Etosha, Namibia

Loaded up the rental car with supplies from Windhoek and headed for Otjo the nearest point to Etosha with a backpackers. We had managed to book a camp site at the Etosha Pan National Park for two nights. The park has 3 rest camps and we were only able to get space in the middle camp called Halali.

At Otjo we met 2 Dutch couples, Patrick and Linda, Anja and Demis, who were camping in the backpackers and had been quite awhile there. One of the couples had borrowed a 4x4 from someone on in SA and it had blown a head gasket so they had to wait for parts to have it repaired. The couple, Jaenny and Deon, who run the backpackers hope to get to NZ for the rugby world cup next year so we may well see them again. It was really hot during the day but there were some big trees that gave us a shady spot to rest and chat.

We headed off early for Etosha and set up camp. The place had no grass except beside the pool and was 42+. Most of the camp was a dust bowl. Lots of the safari truck tours booked out many of the camp sites and they would stay one night and be up and gone around 6am.


This was the only lion we saw and she watched the zebra and antelopes from this log in the middle of a water hole.

A lot of the natural waterholes at Etosha were dry while the ones supplied with water had a mix of animals at the same time. There was always a mix of animals and it was great to see the gangly giraffes doing the splits to get a drink.

This waterhole had a large herd of elephants. They would splash and roll around in the water and then get out and cover themselves in white dust.

There were large herds of wildebeest grazing the veldt.

Spotted this white coloured chameleon in the black branched tree.

Etosha was really hot and dry and being a flat pan it was difficult to see any animals past about 2 or three trees deep from the road. the safari trucks certainly have the advantage of being high above the trees to see the animals that are further than 3 trees in.

At the camp at night there was a waterhole that was open all night as well as all day. We saw a leopard one night and enjoyed watching the rhino and their babies but had problems photographing them which was a shame. It is amazing how each group of animals waits their turn at the waterhole. The elephants apparently hate sharing the waterholes with any other animals and we saw them chase the rhino away. Some rhino would wait in the trees for the elephant to leave and then take their turn followed by the springboks.

After Etosha we spent a night in another backpackers where we did some laundry and had the car washed before returning it to Windhoek.