We woke up quite early although a certain sleepy somebody was reluctant to get out of bed! Warm showers, breakfast , lunch made and tent packed, we set off to explore the park. It’s a strange idea being able to drive yourself around a national park where wild elephants and lions roam! Most of the gravel roads were in reasonably good nick and the signposting was mostly pretty good.
We had a look at the Etosha lookout, which is a spit of land with a road down it that heads out onto the Etosha Pan. Again, we were surrounded by nothingness. Ali then drove round some of the park for a while, and Jamie took photographs. We stopped at quite a few different waterholes to look for animals. Because it is the dry season, some of them were empty, but that means that the animals congregate around the ones that still have water.
We saw an elephant bathing in mud, who then proceeded to have a run-in with a couple of lions. The female lion got into a fight with another male lion too, which was interesting to watch. So vicious! We stopped and had lunch in a lay-by. There were also toilet stops dotted around the park, and these were the only places that you’re allowed to get out of the car. Nobody wants to be lion food!
After driving around for a lot of the day, and seeing huge numbers of zebra, wildebeest and various antelopes, we went back to the camp at Halali. It was really warm so we decided to have a dip in the pool before heading up to the waterhole with a beer. It is an excellently organised camp that allows animal viewing from a shady spot, with a beer! Even if it is a cold fizzy beer, not a proper one!
We made dinner on the gas ring and braai pit. Burgers and sautéed potatoes, mmm. When we had tidied up, we headed back up to the waterhole to watch the animals by night. At first, there was nothing there, but as we watched, three lions came to drink. After a while, their behaviour changed. We realised that there were hyena approaching. We’ve never seen hyena before. They really do cackle! There was a bit of a showdown with the lions and they lions left. We stayed to watch and hear the hyena for a little while, before heading to bed, eyelids drooping.
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