Etosha Game Drives and journey home

Friday morning we hoped to head out early with Charles for a game drive in Etosha. There was a miscommunication with the golf cart driver, and we ran about 30 minutes late. We entered the park around 7 am. It was cool but expected to hit highs in the 90s. We wore shorts but covered up with blankets for the first part. 

We first saw a large herd of Zebras, which Charles said have the best eyesight of all the mammals. Their skin is black and white all the way through - so that if you skin one, you will see the stripes on both sides. Nick was skeptical of this. We saw some male kudu walking. They are quite large and cause trouble on roads at night. We saw a completely black zebra in a herd of striped ones, an anomaly found only in Etosha. We saw a huge tawny eagle and a yellow billed hornbill.  

We then spotted a large male Lion walking towards us heading for a waterhole. Charles said he had recently eaten a big meal. We watched him cross our path then followed him to the waterhole. All the wildebeest and other animals at the waterhole backed off and watched from a respectful distance. The lion walked around the water, testing it for the cleanest area to drink from. He took a few sips and laid down to digest. It was very fascinating, although we weren’t as close to him as we had been to other lions. 

We saw a group of spotted hyenas crossing the road. Charles said they also had recently eaten. There were tons of zebra and wildebeest, sometimes grazing together. Charles said the zebra eat the top of a certain type of grass, and the wildebeest eat the bottom. In the zebra herds there is one dominant male and loads of females. Sometimes another male can come and kidnap some females and start a new herd. 

We joined a few safari trucks and saw two cheetahs under tree. At first it was hard to see without binoculars, but we moved to another vantage point, and I could see clearly. It was my first ever cheetah sighting. Charles said they were probably brothers. We then saw some Banded mongoose. They look cute till you look at their faces. Next we came upon some Greater kudu; they are bigger but shy. 

We turned into a water hole and there were several Hyena and jackals feeding on giraffe leg. It was intense watching them tear pieces off. A few vultures stood by patiently waiting. The rest of the giraffe was behind some tall reeds in the water, thankfully obscured from our view. But we could smell the pungent scent of the kill. A couple hyenas were tugging and tearing at the giraffe in the water. Mostly they slipped on the mud. The jackals tried to get a taste of the leg but the much bigger hyenas mostly nipped at them and kept them at bay. We watched this fascinating scene for a long time before moving on so another truck could take our prime viewing position. 

We next saw a pair of Damara dyk dyk - the mini antelope. At another waterhole we saw male kudu, impala and zebra. I got some good photos of the animals and their reflections in the water. We made a pit stop and bought a map and some trinkets. Back on the road we came to a small waterhole where a Female kudu and young giraffe were drinking. I find it interesting to watch the giraffes spread their front legs and lower their heads to drink. We returned to the waterhole where the lion had been resting and found a herd of over 50 zebra drinking. We saw a few giraffe on one side of the road, and then looked on the other side, and there was a large breeding herd (females and babies) of elephants walking in a line. We followed them for awhile, then parked and walked to a waterhole with a viewing stand. Soon the elephants appeared, splashing and spouting in the water. A big old matriarch brought up the rear, observing everything. It was a great ending to a wonderful game drive. 

We had lunch and Selma the waitress told us that lions had come to the camp waterhole right after we left. Back in our room, Nick rested while I watched wildlife out the back window. A large elephant frolicked in the waterhole and then walked past our room, spraying himself with sand from the termite mounds. A big group of of mongoose scurried under a tree. Before long it was time to go for our sundowner drive. This would take place within the reserve with a guide from the Fort. We were picked up on time in the golf cart and met Liberty the guide. He seemed to be a few years older than Charles and was excited to show us “Nature”.  Nick, Esther and I were the only guests in his open air safari truck. We headed out and for the first hour, we only saw birds: a beautiful green Swallowtail bee eater; a Gray go away bird; a Cape glossy starling; a Gray heron; some Battolier, a bird of prey; a pair of Corey Bustards who mate for life. Liberty kept talking about the many lions, leopards and rhinos they had, and we stared into the bush until our eyes crossed, but we never saw anything. At least the road was smooth, although he began driving faster and faster to the various waterholes, which was windy and sandy. Liberty periodically checked with his colleagues on the radio, and none of them were having any luck finding animals. Finally we turned a corner and saw three Warthogs digging for roots. They use an interesting technique where they go down on their “elbows” to dig. Or maybe I was just desperate that I found this interesting. The sunset was proving beautiful so we decided to stop for our gin and tonics and wines. He set up the table and snacks, started explaining the gin options to Nick, when suddenly the radio crackled “There are lions at the waterhole at the Fort.” We packed up the food and table forthwith and rushed back to the lodge. There were 2 lionesses and a male lion lying down near the water. It was hard to see them without binoculars. I did get a photo of a lioness and her reflection but overall it was a bust for me. They stayed there all through dinner (delicious ravioli for me) but never made any moves or sounds. Not sure what the program was. 

We went back to our rooms, packed and I slept fitfully. When we got to breakfast at 6 am, the lions were gone. We ate quickly; I bought a bracelet from the shop ($28); and we boarded our van for the 7-hour drive to the airport. We traveled mainly paved roads with alternating commercial (cement plants) and natural scenery, and the only drama was when I discovered that Nick forgot my water bottle. We made a couple pit stops where use of the bathroom cost 2 Namibian dollars, and one was in a large village consisting of a sea of tin shacks that seemed no bigger than the van in which we were riding. At one gas station, there was an ATM machine in the back of a van, with a man with a rifle guarding it. Forty minutes from Windhoek we turned onto a divided highway that Charles said was only 2 weeks old. It was heavenly. Liberty had described the roads in Etosha as offering an African massage, where every part of you from the top of your head to the tip of your toe is shaken. We wound through the busy streets of Windhoek and then turned onto the highway to the airport. Other than a couple of road closures near the airport, we made it in plenty of time for our flight to Johannesburg and then Chicago. We were able to wait in the comfortable Wilderness Safari lounge (free WiFi) until it was time to check in for our flight. 

Wednesday evening and driving to Etosha

 After our exciting rhino tracking day, we met Charles for a sundowner drive. We stopped at a beautiful rocky outcropping and got out to admire the layers of colorful stone. We drove to a scenic sandy expanse but it was too windy to stop for drinks. A lone ostrich was braving the sandstorm. Then we drove up a ridge where Charles set up a table and chairs on the side of the truck and we enjoyed wine, gin & tonics and snacks as well as good conversation. We returned to the lodge for our last dinner. The women had eggplant and the men had sirloin steak which was breaded. It was quite cold when we went to bed. They had again put hot water bottles under the covers. It was 50 degrees when we woke and the shower was not too hot. My last breakfast at Damara lodge was a cheese and mushroom omelette. We said goodbye to the friendly Donovan and the rest of the staff. 

We headed out onto a very bumpy road at 8 am. By 8:19, my exercise ring was closed. It did not bode well. Near the road we saw 4 giraffes standing still. Charles told us giraffes standing still is a tower of giraffes, and a group of giraffes moving is called a journey of giraffes. 

We stopped at the Petrified Forest. A young woman gave us a 20-minute tour. She stopped and showed us the Velvechia plant (that Charles calls a tree). It has 2 long leaves that get shredded by the wind. The center has a little stalk and seeds. It is not medicinal. It gets very old. There’s one in Swakopmund that is 1,500 years old. It is Namibia’s national plant or tree depending upon who you ask. The petrified forest is all laying down. There are some long trunk pieces and lots of other chunks. Iron sylica and manganese create different colors, and you can still see the tree rings. The trees were 300 years old when they died, and were crushed by ice and mud. We held a piece; it was very heavy. There were a group of women in colorful dresses dancing and singing as we left the site. Charles said their flat head scarf is specific to his people. 

We reached Khorixas via a paved road. It was very busy. There were several gas stations and Charles pulled up at one. A young woman pumped the gas. We calculated it cost $4.06 per gallon of diesel. We passed a lemon grove and saw signs for the City of Outjo, but did not stop. We entered the park at 1:09 pm. Charles took a few minutes filling out paperwork. The roads in the park were gravelly and bumpy. The officials won’t fix them because they say the rains will just mess them up again. I asked if corruption is involved and Charles said yes. He also said people will come to Etosha whether the roads are smooth or not. 

In the first few minutes we saw some springbok and giraffes. Everything was dry and brittle. There were big expanses of white sand dotted with small scrub. We stopped at a lodge called Okakuejo for lunch. There was a pool there that looked very refreshing. We had chicken wings and Esther had a salad. We were back on the bumpy road before 3. We had to cross the park before it closed at 6:40. We saw the white sandy Etosha pan which is 70 miles long and 8 miles wide. When it rains it fills with water. It is dry now but there is a mirage effect that looks like water. The name Etosha fittingly means big white place. 

We drove a long while over the bumps and didn’t see anything. At one point Charles remarked that the animals were sleeping. But just as I was getting discouraged and sick and tired of the road conditions, the show started. We saw numerous elephants including what Charles called white elephants as they had taken a bath in the white mud. We saw countless springbok and impala and tons of plains zebra and wildebeest. And giraffes. We saw more giraffes than I’ve seen in my whole life. We figured more than 200 in all sizes and colorations. Charles said the darkest ones are the older ones. We also saw the Corey Bustard, the world’s heaviest flying bird and the similar looking Secretary bird. It was simply amazing. We were running out of time so Charles started racing for the gate. Teeth jarring. Almost in sight of the gate and with 10 minutes to spare, we saw a cute little giraffe looking at us from the roadside. It was a fitting ending to what we called the giraffe convention. 

We drove a short distance to our lodge for the next two nights, the Fort. It has a Moroccan theme. A young woman poured warm water over our hands and banged a gong to greet us. Then she explained our registration, including that we had to pay for our lunch and drinks. I was tired but not too tired to object to this obvious error. It was straightened out by dinner time. Esther and I had cauliflower steak and Nick and Charles had pork, with a delicious baked Brie appetizer and chocolate cake and homemade ice cream for dessert. We were driven to our spacious air-conditioned rooms in a golf cart and arranged to meet for breakfast and a game drive at 6 am. I had some weird dreams due to the malaria medication but other than that a comfortable night. Looking forward to wearing shorts in the morning. 

Black Rhino in the Wild

 We got up early and Nick decided he needed a break from the bumpy roads. So after a 6:30 am breakfast, Charles, Esther and I set out. Just outside camp we saw a herd of 15 Hartmans Mountain Zebra galloping along. They looked like wild stallions in an old Western. Charles said they have a white belly and are endemic to Namibia. He kept exclaiming oh my so we knew this was special. 

A short time later we picked up Zuma the tracker from the Save the Rhino Trust and Sargent Sam from the police. They rode with us to try to find the black rhinos who are very difficult to spot in the wild. Within a few minutes, Zuma spotted a giraffe. It was far away in the distance on a hill. Then we found some elephants. Apparently these are more aggressive than the ones in the riverbed we saw yesterday. 

After a bit more driving, Zumba spotted a rhino. It was over a mile away. It looked like a speck of dust to me, but he was able to spot it with his naked eye. We drove closer and met up with another safari vehicle. Zuma led everyone but me up a steep rocky hill to get a closer look. Charles drove me around the side of the hill where we actually got closer to her than Zuma’s  group. I regretted not taking the binoculars but could get a pretty good look by enlarging my camera lens. We rejoined the group and Zuma described how this was Twende, a 9-year old female. He had recorded information about her in a small book. He said there are 6 rhinos he has recorded, but they know there are more than that but don’t make the number public. Twende was dehorned, and Zuma said they dehorn all the rhinos every five years to discourage poaching. Meanwhile, Sam sat with his rifle at the ready the whole time. We stopped and looked at some fresh rhino dung and tracks, but we didn’t see any more rhinos. 

We did see a kudo, some steenbock who were very well camouflaged, and an oryx. We dropped off Zuma and Sam and thanked them for sharing this experience and their knowledge with us. We returned in time for lunch and will meet Charles for sundowners later. 

Skeleton Coast and Damaraland

 On Tuesday we left Swakopmund bright and early and turned North towards the skeleton coast, named for its many shipwrecks. We passed a large salt factory - Charles said they make a lot of salt to ship to America to melt our snow. We saw some pipes that were going to a desalination plant, and then we saw the sprawling plant itself. The plant uses reverse osmosis to provide clean water for Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. We passed some Chinese satellite dishes that are allegedly monitoring Chinese satellites. We passed a German village with colorful houses with water tanks on each one. We stopped to view some lichen fields which are protected from vehicle and foot traffic. They feed on the fog from the sea. 

Next we came to the shipwreck Zeila. It was being sailed to India to sell for scrap, and the captain did not anchor it well enough in Wallis Bay. It drifted on the current and went aground here. We next stopped in the town of Henties Bay, described by Charles as a fisherman’s paradise. Charles picked up box lunches and we hit the ATM. I had trouble with the first one but the bank directed me to another one up the street and that one worked fine. 

We turned East and came to a desolate area where scenes from the movie Mad Max were filmed. There were mountains in the distance on both sides of the road. We were traveling on a nice paved road until construction forced us onto noisy, bumpy gravel. The ruts and bumps are jarring. My watch alternates between thinking I have fallen and congratulating me for closing my exercise ring. One day it thought I climbed 29 flights of stairs. Actual count may have been 4. Sometimes Charles recognizes he’s hit a particularly bad bump and asks if we’re ok. Usually he just rumbles on. Since we are putting in 6 to 7 hour drives between camps, it is challenging. 

We came to the area near Brandberg Mountain, Namibia’s highest peak. It is apparently the second largest monolith in the world behind Ayer’s Rock in Australia. Charles said it takes people 3 days to climb it. We stopped in the town of Uis for a pit stop. We saw the trailings from a tin mine. When the mine opened, men came from all over Namibia to work there. Twenty-nine friends came from the North. They had some meat that they cooked with the leaves from the Euphorbia plant. They didn’t know it was poisonous; 28 of them died. Only 1 who didn’t eat any survived. Their graves are all in a row in the town of Uis. We later saw examples of the Euphorbia bush - it is very spiky. Rhino and Springbok can eat it, but it’s extremely toxic to people. Getting the juice on your skin can burn you and getting it in your eyes can blind you. Locals won’t eat springbok if they think they’ve fed on the Euphorbia. 

We saw a cart with a family pulled by 3 donkeys. The landscape was changing to rocks and boulders and stony outcrops in the sand. We passed a colorful village called Soris Soris which means Sunny Sunny. We entered the semi-desert with more vegetation, and saw a flock of 10 ostriches. 

Our next stop was the Damaraland living history museum. We were greeted by a guide wearing a goatskin dress and taken on a tour. The first stop was the pharmacy where a young woman used the click language to explain various remedies made from tree leaves and bark. Then we saw where the men make tools. Next was the jewelry workshop where they make beads out of ostrich eggs and various seeds. We watched young men start a fire using a traditional tools and antelope dung. When the fire was blazing they danced and sang. Then we hit the craft shop and bought some bracelets and an oryx carving. It was a wonderful experience. 

We drove some more and came to Twyfelfontein, which means Doubtful Springs. A guide would take us to see etchings in the rocks made by the San people 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. Charles said it was not steep but I had trouble navigating the rocky path to the ticket booth, so I turned back and Nick  and Esther carried on. Charles found a guide who rode in the truck with us to an area to view some of the engravings. The footing was rough but I managed to make it to see two sets of the animals and paw prints depicted. The young guide explained that the pictures were used to educate the kids as well as provide information as to where game was for wandering tribes. He said that the giraffe was a sacred animal to the San people as they thought with its long neck it could reach to the heavens and pull down the rain. We drove back to wait for Nick and Esther who appeared in about 20 minutes time, describing the path as extremely steep and one obnoxious tourist who almost knocked Esther to the ground. 

Nick then told Charles that he wanted to go to the lodge and stop driving on the bumpy roads. It took all of us to convince him to first drive to see the elephants. Nick did ride up front with Charles where it is less bumpy. On our way we stopped at a village where Charles donated our leftovers from lunch. There were several adorable kids who came to greet us. Charles said that the village was created when the South Africans displaced an entire village in South Africa and moved the people here. We all want to find a way to help the people of this village. The kids told Charles the elephants headed for the dry riverbed.  

We drove awhile and then entered a riverbed. We came across a bull elephant trying to reach the leaves on a tall tree. First to our amazement he jumped to grab a branch, then he stood on his hind legs to grab another. Charles explained that the desert elephants are better conservationists than the savanna elephants. On the savanna, the elephants push over the trees, destroying them. The desert elephants just take a few branches, which they eat stem, leaves and all. We saw another male elephant above us on a hill and then a very old bull. We crossed to the other side and found some females with a small (4 month old) baby and an elephant sleeping against a large stone. Back across the river, we saw three more. For the viewings Charles popped the roof open and we could stand up and take photos unimpeded. After spending 45 minutes or so admiring these endangered animals, we headed for the lodge. We were greeted by singing staff, shown to our tent which is reminiscent of one of our camps in Botswana, e.g., no door on the bathroom, just a canvas screen that rolls down. 

In the evening we walked a long path to a boma dinner and had a delicious meal. We met some guests from France who were extremely nice. We took the long walk back and arranged for breakfast at 6:30 am for our 7 am drive to track black rhinos in the wild. The night was very cold and they had put hot water bottles in our bed. After such a long eventful day, I slept like a baby.