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Published: August 8th 2007
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Bachelor Zebra
Zebra we saw in Etosha. I never thought I would get tired of seeing Zebra, but these guys are everywhere! Etosha National Park! WOW!!!!
Talk about wild animals!!! We were in Etosha yesterday and the day before and we saw so many aminals!!! I was going to down load all of the pictures that we took, but as I am a little travel weary, I forgot my camera back in the hotel- I will have to post those at the next available internet cafe- SORRY.
Okay, so as we entered Etosha the very first animals we saw were Warthogs- Go Pumba!!! Then it was Ostricha and Springbok! WOW! There is an over population of Springbok! I think the Lions need to eat more often, I dont think they could power through a good percent of the population of Springbok if they wanted to.
As we drove on to the campsite in the park we saw an Elephant in the bush enjoying a helping of leaves from the trees- It was amazing to realize that these anmials are not kept here in the park- that they are not trained and not handled, that they are wild and free to migrate and roam.... very surreal!
After the Elephant we saw more Springbok- our guides Cassidy and Stephen said that
we would get tired of seeing Springbok and Zebra as they are everywhere and I thought that would never happen- but it is true- Springbok have lost thier appeal (sadly enough) and now seem more like the population of Gophers at any given park in Alberta.
We then went to our campground to set up our tents and check out the watering hole that they have created to lure in animals for viewing. It was awesome! There were 3 elephants, A young Giraffe, a young Rhino, a couple of Springbok, some Orex and I think that was it for the first visit- Absoulutely breath-taking!!!!! They have really powerful lights that they use at night to illuminate the waterhole so you can see the animals that dont move around during high sun.
We left the campground for a 2 hour gamedrive and saw alot of Giraffe and zebra and Orex and even Wildabeast- It was pretty awesome! I know I have used that word alot, but there isnt another word that i can think of that describes how amazing it is to see these animals in a wild setting!
After the game drive it was back to the
Rhino Bath
Rhino in Etosha waterhole. This park was great as the water hole was spotlit at night campsite watering hole where Marnie and i headed down with Melissa and Erin to grab some more photos of the wildlife. Marnie and Melissa headed back to the campsite for a cold beer and to wait for dinner and Erin and I stayed to check out the Rhinos that were coming. Rhino #1 arrived and beagn enjoying a nice refreshing drink of water and then Rhino #2 came on the scene- a conflict ensued!
Rhino#2 didnt want Rhino#1 to enjoy the water before he did and began to tell him so. Rhino#1 patiently stood and listened to Rhino#2 bleet and scream and then rhino#1 backed off and let Rhino #2 have the water hole.... After a few minutes of bathing in the centre of the water Rhino#2 allowed Rhino#1 to come and drink and then they both left in opposite directions... It was pretty amusing! Espcially since Erin (from the USA) can do a mean impression of the Rhino Fight! Pure hillarity!!
After dinner we headed back to the water hole to wait for some lions to appear- Unfortunately I had a horrible migraine and was feeling so ill and in so much pain that i had to
go back to tent and sleep. I left my camera with Marnie and she stayed took some photos of girrafe and Rhino that came later in the night. I must say that Marnie is a trooper! She said that she was not seeping until she saw lions at the waterhole and she came trhough on that promise!!! She stayed until 3:30am and actually got some photos of the Lioness and Lion that eventually appeared. Even with the floodlights, it is super hard to get a good photo at night of the lions, but Marnie was able to get some shots taht you can tell are lions.... I was so jealous! But I guess I have a couple more parks to get those photos myself.
The next morning we woke early for another game drive from this campsite to the last campsite in Etosha. We drove around an saw LOTS of animals- Zebra, Kudu, some giant bustard bird, and lots more.
We stopped at the 2nd campground for lunch and checked out the waterhole, it wa a pretty good setup, there were tons of Zebra! Cassidy had said that they can live in groups of up to 200 and
Me and my Elephants
Another watering hole in Etosha. There were about 27 Elephants here I think there was a group there of about 50, or 80... There was also some Elephants who seemed to not like the zebra and charged them- the zebra scrambled- It was pretty funny!
After lunch Kathrin and I went back to the waterhole to see if any new animals came and there were 27 elephants around the waterhole- Kathrin was nice enough to take a picture of me witht the Elephants in the background. There were about 5 baby Elephants, some of them still nursing and learning how to drink with their trunks, they were adorable!
By 2pm we had to leave to get to our campsite for the night. When we arrived we setup camp and I headed for a shower- then dinner and then bed. It was not a very exciting eveing. Except that Cassidy scared the crap out of Marnie and I. The campground has a large population of Jackles (a sort of coyote) who are pretty brave and come close to the sites to steal scrapes of food- well Marnie and I were in the kitchen area getting ready to wash dished when Cassidy snuck up behind us and growled- well we both
screamed and i hit him many times with the dishtowel, and we have now sworn to get him back. After all we do have another 46 days or so left........ 😊
This morning we woke and headed for Windhoek (pronounced Vindhook) and got into our hotel where we will be meeting with new people who join the trip from here to Victoria Falls. We head into Botswana tomorrow and then on to the Okavango Delta.
Erin
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