After the past couple of days in Africa I was now really curious to see and meet the national wildlife: The wild animals and especially the Big 5 (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and the leopard) ….
We arrived around 3pm at one of the gates to the Etosha Nationalpark. We had therefore approx 3 hours to explore the park and drive to the different waterholes. And as soon as we got it we saw animal after animal …… Zebra, Antelopes, Kudu´s, Hyena ….. and a female lion hardly breathing and hiding in the bushes to get some shade. We got so excited!! I should maybe also mention that on this day we had to change seats again in the Jeep, now it was me sitting in the back row together with Frank again, Carla had to still sit next to the driver …. Frank and mine´s personal objective was to see the male lion …. and for one moment we both thought the mal lion was coming down the dry prairie on the right hand side with blowing mane ….. we said both stop at the same time but till the driver really stopped we had been too far …. and we saw then another hyena instead ….. so it will always be a secret if only in our wishes the lion appeared or if we had been right with our spot ….! Here are some impressions from the wildlife we saw up to that time:
Suddenly an single elephant walked along from a distance. Our driver guessed that he was on his way to the next waterhole a couple of kilometers away from us. So he drove towards that waterhole and put the car in a first raw position so that we could see him coming:
Really stunning and impressive!! The peace and silence when he walked …… it´s amazing to see these animals in the open nature! And nothing you could describe with words.
We had to make sure that on our way back we stop at a gate to pay the entrance for the day (300NAD for one car) and after that we started our way back. On that journey we stopped at two more waterholes and watched elephants taking a bath. We also saw many Giraffes having early dinner …..
After an very exciting afternoon we returned to our Lodge for that night just at the entrance to the park. The Etosha Village Lodge http://www.etosha-village.com/ …. After some confusion about which of the place from that Lodge our accommodation would be we drove up the hill and we could already see the entrance of the main building when our driver hit a pothole! Frank and I jump up our seats and smashed against the car roof ….. autsch!! We both felt dizzy for a moment and we knew now why the car roof was protected with a carpet. After check in we first of all walked down to the terrace which was perfectly located to see our first proper sundowner!! We ordered some drinks and enjoyed that stunning moment …..
The accommodation was ok, service not so great and the one and only where I really had only a single bed room. After a buffet dinner we went to bed early as we wanted to get out for our full day at the Etosha Nationalpark.At 6am reception called and told us that our jeep did have the next flat tire so it would all be a bit delayed. Well, what could we do? We had an extensive breakfast, Frank and I felt still a bit shaken from our knock with the car roof and by 7.30am everything was sorted so that we could get started. First waterholes had been nearly empty. It was already quite hot so maybe those of the animals who had already and successful hunt are hiding and sleeping somewhere in the shade. When we got around the corner towards the third waterhole we saw lot´s of jeeps, cars and busses …. so something must go on there! Unfortunately we couldn´t see much ….
Lucky us!! … After some time we saw the famous target ….
She obviously was succesful …. we watched her walking back to the bushes …. just AMAZING!
We then decided to drive down the Rhino Drive, hoping to see the third animal of the Big 5! And lucky us … here it is:
For a couple of hours there was not much going on as it was really hot and most of the animals were hiding. After an lunch break at a kiosk we drove to an specific famous waterhole for elephants and watch them from a hut:
Later in the day more animals did come then back to the waterholes and we saw another rhino eating the bushes and lot´s of giraffes!! Her is my favourite picture:
Must be yummy for her 🙂
Here are some information about the Etosha Nationalpark itself and useful tipps : https://www.etoshanationalpark.org/
At approx 3pm we left the park at the other side of it to get to our next lodge – the Mokuti Lodge https://www.mokutietoshalodge.com/!
What a great surprise!!! Such a beautiful lodge, friendly people, a huge bar, an nice swimming pool, great food and so much space!! I highly recommend that lodge!! I did my laundry there and they even got them done in a couple of hours. Right after dinner I had it alls back.
I ordered an Gin Tonic and enjoyed some time at the pool and in my thoughts I let the great impressions from the Etosha Park pass by …..
With this I will leave you for now …. see you soon again on that page!
Ina T.
Ina Thinking 