Namibia - Etosha Park

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Etosha

Wednesday 10th February

Today is mostly a driving day as we head towards the Etosha Game Reserve. We set out early {again!!} and make just one brief stop at Outjo to pick up supplies {including a large chocolate cake for Andrew’s birthday}.
We arrive at Etosha Camp Site, just outside the reserve, in the early afternoon, giving us time to dry out our tents after the previous night’s rainfall, do some washing, and still spend some time in the pool. Like all the other campsites the facilities here are excellent. Apart from the pool, electricity and hot showers, the flushing toilets here have a can of air-freshener in each cubicle!

Etosha Game Reserve

We get up early the next day to go to the National Park at Etosha and to try and catch the wildlife before everything falls asleep under a tree. Etosha is the oldest game reserve in Africa. We spend the whole day in there, driving around in our overland truck with a couple of hours break for lunch at one of the lodges at the hottest time of the day.
We have a reasonably successful day spotting and photographing the wildlife, seeing more than 15 different species including lions, giraffes and zebras. We don’t see too many other vehicles in the park - it’s certainly not as busy as the parks in East Africa.

Namutoni Lodge

We arrive at Namutoni Lodge quite late in the afternoon after a long day in the park. Fortunately there is a break in the rain when we arrive so we are just able to get our tents up. There is a floodlit watering hole near the lodge but I decide to have an early night and give it a miss - apparently all I missed were the mosquitoes. There has been quite a bit of rain in the park recently so the animals have plenty of choice as to where to get water from.

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