pan

 the etosha pan. etosha national park is where we are headed to next. if you've been following along here (thank you!), my husband chuck and i have so far been in africa for nearing two weeks now. our journey has taken us from windhoek, to the dunes at sossusvlei, to the skeleton coast, to the mountains of southern damaraland and the plateaus of the north.
now it's 19 may and we have left grootberg, taking the direction northeast to kamanjab. we have 380 kilometers to go to our next camp. driving on these gravel roads is slow going if your inexperienced like us, but being green has its benefits, we saw baboons, sable, hornbills and warthogs along the way!
we stopped in kamanjab for petrol and money. i love checking out these small towns, always wondering how it would be to live there. in kamanjab the shop where we paid for gas, bought water and found an atm machine, also had an amazing assortment of goods. i found a pair of desert boots, made from kudu and six or seven small skeins of yarn! i bought the boots, but left the yarn on the shelf. i wonder what will become of it...

our welcome to etosha!

one last rest stop before camp (there are very nice rest stops here)

this is us, anderssons camp. it's located right before the etosha gate, in it's own reserve, ongava. we learned ongava has everything etosha has, game wise, except the elephant. when we went through the gate, signing in, reading the rules : stay in your car until you reach camp! chuck asked me which animal i thought we'd see first? i answered : i hope the giraffe! i love giraffe and in some ways it doesn't feel like i'm really in africa until we see one. 

only minutes later look who we saw! this lovely male was there to greet us (top photo) before turning to disappear in the bush (it gave me tears)  :)

our tent at anderssons with electric fence, the deck faces the bush. we also have an emergency air horn, i wonder does anyone ever use those?

a note left for us

thank you!

after our warm reception from emile and patience (with cold juice and wet cloths) we sat in the comfortable lounge area to watch the resident water hole, since it was already too late to enter etosha national park.

and what a busy waterhole it was! we saw these guinea fowl enjoying themselves when out of the bush came zebra, making the nervous birds move on

the zebra had a drink and also watched the guinea fowl

who alertly watched them back. hee hee

a southern yellow-billed hornbill flew in

and then pumba arrived, (wart hog) , he took a sip

lay down in the mud

rolled around until thoroughly satisfied

and then tip toed away

a wildebeest emerged from the forest, but was too shy to stay

springbok came and went

hello waterbuck

shadows grew long, night sounds of the bush began to fill the air

we didn't return to our room (tent), choosing instead to stay on the veranda and have dinner, staying outdoors, watching the comings and goings of the waterhole and now drinking wine, thank you patience! (she said wine was included with our meal, i said oh boy! she giggled. hee hee)

next morning, we are at the gate when it opens at 6 am.

many people drive themselves around this reserve, which it was made for. there are a few rules to follow, all practical sense. this park is huge, which way to go though? our guide book had all the waterholes listed, so after entering the first gate and then buying our permit at okaukuejo, we headed for the closest waterhole, nebrowni. then gemsbokvlakte and olifantsbad. things were quiet, we saw a few new birds and many springbok

this is a korhaan, i think ruppell's

and a black- faced impala

and then at the salvadora waterhole something new. we found lions.

 terribly exciting. we saw that one of this pride was hiding in the grass, watching a herd of zebra in the distance

slowly we followed.

can you see the simba hiding in the grass?

the zebra and springbok made their way to the waterhole, unaware of the lurking lioness

they came by the dozens, by the hundreds

our anticipation was mounting. by this time there were at least five other trucks watching the drama that was about to unfold (we hoped!)

there she is, low and stealth. watching her hunting posture was an incredible thing. i desperately wanted to climb out of the car, or at least get on the roof, to see and photograph better. then suddenly, the tension broke and the lion bounded out of the grass!

and oh my gosh it went from almost complete silence (except for the whinny of the zebra) to mayhem

hooves were pounding, dirt was flying

she missed

and she was so close.
our truck was in the way of a photo showing just how close she was. chuck took a brilliant picture, him being on the right side of the window. we immediately felt sorry for her. this effort had taken everything out of her

afterwards, she began walking towards the waterhole

and then towards us. i felt a sudden urge to roll my window, she was after all, still hungry

but she changed course

and headed back to her pride

meanwhile the herds continued to stampede away

stopping only until they were comfortable again. here is how they'll stay now, standing like statues, watching the lions

one of her sisters came to meet her

and hopefully she wasn't too disappointed

there will be no lunch for this pride today

i hope you do better tomorrow simba

whew, that was exciting

on to the next waterhole...etosha means 'place of mirages' , 'land of dry water' or the 'great white place'
the silvery white sand plays tricks on your eyes, and mirages blur the horizon. this is a good time to be at etosha as the dry season is upon it now, causing huge herds of animals to congregate at the many waterholes here

sometimes though, you don't have to get to a waterhole to see anything, sometimes something runs right out in front of you!  here is a mama warthog and her babies

okay! see you! take care pumbas!

oh! ha ha, look who's next, it's papa. isn't he grand?

he is not at all shy like his wife and children, in fact he posed, how do you like this side?

or this? thank you mister warthog

graceful springbok in the road

lovely ostrich

in the road too

even the zebra, see this beauty out our rear window?

a place to stay at the west end of the park

we saw this black-backed jackal hunting

oryx or gemsbok

ostrich and acacia tree

and a dear little bat-eared fox in the fading light. time to leave the park, as it closes at dusk. what a day

home away from home

 and it's sunrise again and we're back at the gate (lions calling through the night)

we made a mistake in planning, we have two days for etosha, today we're leaving for our last camp, okonjima. making notes for next time, if you come, you must have at least three days at each end, the west and the east. that is what i think, there is too much to see here, so much to discover

handcrafts at the gate

good morning mr. jackal (mr. black-backed jackal)

southern pale chanting goshawk out for morning sun

and at okondeka waterhole, we found a new pride of lions, this time with impressive males

we watched the same scene as yesterday, the females looked to be hunting. we watched them creep closer and closer to a lone wildebeest. above, hundreds of birds flew in a frenzy. i think they were trying to warn the beast

but it was not to be. the lionesses lay there, the wildebeest practically offered himself to them (they are not the smartest of african animals) we watched and waited, that never gets tiring, but we had to be going

a secretary bird

and at the last waterhole, ombika, on our way out, we saw

giraffe!! hi!

hee hee, they always make my heart swell. thank you so much for coming along, it is a true pleasure sharing this with you. next okonjima and more nature drama (starts with an L, has spots and a tail) can you guess?
xxx lori