It is the rainy season for Etosha and most of Northern Namibia so the park was very green, with small pools of water everywhere. This, however, meant that we would have to look harder for the animals as they would no longer need to congregate around the waterholes. Despite this we had some awesome sightings.
At the Halali waterhole (a waterhole just outside the camp that can be walked to) one evening, as the sun was setting, two Black Rhinos emerged from the thick bush to come drink. It was a brilliant sighting. They were unaware that we were there and we were enjoying the spectacle free of the car. They drank for a bit and then proceeded to play fight, chasing each other around the waterhole and mock charging. There was something strange about the male rhino and we just could not out our finger on it, but, he looked different for some reason. Then we discovered that he was missing both his ears. Poor bugger, now he had poor eye sight and hearing.
Later that evening while enjoying another of Ange's culinary delights - Spaghetti Carbonara (we don't mess around with two minute noodles) - we were rather surprised when two Honey Badgers, completly oblivious of us, promptly turned over our bin to look for treats. I half-heartly tried to chase them away. Half-hearted for two reasons; one they are a pretty cool spot even if they are rummaging through your bin and two I was a little scared of them. These are the same no-fear creatures that take on Lions and I am by far an easier match than a Lion. So i left them to lick the empty bacon packet.
On the second day at Halali we saw a few more rhinos, both white and black. It was on the aptly named Rhino Drive, that we came apon 5 white rhinos and they confirmed my suspicions about not being the brightest crayons in the box, as they stood staring at us confused, coming closer only to suddenly retreat. when we finally passed them they started to jog next to us, and as we sped up, their jog turned into a full on gallop. It was remenicent of the horses that ran next to the cyclists in the Tour De France, except, they were Rhinos, not horses, we were in a car, not on a bicycle, and we were in Namibia, not France. Despite those differences, it was exactly the same. Very very cool indeed.
On our drive to Namutoni, a camp in the east where we planned to spend two nights, we saw two female lions cross the road in front of us and then disappear into the thick grass. It was during this drive that we got a good view of the pan and it was amazing. With all the rain it had filled up and in the distance was a pink mirage of flamingoes. There must have been thousands of them. towards the east the bush cleared up a bit and we were left scanning over large grassy plains. There were endless herds of springbok, intersperced with wildebeest, zebra, black faced impala and the occasional giraffe. This scene epitomises Etosha for me.
At Namutoni we again enjoyed some good sightings. One morning we were lucky enough to come across 5 lions, who also decided to cross the road in front of us. But the highlight for me was seeing a female cheetah and her cub feeding on a sprinbok they had taken down earlier on in the day. The cub was about 8 months old (or so we overheard a guide telling the 30 camera-clicking japanese tourists in the truck nearby) and although they both had really full stomachs they continued to deplete the sprinbok in an attempt to finish it off before the Hyenas got there. We stayed there for the better part of three hours and loved watching the interaction between the Cheetahs and the jackals that were attempting, unsuccesfully, to get a few scraps.
Etosha was amazing and it was so good to be in the bush again.
Sounds amazing guys! :)
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