they’re just so beautiful, and incredibly graceful IMO. They’re also pretty damn rare in Etosha, so I’m incredibly lucky to have seen this one.

Honestly, couldn’t have asked for a better morning’s game spotting. As I arrive into Namutoni, I’m ready for a feed, and for more than one celebratory Savannas.

21:00
I grab an early lunch, as I’m peckish after a no-breakfast morning. Something called ‘Russian and chips.’ A Russian transpires to be a smoked pork sausage. Think bratwurst or kielbasa, and you’re in the right neighbourhood. It’s 14:00, and I’m not sure what to do with myself. Don’t fancy lying by the pool, don’t wanna sit in the bar and get boozy, and definitely don’t wanna sit around the campsite in the sunshine getting super hot. I decide to head back out into the park, and spend a delightful couple of hours meandering around the eastern side of the park The game viewing isn’t a patch on this morning, but nothing could be. I do spot another cheetah, a couple of elephants, tons of antelope, zebra and giraffe.

Back at the camp site, it’s still hot, but I want to get my camp set up before it’s dark. My cunning plans to keep the waterproof sheet attached have been moderately successful. I need to do a little adjustment after it unfurls, and I end up jumping up on the bonnet of the truck to ensure a good fit. Several other campsites are, I believe, watching me in my trials, and distinctly NOT offering to help - the wankers.

I do make it to the pool in the end, but just for a little paddle, while the sun sets behind me.

As I’m leaving the park tomorrow, I have to ensure that any raw meat is cooked. Not sure why, but part of the park’s policies and practices. You can bring raw meat in, but you can’t take it out. You can’t buy raw meat in the park. Anyways, I have a braai pack, and about a metre of Boerewors that’s not gonna eat itself. My plan is to cook all of it, but chuck the leftover Boerewors in the fridge to have a Boerewors Brotchen for breakfast/lunch/a road snack tomorrow. The steak is the best bit of beef I’ve had so far on my trip. Properly tasty, properly tender. There’s a lamb shish kebab in the braai pack which is awesome. Not sure what it’s been flavoured with - sort of North African type flavours. Very tasty.

After dinner, I settle in for some journalling, and some more Castle Rock, which is proving to be utterly bonkers, and fairly fucked up. Joy!Read more