August 22 - Etosha National Park, Namibia

Living like turtles, we have everything we need on our back.. Our new Toyota has a fridge (which means cold beer/wine/pop daily) and two tents on the roof we pop up at night for sleeping. Our plan is to spend about 20 days driving and camping from Tsumeb down to Cape Town, meandering and moving sometimes every day, and sometimes every couple of days. We spent our first 3 nights and 4 days in Etosha National Park.

Our first day was all business before entering the park. We got our vehicle and spent the day stocking it with food, drink and any camping supplies not already provided (not many). Do you ever notice sometimes when you cross a border, although the distance from one country to the next (at that point) is only a couple of feet, the difference between the two staggering? We noticed an immediate change once we entered Namibia from Zambia. The towns are immaculate, there are almost no noticeable local “markets”, roads are paved, toilets are stocked with toilet paper (you will notice a recurring commentary on toilets from Janet) and there are actual road signs. And the supermarkets have a lot of the “stuff” we have be yearning for. With a nod to the undeniable German influence in Namibia, we bought good cheese, amazing bread, and sausage.

Entering the park was what we called a “speed safari” as we dashed towards our destination, Camp Halali before the gate closed at sunset. Seems our time in Africa is often defined by making it somewhere before the sun goes down. However, the speed safari was very eventful. We saw giraffe, elephant, countless zebra & Springbok before the ultimate prize of seeing a Cheetah and her two cubs come out on the road (in time enough for us to stop) and amble about for a while so we could take a good look at close range. We have since found out we were really lucky to have seen Cheetah, as generally only about 1 in 1,000 people do. And we made it to camp on time, just. The camping facilities here are unbelievable! Each camp site has good running water, bbq and fire pit and close proximity to immaculate toilets/showers (again with the toilet fixation) with hot water and usually a separate hut you can go to wash your dishes. We stayed two nights in Halali with a full day of game drive in between. It seems the action in Etosha happens mainly around the watering holes, some natural and some man-made. We also drove out on to the salt pans where you can see for miles and miles. Our prize for this day was to see a leopard lounging up in a tree not even 30 m. from the track. We sat for a long time watching her. And back at the camp (where we enjoyed some of our home cooked fare after eating out for 5 weeks) we wandered up to the watering hole they have fenced off and light up at night. Both nights we saw black rhinos and hyenas come to take a drink.

The concept of a self drive camping trip in Namibia was to some (including Janet) a bit daunting. BUT, we feel truly safe travelling around and note how the whole country seems to be geared towards people doing exactly what we are doing. There are large groups and small, a few families (not many) and for us, a good balance between nights we are with company, and nights we are on our own. The only negative we have noticed is the people are much less friendly here. I guess they are not really unfriendly, more completely indifferent and cold. The landscape blows your mind, endless, dry and really unique.

We were supposed to stay for 3 nights at Halai but decided to wing it and head to the other (fully booked) camping area closer to the park gate we were going to exit the following day. Camp Okaukuejo was incredible (and still fully booked) but we hung about for long enough to have burgers from the snack bar and a long swim in the pool. Their adjacent watering hole was even larger and much busier. Time to strategize how to spend the night. We came back at sunset (after a fairly uneventful game drive where we did finally see a giraffe drinking, one of the things on Ron’s wish list) and sent Ron in to Reception. The deal was, we knew they’d be unable to turn us away and send us back into the park after sunset. They were grumpy, didn’t believe Ron’s story (something about needing a jump and waiting for cables etc.) but gave us an overflow site. Whoo Hoo! The camping shower put put our home bathroom to shame with rain heads, pebble stone floors, raised bowl sinks and slate tile. I think the girls counted more than 10 rhino and 4 elephants at the watering hole that night.

Our exit from the park was no less eventful having realized we were never charged for or given a mandatory park permit. It’s not like you enter the park and they give you a full run down on what to do and how to go about getting it done, that would be too hospitable. But as usual, sometimes ignorance is bliss. We played dumb and sure enough, the woman at the gate raked Ron over the coals (fortunately he is tough…) but let him go without driving back to camp to buy the permit (N$80 pp per day or US$10) and accepted instead N$100 for her pocket. Now some of you may or may not know just how comfortable Janet is going against the rules, but she survived these two back to back episodes. And she may even be starting to realize the benefits often outweigh the fear factor.