Day 28 – Are there any animals in this park?

Etosha Wildlife Park to Ongwediva, Afrika Stadt Haus

We started the day with a return visit to the Halali waterhole – but of course there was nothing to be seen! So, it was off to drive around Etosha looking for wild animals.

Etosha is based around a number of waterholes, all accessed via dirt roads. We headed to the western half of the park (we had quickly driven through the eastern half last night to get to our campsite). We stopped at lots of waterholes, negotiating potholes, flooded roads, and overhanging trees in our search - but we saw nothing but birds and butterflies. As the day progressed, disappointment started creeping in, we were expecting something better than this, especially after what we saw when we first entered the park!

We reached the westernmost camp after about 3 hours of driving, without seeing anything of note. As there had been a lot of rain, we guessed that there was no need for animals to hang around waterholes, so we decided to head back across the park to the eastern gate, and check out the waterholes closer to the main road on our way out of the park.

So of course, once we decided to leave, we started seeing animals! First it was one giraffe – then two, then larger groups – by the road, on the road, running across the road. There were large groups of antelopes and zebras, and smaller numbers of wildebeest. K managed to spot a jackal moving through the grass, it didn’t seem to care that we were there, but it didn’t come very close. There was a huge flock of vultures feeding on a zebra carcass, with a few hyenas hovering about the pack.

We reached the eastern camp (Namutoni) for lunch, where we decided to take the north park exit, as that would give us a head start on our drive to Opuwo, our next Namibian “must see”. It was on this north road that we finally managed to see two elephants – pretty much canceling any lingering disappointment we had been feeling!

We exited the north gate, and encountered a very large patch of water over the road. We didn’t want to turn back, so we tried to power through – and got stuck! It was a long way back to the camp gate, and we were on the seldom used north road – so we were a little worried that we’d be stuck there for some time (actually K was very worried)  – but we eventually managed to escape the quagmire – disaster averted!

As night started to fall, we hadn’t found any camping grounds, so we stopped at a hotel and asked to stay over in their car park – they said yes, but we had to pay for a room, so we took the cheapest room possible (a single room with shared bath), and spent the rest of the evening taking advantage of the hotel’s lounge, TV and restaurant!