Southern Africa - Day 15 (Part 2)

Monday, 27 January 2020 - Namibia 

Driving again and I saw it. A beautiful leopard relaxing under a tree, just beside the road. No one else saw it so I shouted “leopard” but Clever just smiled thinking I was trying to fool him. Then I had to tell him seriously that I saw a leopard and we had to reverse the truck to the spot the leopard was, and there he was! The most elusive of The Big 5 and he was just there, right in front of us. He is just beautiful. 

Then we drove some more and tried to look for elephants. I noticed broken branches and elephant dung along the road so I gathered they must be near. About an hour later we saw them!!! A herd of them. Another beautiful creation. I proudly announced that my elephant God came through after all and that is why I continue to believe in God sans evidence. 

But I digress in my excitement. The elephants in Etosha are also known as ‘ghost elephants’ or ‘white elephants’ because when they play or bathe in the mud and the mud dries off, they become a whitish hue. This is due to the salt in the water and in the mud from the Etosha Pan.

Then we stopped at a small town called Halali which used to be a place for hunters to stay in those days. Here we had lunch and relaxed for a bit. I bought some souveniers - things here are really really expensive but I don’t think I’ll be coming back to Namibia so what the hell.

At about 3 p.m. we started making our way back to our hotel. We saw many giraffes along the way, springboks, impalas, oryx, jackals and birds. At about 5 p.m. we saw a lonely rhino! It is a black rhino. The black rhino has a hooked lip, and one horn is shorter than the other. Its young walks behind the mother. It is smaller than the white rhino but more aggressive. The white rhino has normal lips, both horns are almost the same length, and its young walks in front of the mother.

And there you have it! The Big 4 in one day! We were indeed very very lucky. Ok yes, sometimes luck really is on my side. When we got to the hotel I quickly washed some clothes and washed my hair, then off to celebrate with beers and dinner. They had fish for dinner so I overate as usual 🙄. Then to the waterhole but nothing more to see, so to bed with all the creepy crawlies 😱.