Etosha – The Jewel of Namibia

We left our friendly guesthouse near Oshakati full of excitement. We were on our way to Etosha National Park. Not just the jewel of Namibia but amongst the best national parks in the whole of Africa. Vast plains teaming with wildlife of all kinds and plenty of lions!

As we arrived at the gate our hearts were pumping and we grinned at each other. Forms were filled in, payment was made and we were in. We high-fived and sped towards the first of three campsites within the park.

After a brief lunch, bagging a good spot in the camping area and buying a map of the Park we packed up quickly and headed out to see what we could find.

We were not disappointed!

First find – elephants…

Including one which was busy pushing a tree over!

We watched for a while then pressed on to see what else was around.

What you see in any national park, indeed whether you see anything at all, is generally a matter of luck – being in the right place at the right time. But you can increase your chances of seeing your favourite animals by being where they often frequent at the time of day they tend to be there. For example, most animals are best seen at watering holes as that’s where they congregate. Predators are only generally spotted in the early morning and late at night. Other animals are therefore more likely to be at the watering holes inbetween those times. The cooler it is, the more animals will be around and they all come out after the rain to drink and cool down. Lions, in particular, can often be seen walking along the roads after a rain storm as they don’t like being in the wet grass – they are cats after all!

The map we bought included details of what you could expect to find at the various watering holes so, as always, I plotted our route based on where and when we were most likely to see lions or leopards.

As we headed to a watering hole often visited by lions we were conscious it was 4pm and therefore not a great time to find what we were looking for. At this time of day lions are more likely to be sleeping in the long grass out of sight.

So when we saw a small group of vehicles crowded around one spot about 200 meters away from the watering hole we were surprised – any group of vehicles in a national park generally means a predator of some sort and usually a cat.

And this time was no exception. Two lions basked in the sun under the trees – a large male and a female

A couple of the other vehicles were hogging the space and making it diffcult for the rest of us to see very much. So we slowly pulled away around the corner to see whether we could get a better view from elsewhere. We were rewarded for our decision, we discovered that there weren’t two lions but four!

Two adolescent males were sitting just around the corner. They would have been brothers and almost certainly the children of the two adults, making up a pride of four. Eventually these two will move away from mum and dad and find a pride of their own but will almost certainly stay together for life.

They were a bit more active than the grown-ups!

We slowly and carefully followed them as they ambled up to the watering hole

The giraffe were on high alert. The water was right in front of them but they had other, more critical, things on their minds – like survival! They could sense the two lions making their way through the bushes towards them

And when they arrived the giraffe didn’t take their eyes off them for a second

Two lions would do well to down an adult giraffe – not only are they large but they also have a powerful kick and can crack a lion’s skull with one blow. But these two are young males, always keen to practise their hunting skills and cavalier enough to try anything. Even if they didn’t make a kill, the giraffe could be seriously injured. And it only takes a second of being distracted to allow a predator as vicious, strong, fast and accomplished as a lion to strike.

But for now it was hot and these two were more interested in the water

For now!

And the giraffe kept watch, stationed close to the trees, watching from every angle

Even we were being sized up as they drank….

Lions are family-oriented animals, their pride comes first. Most lions that you spot in a national park aren’t doing much as they sleep in the day and hunt at night. But even so it’s touching to watch them curl up close together, wash and groom and nuzzle each other. These two were some of the most active lions we’d ever seen and it was very apparent that they were doing everything together – and would be together and look after each other until the day they died.

We watched in awe for about half an hour but eventually the two brothers had drunk their fill and headed back into the bush

And with the coast clear, the giraffe slowly started to make their way back to the water

And were finally able to drink

We were thrilled! What an amazing lion experience. Generally speaking even seeing one standing up is a bonus! And so unexpected at this time of day.

We headed back to the campsite to celebrate.

Etosha is all about the animals – the campsites are a bit basic and there are always a lot of people in them. But that evening, even being on camp was exciting.

It had started to rain a little and a beautiful rainbow stretched across the sky

And as we set up camp, dusk started to set in and bolts of lightening lit everything up in the distance

Almost as light as day…

We watched for hours until the rain started and we had to retire inside for bed.

It was getting very hot and humid, a sure sign that a big storm was on its way.

Sure enough, we were woken just before 5am by a crash of thunder that literally shook Henry and hurt our ears. The sky lit up as bright as the sun and I had to cover my eyes. The storm went on for 2 hours, painfully bright bolts of lightening one after another followed by deafening thunder and a deluge of rain that seemed to have no end.

When it finally abated and we were able to get up, we found that the campsite was flooded

This is not a site we were used to in Namibia, it´s not a site many people see – rain in this desert country can be elusive for years.

But the animals will have loved it and we had high hopes that the wet will have brought them out in large numbers. The only downside was that it was already 6:30am, half an hour after sunrise when the campsite gates open, and we still had to dress and pack up camp. The rain had kept us stuck inside for far too long.

We finally left camp at 7:30am and drove out hoping to see lots of wet and happy animals but with no expectation of any predators this late in the day.

It´s always clear who has right of way in a national park and roads soaked with life-giving pools of water made for slow progress!

Everywhere we looked, the animals surrounded us

Basking in the wet grass and pools of water

The Springbok, usually so clean cut and perfectly groomed, looked amusingly bedraggled!

We drove into an area of grassland, the home of the cheetah. Elusive, shy and easily hidden in the long grass, they are not a common site. But today we struck gold.

The first sighting was of two cheetah just visible walking through the grass

As they walked they went in and out of view, too far away to see without binoculars and difficult even for my high-zoom lens to pick up.

But then something remarkable happened – they started to climb up a tree! A spotted cat in a tree is usually always going to be a leopard, I have never heard of cheetah climbing. As the first one leapt up there was a gasp from one of the guides in a nearby safari vehicle and everyone´s cameras started clicking!

If you´re struggling to spot him in this photo, imagine trying to see it without a 400mm zoom lens to help! Look slightly right of centre and you´ll see this….

What he was doing up there is anyone´s guess, how he climbed that far up a tree is bizarre!

As we watched we thought the second cheetah was still on the ground. It was only afterwards when I was going through my photos that we found this…

The head at the bottom of the photo is far too far away from the tail at the top – both cheetah had climbed up the tree! What an incredible thing to have witnessed.

We were beginning to think our trip to Etosha was charmed – lions in the middle of the afternoon and cheetah climbing trees!

The rest of the day was full of everything from rhino to birds of prey to red hartebeest….

It had been cool for most of the morning but as the day grew on it was heating up and we were tired. So we headed to our new campsite in the centre of the Park for an early night.

The next day was sweltering. We were not the only ones keen to stay out of the heat and the animal spotting was much less exciting. But that evening we walked up to the watering hole at the campsite which was supposed to be one of the best in the Park. You can´t roam outside the campsites between dusk and dawn in any national park so a watering hole at the campsite is your only chance to see noctural animals.

We had had a quiet day and our expectations were low. It was also very, very hot and the walk from our pitch to the watering hole was long enough for me to want to cut down on what I had to carry. So like a fool I decided to only take my IPhone with me and leave my camera and big lens in Henry.

Big mistake!

When we first arrived there were lots of antelope, giraffe and a rhino. My poor IPhone had no chance of doing the scene justice

If that wasn´t bad enough, a few minutes later a hyena appeared and stayed for a few minutes for a drink. And then, to my combined excitement and horror, a leopard!

You almost never see a leopard, they are the most elusive of the big cats. We spend days searching for them and rarely find one – yet here it was right in front of us, drinking calmly from the watering hole….and I had no camera!

I took plenty of photos with my IPhone but not a single one shows any sign of a leopard – just a small smudge on the far side of the water.

But I saw it, that was enough. At least that´s what I keep telling myself!

We stayed in Etosha for five days in total, camping at each of the three campsites through the Park. They were amongst the best five days of our travelling so far.

The vistas are spectacular

Huge skies, rolling plains and picturesque acacias and baobabs dotted around

Henry was dwarfed by the scale of the Etosha salt pans that lend the national park its name

The rain had turned the dirt roads into mud baths caking him in mud. He wasn´t looking quite as shiny as he had been the week before!

We saw far too many animals to list them all but giraffe are always very photogenic. Whether watching each other´s backs….

Drinking in their ungainly way

Or just standing around doing their thing.

We even had another first on this trip – a giraffe sitting down

Zebra, too, always make me smile. You can´t miss them – a day in Etosha isn´t complete without a few zebra

When a herd arrives at a watering hole the queuing system for getting a drink is sometimes very organised

But more often than not it turns into a scrum!

We were thrilled to find another cheetah, this time having a drink from a puddle right by the road

And there was plenty of other things to keep us occupied in between cat sightings! From the very small…

To the very large!

From birds of all shapes and sizes

Including the very strange looking Secretary Bird

And more Oryx, Sprinkbok, Giraffe, Kudu and Red Hartebeest than you could shake a stick at.

Surprisingly early in the wet season we came across a lovely Red Hartebeest family with two young fouls being looked after by Mum

There was a black-backed jackal sunning himself by some tree trunks

And these two beautiful birds of prey in the trees amongst the spider webs

An accidental visitor into a photo of a Kudu made for a surprisingly interesting shot

And vultures and eagles looked striking silouetted in the tree tops

Most of the watering holes were spectactular and we struggled to tear ourselves away

With everyone enjoying the cool water

At one watering hole we watched as a group of vultures swooped in for a drink. All very peaceful at first with everyone lining up to drink

But then a trouble-maker arrived

And stalked towards the pack

Showing off and trying to get attention

The Ostrich knew what was coming and weren´t too happy

As a fight inevitably broke out….

The Springbok was not impressed!

The wildlife at the campsites themselves was not quite as large as that outside in the Park but was at times very sweet.

This gheko was caught in the glare of my flash and looked much more evil than he actually was!

And this ground squirrel was hanging around as we prepared dinner one night and shyly picked up a stray peice of onion looking at us as he held it carefully in his paws. I smiled at him and told he was welcome, at which he scampered off with his prize

At our second campsite we parked under a tree where a nest of Sociable Weavers had made their home and surrounded us every evening waiting to see what morsels were dropped

And everywhere we saw beautiful, intricate spider webs glistening in the sun or the rain on the trees

It is absolutely forbidden to get out of your vehicle anywhere for any reason inside Etosha – for your own safety and to preserve the wilderness of the Park. But when our own little wild animal got caught by a strong gust of wind through the open windows, and was yanked out of his seat belt and through the driver´s window onto the ground next to us, James didn´t hesitate. He threw open his door without a thought, jumped out and grabbed Teddy before he could blow any further away. Rules are rules, but Teddy has been through far too much with us, he was never going to get left behind….

We found another pride of sleeping lions

Rather less exciting than our two brothers a couple of days before, but still a rush to see these magnificant animals

And were able to add a bathing Spotted Hyena to our list of unusual day time sites

Lions, Leopard, Cheetah, Hyena. These are the highlights of our trip.

But the joy of Etosha is not just the rush of seeing any one animal in particular but rather of spending a few days surrounded by the beauty of nature everywhere you go.

Thousands upon thousands of awesome creatures, doing their own thing, unusually safe and secure from the dangers of poaching, land degradation and habitat distruction

Peaceful, undemanding, beautiful. And reminding you of the joy of just being….