Etosha Part II

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Did You See the Cheetah?

Carl and Harald were ready first and sitting in their seats looking blankly ahead as the rest of us crammed our tents back into the truck.
“I can’t believe it, we’re actually on time. Early even!” Derick marvelled.
“Yes, can you believe it?” I replied, feeling a lot better for my momentous outburst. Turning the key into the ignition, the truck spluttered over into life. Derick looked at me. It didn’t sound healthy.

Two guards sporting berets stood at the rest camp’s barrier. Idly they leaned against the wall, looking at their watch and the ever growing line of vehicles anxious to start their morning drive. The Spanish couple in front had raided an army surplus store for their outfits and the French looking lady behind us had a thermal of coffee in her hands. Coffee. My heart was palpitating just at the sight of it. Glorious caffeine.

Etosha is Namibia’s largest national park at 22 000sqkm. That’s a lot of ground for the animals to migrate around. Long ago, the pans used to be filled with water from the Kunene River but the river decided to flow elsewhere and left is a massive expanse of white soil. Waterholes dot throughout the pan in parts which make them prime game viewing locations. With water supposedly a scarcity, large concentration of animals should be there jostling for position. Last weeks rain has meant the animals have scattered all over the park, thirst easily whetted. Which made not one ounce of difference as the entire truck bar Albert was asleep. How easily they crumble. Apart from a few giraffes and way too many Springboks, the expansive pan shimmered under the cool morning sun.
“Did you see the cheetah?” Derick asked me.
“Sure did.”
“Can’t believe it was running beside the truck like that,” he whistled, boiling some water for coffee.
“Albert, did you see it?” I asked. He looked at me and suppressed a smile.
“It was chasing that zebra, amazing.”
“WHAT?! Why didn’t you guys say something?” Carl wailed?
“We did,” Derick argued. “We said - look cheetah! But you guys were asleep.”
“Why didn’t you wake us?” Nicole protested.
“We tried. But snooze you lose.”
“Did you get any pictures?” Alex asked.
“Nah happened so fast,” Albert replied through a mouthful of bread and cheese.

They quizzed the poor boy mercilessly about the phantom cheetah over breakfast. On the way to our Namutomi camp, we stopped to take in a sea of springboks, gemsboks and zebras grazing under the warm sun. It would have been a predator’s smorgasbord. But I guess they too were sleeping in.

Fort Namutoni

“There’s also a waterhole at this camp, but in all the years that I have been here, I have seen like one springbok. But I like it better here, less tourists.”
Sitting down to a lunch of rice salad, the boys were reliving their sky diving experience. “You weren’t really that scared, were you?” Carl stated rather than asked.
“Not really, I guess I would rather die falling out of a plane then be hit by a drunk driver.” I admitted. “I want something funky on my tombstone like ‘here lies Bek, got swallowed by a hippo’ or something.”
“So you like extreme stuff?”
“No, I just figure you are just as likely, if not more so, to die doing everyday stuff. Why not enjoy yourself? I think maybe working with all these sick kids, it makes me appreciate that I am able to go out and do all these things.”
“I’m not always safe either,” Albert admitted. “I mean, I don’t always wash my hands before I eat.”
“Oh that is real living on the edge Albert!”
“No, what I meant is that I am not afraid of germs,” he protested.
That’s not living on the edge, that’s poor hygiene. Scary thought, he’s a doctor. I looked down at my lunch and tried to remember whether or not Albert had a hand in making it. Also whether or not he went to the toilet before or after it. I suddenly lost my appetite.

Fort Namutomi is less touristy and as any guide book or guide will tell you, it is the most pleasant of the three rest camps in Etosha. The Fort now standing is the third one. The first was flattened in 1904 by the Owambo warriors and the second fell to disrepair after the South African police took over it when the Germans were ceremoniously booted out post WWII. 1958 came and it is now accommodating tourists and high school students on excursions. There is no better place to while away the hottest part of the day then by a pool free from geriatrics wearing bikinis.

Still smarting from the missed cheetah sighting, everyone boarded the truck for our second afternoon game drive. The colours of Etosha rival that of Morocco. The red flowers, green grass, light blue water and a black marker line of the trees separating it from the darkening blue sky. The sun is beginning to set and we watch giraffes bending awkwardly down to drink from small waterholes. Front legs splayed out, they are prime targets for a lion to ambush. Two giraffes were displaying a bout of testosterone by twisting their neck around to pound one another on their flanks. A few hundred meters away, we could hear the loud solid thump as their skull cracked against the opponent’s body. Acts of the wild that you could never see in a zoo. This is not artificial and these creatures have never walked to a corner and forced to turn around to walk to another. For all they know, there is nothing beyond this pan.

The best view of a sunset is from the Fort tower. A guard did some fancy footwork, hand slapping and saluting before taking down the Namibian flag that was hanging half mast. Never did figure out why it was half mast. For all of his boot stomping, he didn’t look overly patriotic as he folded up the flag and half heartedly marched down the stairs. The sunset was fabulous and it was time for a group shot. But it was only us. We waited for a while to see if anyone would join us. Fearing that we would miss the sunset as our back drop, the group unanimously decided that Albert was the least photogenic and therefore had to take the photo. Also, we wanted him to look like a Japanese tourist with 5 cameras dangling from his limbs. Just as he was about to take the last shot with his camera an American appeared. “We’ve been waiting for you!” we greeted him. And Albert took revenge by only handing him his camera and therefore had the one and only complete group shot of the entire trip.

I love African pumpkin. Not meaning pumpkins from Africa but they way they are cooked. Cut up, drizzled in oil, little bit of sugar and loads of cinnamon and tossed in a cast iron pot. Then drop some hot coals on the lid and let it bake. When you lift the lid of, a plume of steam scented sweet by the cinnamon rises into the air and you hear the sizzle of caramelised baked pumpkin, beautiful. I made sure Albert was no where near the pumpkin.

A mobile phone buzzes and Alex answers, “Hello? OH! Hell-lo.” Smooth.
“He’s got a chippy!” His friends confirmed it.
“You can tell by the tone of his voice, he goes all smooth.”
“Is she nice?” Well, girls like to gossip. Both boys made non-incriminating faces.
“Not the one then?” The same non-incriminating faces. The ever thoughtful Carl spoke up his thoughts on all things related to love.
“I’d prefer to marry a friend. I mean passion never lasts. I think it all ends up in companionship. It’s why people have affairs.”
“What? You are going to get married to someone knowing full well you aren’t attracted to them and therefore it’s okay to have an affair?”
“It always ends up that way. Marriage isn’t about passion or love,” he said rather cynically.
“I couldn’t be friends with someone that cheated on their boyfriend or girlfriend,” I said.
“Really?” everyone chorused at me.
“It’s hurtful and why would I want to be friends with someone who has that little value for someone else’s feelings? If they could do that to someone they supposedly love, what makes me think they won’t screw me over? It’s not a quality I want in my friends. My dad had an affair and it really hurt my mum. My ex-boyfriend cheated on me with my ex-best friend.”
“But it’s not like you wished you were never born,” Carl argued.
“That’s not the point. I am not setting my children up for that.”
“Don’t you want to have children?” he pressed on.
“Oh course I do, but to be married and have kids will be a bonus but it’s not everything.”
“How can you say you would love to be a mum and then say they’re just a bonus? Aren’t you going to try?” he argued.
“Sure, but if it doesn’t happen, I am not going to feel like a failure.” Thankfully, Alex came back and the attention was temporarily diverted from me.

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Photos

Pans Of Etosha
Breakfast at the Pans

Those That Can't Handle the Morning Game Drive
Wake up! Cheetah!

Pans of Etosha
Stunning morning view of the pans

Pans of Etosha
sunrise

Hartebeests
I think they are hartebeests.... no white spot on forehead... can't be blesboks... where is my guide?!

So Many bokkies
Zebras, spingboks, gemsboks.... awesome!

Hiding Giraffe
Maybe they won't see me behind this here tree....

Sitting wildebeests
When not migrating, they are sitting.

Fighting Giraffes
Take that.... you could hear them from 400m away...

Group Shot
Minus Albert.

Last Sunset in Etosha
From the fort tower.