10.08.19 – After a game fuelled menu at Joe’s Beer House last night and my now standard Jameson’s Irish coffee to keep the night chill away we leave Windhoek @ 7.30 after 6.30am alarm. As we drive on either side of the road there are termite hills everywhere like insect temples on a vast red earth dusty plain. It’s a 450km drive to Etosha National Park which contains a network of waterholes interspersed between bush, grassy scrublands and the white hot salt pans spread over 20,000 sq km.
Our faithful Lonely Planet guide describes the Park as “simply one of the best places on the planet for wildlife viewing”. The daily grind of early mornings packing up tents and camp is a shock to the system so catching up on our sleep on the road is essential. As ever we break the journey with a stop at a supermarket for lunch and supplies. It’s our cook group’s turn this evening and we’re planning a Thai veg curry with chicken and lemon rice – with a budget of on $1.50 per person we’re keeping our fingers crossed that our budget of 300 Nambian dollars will stretch to what we want and more importantly that the supermarket has it at a price we can afford. Compromises have to be made but the dynamics of our cook group mean that we don’t fall out over decisions taken.
We drive to Etosha Game Park for a 3.5hr game drive in our truck!! This is very exciting as we can snack whilst we watch game and more importantly we tower over every other vehicle in the park affording us with a perfect vantage platform from which to spot game. It’s at least 34 degrees outside the landscape is barren and the ground white hot. We’re not disappointed by the game drive spotting: Lions, Spingbok, Impalas, Elephants, Clip Spingers, Giraffes, Ostriches, Oryx, Zebras, White Rhino, Kori Bustard and Honey Badgers. Eldorado CampsiteWe go to sleep to the sound of lions roaring and hear them throughout the night. Scared but secretly thrilled to have the opportunity to sleep in the presence of the King of the Jungle.
The following morning we leave at 7.30am for a game drive and see Jackals, Zebras, Black Rhino, Honey Badgers that are just so cute, Giraffes, Oryx, Springbok, Mongoose, Kudu, Hyena, Ostriches, Greater Kudu, Wilde Beest, Elephants. We stop for lunch at Halali Resort in the park and take the opportunity to use the pool which is beautifully cooling. We drive out to the Salt pans which are stretched endlessly over the horizon. We take a group pic using our bodies to spell our AFRICA. We choose A as the oldest in the group we’re easily the least flexible. Etosha is vast and we return to camp at Eldorado via a water hole thrilled at the variety of game seen.
Travelling renders you speechless then transforms you into a story teller 