Namibia March 13th, 2008

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Found this internet cafe on my way back. Lot to say about the last 3 days. Well worth it. Have been doing a lot more driving than I anticipated, excuse the spelling, trying to type fast. Entered Etosha from the south, just above Outjo, stayed at the western most camp, Okaukuejo, very nice place! Climbed a lookout tower and saw a giraffe moving left to right towards the park road. Hopped in car and intercepted it, was about 150 feet from it, saw zebra, wildebest, orxk, springbok. All park roads are dirt and drivable at 40 mpg, but you want to go slower to see animals. Signed up for the 8pm to 11:30pm guided safari. Driver uses a spot light to point out animals, did not see as much as when I drove, but it was still worth it because you can not drive the park after sunset. So Monday was a long day, 6 hour drive north ending with a night safari ride. Tuesday I drove in the park to the east to Halali, the central camp. Saw giraffes again and many of the same animals. It was 75k to Halali, a long day of driving, I saw a lot of the park, especially the "pan". This is a dried up lake bed that stretches for as far as you can see. You don't drive on it, just next to it. It does fill with water starting in November when the rainy season starts. The Okaukuejo water hole is lit up at night, but there was no animal activity because of all the rain the country has received, so driving is the only way to see animals, other than the jackels that roam the compound at night. Wednesday I switched my stay to the eastern most camp, Namutoni. This was about a 150k drive east from my current location. I took my time and traveled some of the side roads that lead to watering holes. Because of the rains, there were many puddles to cross with my Toyota Corolla! I made it through all of them without incident, several with my fingers crossed. When in the park, you feel as if you are in the middle of nowhere, cars do come along every once in a while. One water hole had 5 hynenas, I suprised them, but did not scare them off. I saw MANY giraffes along the route, one field had 17 to 20 of them. I have great pictures of one large one approaching my car on the road, he/she was within 50 feet of me. Finally made it to the camp late afternoon, had the car washed because it was a mess (I have pictures). I was able to see most of the park from west to east, did not see elephants, lions, lepords or cheetahs or rino's, a few people did, but I was not in the right place at the right time. Overall it was an excellent experience! I exited on the eastern end of the park to Tsumeb, took a detour to Grootfontien because of constrution. Heading back to Windhoek, no real hurry. I will take it easy on Friday and meet up with Craig for our visit to the Indongo lodge on Sat and Sunday. Also, I ate lunch at a place near this internet cafe, took a picture of the waitress and then had to be brought into the kitchen to take pictures of everyone!

Take care, Dave.

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