Southern Africa - Day 14

Sunday, 26 January 2020 - Namibia

Breakfast at 7 am, and then we had to head out to Etosha National Park. It is about 23,000 square km, and some parts are private game reserves because the area was too big to monitor and there was a serious problem with poachers, especially in 2017 when there were many Chinese poaching rhinos for their horns 😡.

The Park is full of mupane woodlands which gives us the mupane worms, which I have yet to try. Then we just drove around the Park to look for animals. We saw zebras (the plains or land zebras - their stripes do not reach all the way down their legs, and they have stripes on their bellies whereas the mountain zebras have stripes all the way down their legs and white bellies). We also saw oryx, ground squirrels, giraffes, ostriches (some bushmen use their bones to make weapons, it is really strong apparently) and red hartebeest (it’s name comes from its horns which are reddish and the shape from the front view is like a heart. How sad that I ate it 😅).

Also the Secretarybird (what a name!) which is a bird of prey. It has strong legs that it uses to catch snakes, rats, mice and grasshoppers. Then more zebras together with gnus or wildebeests. These 2 often move together for their own protection. The gnus are good with smells; the zebras are good with eyesight so they make a good team. Sometimes they walk in one long single line, and the lions think that they are 1 big animal and don’t attack them 😁.

Then plenty of springboks! Springboks everywhere! Both the male and female springbok have horns, the only difference is that the males’ are thicker than the females’. The springbok, eland, oryx and red hartebeest are animals where both the males and females have horns. The rest only the males have horns. 

Then a bird named the Kori Bustard (😂) which can grow up to 17 kg and is the biggest bird in Africa that can fly. We also saw black faced impalas; these can only be found in Etosha. It is known locally as the MacDonald’s of the lions because the colour of their bums are shaped like an ‘M’ so they are the fast food for the lions 😂.

Then we saw 2 White-headed Vultures feeding on something with a horn (definitely need to buy a binoculars and bring it with me when I go travelling). These vultures are the biggest kind in Africa; they have a bald white head and they are scavengers.

Then we checked into the hotel which is a government owned hotel inside the Park itself. A short rest - I took the opportunity to wash all my clothes and dry it in the sun outside. I also made several trips to the waterhole a short distance away from my room and saw all the usual suspects - zebras, springboks, oryx. At about 4 p.m. we ventured out again to try and see some more animals. Apart from the usual already mentioned here, we saw a pride of lions sleeping lazily under some bushes! ❤️. One of them had a collar and Clever says it’s a tracking device for research purposes. 

We stopped at a natural spring and thus a natural waterhole, the water here is slightly salty and good for the animals. There is a huge salt pan here known as the Etosha Pan, which is about 350 km from one end to the other (about 4,730 square km). It is the breeding ground for flamingoes (the same ones we saw in Walvis Bay). In fact, ‘Etosha’ literally means ‘The Great White Place’. Some say the pan used to be a salt water lake a long time ago.

Because of the Etosha Pan, most springs and underground water sources are slightly salty. In fact, these past few days I’ve been drinking slightly salty water. It doesn’t taste all that good but at least it’s free 😁. The lovely Silvia told me it’s safe and I trust her. However at dinner I overheard the waitress saying that the water here is not safe to drink. I asked Clever about it and he said it is safe, it is from a bore hole but it’s “hard water” meaning a bit salty. He says it depends on the individual tummy whether they can take it. So far, so good.

I’m happy to announce that when I came back after the drive all my clothes have dried in the hot African sun. How lovely. After dinner some of us went to the waterhole again and joy of joy! There was a rhino drinking there!!! ❤️he was a bit too far away but at least I saw him and now I am happy. 

At night all the creepy crawlies came out - moths of varying sizes, mosquitoes, beetles, and various other insects I’d rather not know. After showering I went to the water hole one last time to try my luck and joy of joy!! 2 rhinos walking to the water, drinking and walking away. Too bad I don’t have a good camera with me but I’m happy at least rhinos, lions and zebras done.

No sign of an elephant. As elusive as the Elephant God I pray to 🙄.

I came back to find a gecko in my room, and a big moth not only in the room but inside the mosquito netting on my bed!!! How they managed this I have no idea. Mosquitoes everywhere and I put insect repellent on just in case. Of all creatures on Earth, I simply loathe the six legged of all kinds, yuck.