Etosha National Park, 7-9 August 08

We spent two days doing our own game driving in the truck through Etosha National Park. The truck is OK for game driving as its really open and the beach is a great viewing point but stopping was a problem. If we saw something, we’d press the buzzer in much the same way we do it we need a loo stop or whatever but people would press it without telling anyone else and the brakes would be on, the truck would stop in a hurry and everyone who didn’t know we were stopping would just pile forward. There were some injuries, bruises and lots of cursing from that but all good fun and no cameras got broken.

Etosha means the “Great White Place of Dry Water” and the park is 20,000 sq km of flat flat flat land surrounding a vast greenish coloured pan that is 3,175 sq km alone.



There are a number of camps in the park and we stayed in the camp ground at Namutoni (which is a posh camp but way over priced) which used to be a German fort.

We saw many animals in the park (both dead (see leopard kill below) and alive) but to be honest, it didn’t beat the Serengeti or the Ngorogoro Crater for scenery, animals or sheer wow factor.



These are not palms but a very obnoxious prickly bush that starts off looking like a flax bush but, if it grows long enough, ends up looking like an exotic palm tree and very out of place in this landscape.



I’ve never seen Oryx (or Gemsbok) before so was stoked that there were so many throughout Etosha. Their horns can reach 1.8m and you wouldn’t want to get too close to them





and we’d never seen a Topi before either



Zebra are always good value to watch and their bitchiness clearly transcends countries - don't let the fact they're happily drinking side by side with their ears pricked fool you. The next minute they were kicking the crap out of each other and trying to take chunks of the others hide.



We also came across a very grumpy bull elephant who was in musk and eating some incredibly obnoxious looking bushes on the side of the road. We were way way too close and he mock (thankfully) charged the truck which made us all a bit nervous – he could have easily reached in with his trunk and grabbed whatever he wanted from inside



Ah, um, yes. The inevitable photo when there are zebra around



and we decided that this was a great example of an acacia tree



Africa has a huge number of really knarly bushes that create havoc, sticking themselves to your shoes, catching you in hooks, ripping fingers on knife-like edges, thorns that stick through shoes and into your feet or through tent bases and ground sheets before puncturing the bed mat (we’re just about to fix hole number 7 I think) and seeds that imbed themselves into your clothing then separate, leaving you itchy and scratchy for days.



I'm not sure why as I do look where I'm going but I seem to be the one that comes out from the bush after a loo stop with bits of plant matter all over me and there has been a few occasions where it’s a group effort to pick everything off me. Some of these burrs in my laces just won't come out and the ones in my pants are still giving me grief.



On the second day of driving in Etosha we had to absolutely nail it to get out of the park before it closed as we’d spent too long mucking round looking at animals and it was after dark when we found somewhere to set up camp.

It was an old quarry so not the most pleasant spot as there were loads of these knarly spikey plants I mentioned plus very rocky ground but no one is fussy anymore and as long as there is food and a deck of cards we’re happy!