North Through Namibia

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We were driving northbound through Namibia’s sparse, desert landscape. The wide open, grassy expanses that had defined most of the scenery during our journey towards Sesriem in the previous days had given way to large, scrubby forests of stunted trees and thick brush. The terrain was mostly flat, but, at times, rolling brown hills and jagged, pyramidal peaks jutted up out of the forest and broke up the beautiful monotony. The feeling of desolation that had been so prevalent in the southern Namib Desert was not as apparent there. I was sitting in the front seat of the same bus that had taken me to the dunes, but that was where the similarities between that tour and the one I was on ended. The bus was filled to capacity. I was surrounded by a new group of people and every one of them had a new and interesting story to tell, so we spent most of the drive getting to know each other. We stopped in a large town about an hour from Windhoek where we bought our groceries and then we continued north.

My stomach was grumbling. Our guide had said that we would be eating lunch once we reached our campsite, but he had been a bit hazy regarding how far our camp was. The noon hour was coming to an end when the bus finally slowed and we pulled off of the nicely paved highway onto a well maintained gravel road that led into the trees. We passed through a gate that was guarded by a very bored, but immensely happy man and then we continued towards our camp. We immediately started spotting wildlife. At first it came in the form of warthogs, but then we began spotting larger animals, mainly kudu - For many of my companions those animals were the first African wildlife they had seen and their excitement showed (I was excited as well!) We turned off of the well maintained gravel road onto a rough dirt track that was about as wide as the bus. The new road reignited the bus’s wild side, which I had become well acquainted with on the previous tour, and it started bucking like an angry bull in a Texas rodeo as we wound our way through the trees towards camp. After a few minutes a large rocky bluff appeared in front of us and then a small clearing with a fire ring and a covered cooking area materialized out of the trees and our rodeo ride came to an end. We had arrived at the campsite that would be our home for the evening - We had arrived at Okonjima.

Like a well-oiled machine, we set to work unloading the bus and then we began setting up our green canvas homes. Within half an hour our camp was finished and we were sitting around eating our well deserved meal. Our guide explained that we were free to walk around the area, but he cautioned us to watch out for snakes, which were common. He also mentioned that in the past their camps had been visited by wild leopards that call the refuge home, but that the likelihood of us seeing one were remote. We were told to be back in camp around four to start our tour of the reserve and then we all went our own way - I set off into the trees. I was looking for snakes. I knew that I didn’t have much of a chance of seeing any of the bigger animals while I walked, but most of the more interesting animals in the African bush are the small ones and they seem to thrive in the small reserves and ranches. I walked towards the large red bluff next to camp, but the vegetation was too thick to reach it. Instead I turned and walked parallel to the rocky ridge along a rugged road. Loud, vocal chattering was flowing down from the bluff in noisy torrents - A closer inspection revealed a large group of baboons watching in dismay (or anticipation) as we went about our activities! The road ended in a tiny clearing that had a massive termite mound, a few small trees, a salt lick and water troth - There were no animals to be seen, but it was an area that I decided to stake out after dark. I left the road and headed into the brush. I was wearing my trusty sandals, so I had to be very cautious regarding my serpentine friends, most of whom were considerably more lethal than the ones I was used to back home. I moved very slowly, cautiously planning each footfall - To someone watching my progress it must have been a funny show, as if I was trying to sneak up on someone. Four o’clock arrived and I walked back into camp having had a wonderful, but unfruitful search for my reptilian prey. While we waited for our reserve guides to arrive I was forced to put up with a bit of fearful banter from a few of my fellow tourists, who felt it was their duty to lecture me, as if I were a two-year-old, regarding how dangerous snakes were and how I should stay in camp and not look for them - The joys of life on a tour had begun!

Two men pulled up on a large quad and introduced themselves as our guides. We loaded into the bus and headed back down the rugged road into the heart of the reserve. As we drove our main reserve guide, a young man with a strong South African lilt, told us about the ranch. Okonjima was a big cat reserve run by the organization ‘Africat’. The reserve was primarily oriented towards cheetahs and they had a large population of the speedy felines in a large enclosure near where we stopped for our first animal viewing experience. Their main mission at the reserve was to rescue the big cats from situations that would otherwise lead to their deaths, such as altercations with farmers, and nurse them back to health with an ultimate goal of re-releasing them into the wild. Because of their ultimate goal they wanted to limit human interaction with the ‘to be released’ animals, so, before we got off of the bus, we were told to quickly move past the huge pen of cats without stopping, or talking, or taking pictures - We were to completely ignore them! As usually happens in a large group, there were a few people who completely ignored the guide’s request and shot right for the fence talking and snapping away, but they were quickly reeled in and chastised - They would later gripe about how they were wronged by not being allowed to see and interact with the ‘wild’ cheetahs! Our first animal encounter was a magical one for me! The animals in the large enclosure were not even cats, but they were one of the most critically endangered animals in Africa - They were wild dogs!

Wild dogs are considered to be the most efficient predator in the African bush. They are pack hunters, sometimes with as many as thirty animals in a pack, and they have a wide range, which often conflicts with village livestock. Until recently the wild dog had a bounty on its head due to its notorious hunting habits. Unlike the lions and leopards, who would occasionally feed on livestock, taking a few animals here and there, wild dogs could easily wipe out a whole herd of animals in order to feed their swelling numbers. Their wide ranges make it difficult to manage the dogs in wildlife reserves, so even in the parks their protection was ‘overlooked’. Things are changing for the wild dogs now, but farmers are still reluctant to let the dogs roam on their land. As one of the guides ran to get the dogs to come out and say hello, our other guide told us the sad story of how they came to live at a big cat reserve: A large pack of dogs had moved onto a farmer’s land and the farmer, wanting to eliminate the threat to his livelihood, poisoned the waterhole the dogs were using. Every adult dog died and when the farmer found the puppies he dropped them into a small hole in the ground and then called the reserve to see if they wanted them. The reserve reluctantly took them in, but they opted to neuter the animals so that they could not reproduce - Apparently, even to a reserve dedicated to the preservation of large predators, the wild dog is not a welcome resident (Our guide told us the reason was that a breeding pack of wild dogs would completely consume the reserve’s limited resources and that they would lose the cooperation of many of the locals who would never condone the preservation of the dogs!) I got my first glimpse of the mottled, large-eared canines when they burst out of the brush, coaxed out of hiding by our guide running with a stick in his hand on the other side of the fence, much like you would do while playing with a dog at home! They were magnificent! Their coats were made up of patches of brown, black and white hair haphazardly distributed around their bodies and it was an excellent camouflage. The dogs walked up to within twenty feet, or so, of us and they stopped at a small waterhole and posed for our cameras. We had spent days hoping and searching for even a brief glimpse of the wild dogs when I was at Kruger and, while they could not be considered wild, it was exciting to finally be among them!

Our meeting with the wild dogs ended more quickly than I would have liked, but we had a lot more to see before the sun set and we had to move on. Five minutes after we said farewell to our canine friends we were stopped on the side of the road again. The large enclosure we had stopped next to contained several cheetahs that had been deemed ‘un-releasable’, due to their comfort around humans. The cheetah is a large, slim cat. Unlike lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars, which are ‘roaring’ cats, the cheetah, much like the mountain lion and the common house cat, is considered a ‘purring’ cat. Unlike all of its feline relatives, the cheetah doesn’t have retractable claws - Its fixed claws give the cheetah extra traction during the big cat’s world famous sprints, which are the fastest among Earth’s land animals. We spent about twenty minutes with the cheetahs, who, unlike their neighbors in the adjacent ‘wild’ pen, were very happy to see us. We sat on one side of the fence and they sat on the other, only a few feet from us. Their spotted golden coats were glowing in the late afternoon light. Their powerful orange eyes were captivating. ‘Purrrrr’, ‘purrrrr’, ‘purrrrr’ was the only sound to be heard - The cats were happy that we were there and we were happy to be among them, but it was time to move on again. Before we got into the bus our guide told us of an enjoyable game he used to play as a kid. He asked if any of us were brave enough to play as he bent down to pick up a pile of kudu pellets. Most people wanted no part of it, but a few of us thought we were brave enough…Until he showed us how it was played! The basic premise was to make your fecal football fly the furthest, only you were not allowed to use your hands - Our guide placed his first M&M like projectile in his mouth and let it fly. Mine technically flew further, but I cheated and used my hands - I never was any good at sports!

We drove over to the huge, main enclosure, which we were told would eventually serve as the last ‘rehabilitation’ pen for the cats and that there were several roaming freely inside already. We stopped and one of the guides jumped out and opened a massive gate and we drove into the enclosure. While we waited for him to close the gate behind us and get back in the bus we had a really special animal encounter. Off to the right of the dirt road there was a large termite mound in an open field of knee-high grass and I could just make out the arched, skin-colored form of an animal with huge rabbit-like ears headed towards the tall mud tower. I said, “Is that an aardvark?” and our guide looked in the direction I was pointing and, in a surprised tone, he said, “Yes!” He told us that it was a very unusual sighting, since the aardvark, which is a termite eater, was a nocturnal animal. The guide got on his radio and sent a message to the other tour groups in the area, so they could also see the aardvark. I was excited to see such a reclusive animal and I was surprised at how large it was.

The sun was getting closer to the western horizon when we pressed on to the final ‘stop’ of our tour. The assistant guide got out of the bus carrying a large white bucket and headed around a natural looking wooden fence and disappeared. Our main guide told us to wait in the bus for a few moments until the other man had made sure it was safe. A few minutes later we walked into a small, dark viewing room and took a seat against a long, wide opening. We were told not to put our hands anywhere near the opening and then our guide raised the steel grating that covered the long viewing window. There was nothing but a small pond and a wooden half-wall separating us from the animal enclosure in front of us, but the heavy grate was hinged at the top and could quickly be slammed shut in the event that the animal came for us. The enclosure itself had a few trimmed trees and some logs; in fact, it resembled a nice exhibit at a zoo. The white bucket had contained bright red donkey meat, which the assistant guide had hung from the tree and some of the logs forming a somewhat macabre scene, but we were all excited for what we knew came next. We were told the story of the most ornery leopard the reserve had ever received. The large cat had originally been scheduled for re-introduction into the wild, but problems arose. The first strike against the leopard came when it lost a fight with an oryx it had been hunting. In the fight the oryx pierced the cat’s lovely coat with its huge saber-like horns, nearly killing him. The injury proved to be debilitating and the cat’s behavior went downhill from there. At first they kept the leopard in the main pen with the other animals, but, in a tragic turn of events the leopard attacked and, if I remember the story correctly, killed the owner of the reserve, sealing its fate. Now they keep the powerful leopard segregated from the other animals in its own enclosure, living out the rest of his life as nothing more than a tourist attraction.

With its story out of the way, the star of the show pranced out from behind the fence and jumped up into the tree to retrieve the meat. The cat was massive! Its yellow coat with its well defined rosette pattern was flawless and beautiful, barely able to contain its bulging muscles - There was no doubt that the giant man-eater in front of us was a powerful foe, even in its domesticated state. We watched as the huge spotted cat used its dagger-like teeth to rip the donkey flesh apart, seemingly oblivious to our presence. The cat stayed up in the tree until he finished his meal and then he leapt back down to the ground, his muscles perfectly absorbing the jolt as he landed. He walked over to the pond only feet from us and he looked each of us in the eyes. The cat clearly knew we were there. His penetrating gaze was filled with power. The distance between us was well within his leaping range and the unobstructed opening could have easily allowed him into our safe-haven, but our guide was alert and unworried - His hand was firmly on the latch that could send the heavy steel grating crashing down over the opening if the big cat decided to try his luck. The leopard never gave us a reason to drop the grate. He eventually turned and walked over in search of more meat. A lone mongoose stood on a rock nearby, bolding ignoring the danger that the leopard presented - It almost looked like they were friends. We stayed with the leopard for nearly half an hour, but the sun was already out of sight and we wanted to get back to the camp before darkness completely engulfed us, so we loaded back into the bus and put the big enclosure behind us.

We ate a wonderful dinner around a roaring campfire that evening. The star-filled night sky was beautiful, so I decided to get away from the fire for a while and I headed out for my walk. As was usually the case, the rest of the group thought I was crazy as I wound up my eco-light and walked off into the mysterious darkness alone. I was heading towards the small clearing I had staked out earlier in the day. It was not far, but the darkness was complete and I had to carefully watch where I stepped. I was cautiously scanning the brush at the sides of the road, but it was tough work - The shadows set every twig in motion and my eyes told me that snakes were all around me. My snake-sense went into alarm mode. I almost missed it. My light was shining in another direction, yet my eyes had caught a faint serpentine form on the ground among the brush off the right side of the trail and it was moving! I was excited - It was my first close encounter with an African snake, but what was it? A cobra? A mamba? I quickly got the light on it and started rolling through the immense catalog of snakes in my mind. One feature helped me make a quick identification - It had eyelashes. I knew there were several types of adders in the area and the eyelashes gave it away - It was a horned adder! It was a venomous snake, but the cool evening air had calmed it down a lot and, instead of becoming aggressive like they sometimes do, the snake just tried to get away. I was wearing my boots and I had my tripod/snake stick with me, but I had no intentions of catching the snake or bothering it in any way (other than watching it) - I was too far away from help to risk getting bitten and it certainly would not have been fair to the rest of the group if I had gotten myself hurt. I snapped a few pictures to help me confirm my identification and to prove to the naysayers that there were indeed snakes there and then I watched the beautiful serpent gracefully slip away into the brush. I had adrenalin flowing through my veins as I continued my walk to the clearing - I absolutely love snakes and whenever I find one I get that same excited feeling.

The rest of the night was uneventful. As I sat in the clearing the silence was complete. At times the peace was broken by the grumbling of a baboon on the ridge or the faint laughter from the campfire and once the silence was shattered by the throaty roar from one of the reserve’s lions. The clearing was boring me, so I walked down the road for a while. There were no more snakes to be found. I did hear one larger animal crashing through the brush nearby, but, excepting a small field mouse and a few startled birds, I didn’t see anything else. Everyone was still seated around the fire when I walked back into camp. The two guides were excited (and a bit surprised) that I had actually found a snake, but most of the group looked, unbelieving, at the photo and let out a horrified gasp and started into the lectures again. It seems that most of the world hates snakes, but I don’t know why. They are not slimy or aggressive (unless they are cornered). They are no more dangerous than any of a number of day-to-day things, such as kitchen knives, cars and bathtubs, which are only dangerous if used or handled incorrectly. True, some snakes are poisonous, but so is bleach and antifreeze, yet people are not scared of them. I suppose the fear comes from the role snakes played in the bible or perhaps because they feel cold when handled, regardless, I doubt the irrational fear will ever go away.

We were up with the sun the following morning. We quickly took down camp and packed it away and then we ate a quick breakfast around the still warm embers from the fire. An hour later we were on the bus bouncing our way back to the main road. We spotted a few really nice kudu and oryx and a few warthogs as we drove. Okonjima was a wonderful place that gave us all a chance to meet some of the most famous and difficult to see animals in Africa and we even had a few surprises. We all waved to the happy man as we pulled back through the main gate and turned north on the main road and then we set our sights on our next destination - Etosha National Park, one of Africa’s great parks and Namibia’s star attraction.

We were half way through the day when we pulled off of the road into a small parking area filled with bright blue peacocks. We were at Lake Otjikoto, which is Namibia’s largest natural lake. The lake is still considered to be ‘bottomless’, because nobody has been able to reach the bottom to confirm its depth. Because of its ‘bottomless’ nature the lake played an interesting role in the history of Namibia when an army was forced to dump their armament of cannons in to the lake at the end of some war in the region, so that the other army wouldn’t gain control of them. We walked through the impressively odd shops at the entrance of the site and then we headed straight to the rocky, tree-covered bluff above the lake. The lake surface was far below us and it was ringed by the shear, stone cliffs we were standing on - It was an impressive and beautiful park-like site. The diagram that described the lake showed that the sheer walls descended straight down into the water for a while, but then turned and continued, with a steep slope, deep under one of the walls - How deep the grotto goes has not been determined and won’t be without the help of some high-tech and prohibitively expensive gadgets, such as an ROV. The ‘odd’ shop at the beginning of the park had several jars containing several of the dangerous snakes that had been found around the lake. While I was saddened that they had been killed, the exhibit got me excited about the possibility of finding another snake - I searched through all of the rocks, but all I found was a large section of shed snake skin. I took a quick walk through the ‘zoo’ area of the park, which was a little sad, and then I joined my companions and two of the peacocks out in the parking lot for lunch. Lake Otjikoto made for a great and interesting lunch stop. We were all excited about getting to Etosha in time for an afternoon drive, so we quickly dispatched our meal and got cleaned up and then we were on the road again.

The road seemed to roll on forever through the seemingly endless field of trees. At times we passed a dusty town or gas station, but they were few and far between. It was getting late when a huge reddish gateway loomed up in front of us. We came to a stop and our guide got out of the bus and walked over to the gate to do what guides do - Large letters spelled out ‘ETOSHA’ and let us know we had arrived. We drove beneath the gate and entered the wilds of Africa again. A few minutes later the small white stone castle of Namutoni Camp filled the front windshield of the bus and then we came to a stop at our home for the night. We quickly unloaded the bus and erected our tents and then we were off again. The landscape around Namutoni was unlike any I had seen thus far in Africa. It was wide open, grassy plains, dotted with clumps of trees and waterholes. I would have thought it would have been easy to spot the animals, but I was wrong. We drove for quite a while without spotting anything. We could tell that animals were around from the abundance of tracks and burrows in the ground, but they were nowhere to be found. We were driving a lot faster than we should have been while animal viewing and that may have accounted for the lack of wildlife, or perhaps Etosha was just not as gifted as Kruger when it came to abundance of wildlife - It was a desert after all. Our guide was noticeably miffed that we were not finding any animals. I suppose he felt it would make him look bad if he was unable to give his clients at least a few animal sightings on their first drive, but he had an ace up his sleeve. We drove through the crossroads that lead us back to camp and then we turned and headed into a large group of trees. We immediately found our first animals and they were impala, but, unlike the plentiful impalas in Kruger, the impalas we found were the endangered ‘black-faced’ impalas. We stayed with them for a while and then we moved on, finding a lone giraffe and then we spotted some zebras near a waterhole. We parked the bus at the waterhole and we watched as the playful zebras bounced about around the water. Suddenly all of the zebras darted away from the water, making room for a herd of elephants who had just emerged from the trees and charged the water, letting everything there know that it was their turn, or else! We watched, along with the zebras, as the elephants slurped up the life-giving liquid. A few young elephants were rolling in the water and playing, they didn’t have a care in the world! The sun was near the horizon and the elephants’ gray skin was tinted orange - It was a beautiful moment and the atmosphere on board the bus was filled with laugher and excitement. It was a great start to our time in Etosha.

Later, back at camp, we were given time before dinner to take in the show at the waterhole at the camp. The walk from our campsite over to the waterhole was filled with construction related obstacles, in fact it seemed like the whole camp was a construction site, but it was easy to see through it all to the grand plans in store for the park. I was impressed. The camp was still surrounded by the loathsome fences, but they were set up in a way that didn’t feel enclosing - At the waterhole there was a low wooden fence with a slanted electric one set far enough away so that the animals couldn’t clear it with a jump. The fences were filled with holes so that most of the smaller animals had no problem getting into the camp, but the larger, more dangerous ones were barred entry. There was not a lot happening at the waterhole when I arrived. To the left of the viewing area there was a large stand of tall grass and reeds rising up out of the water to a height of twenty feet or so and there was a huge racket coming from a flock of birds hidden in its greenery. There were no animals at first, but in the twilight gloom a lone lioness walked out of the brush to get a drink of water. She was not easy to see because of the difficult lighting, but she stuck around for a few minutes and then walked parallel to the fence back towards camp and I followed. The lioness apparently saw something that she liked in the distance, because she quickened her gait and disappeared into the darkening landscape. Back at camp, I found out that only two of us had been lucky enough to see the feline visitor. The rest of the group had lost patience with the barren waterhole and headed back to camp early.

After dinner there was another mass exodus to the waterhole. I decided to take the long route along the grassy fence line that I had followed with the lion, because I had found a few jackals in the camp there just before dinner. I had a few people following me, because they didn’t know the way to the viewing platform. They were clearly spooked by the wild feeling of our path - I suppose I didn’t help the situation any by telling them to keep a close eye on the ground for snakes, but they needed to know they were there. We arrived at the waterhole without having any animal sightings. I set up my tripod next to the fence and I began the long waiting game. At times annoying tourists would walk up talking and laughing as loudly as they could despite the glaring glances and ‘shhh’s coming from the rest of the crowd - They were the ones who would see that there were no animals (I wonder why?) and would quickly leave again, so they were only mild annoyances. A few hours went by and, with the exception of a few jackals, we had not seen anything. The birds were still making a lot of noise in the tall grass and it had become an accepted part of the landscape, so when the birds went completely silent we knew something was up - Out of the dark sky a huge white owl streaked past us and burst into the grass and then emerged with a bird in its talons. The whole scene had played out in just a few seconds right at the edge of the area lit up by the huge spotlight. The noise returned as quickly as it had disappeared and everything returned to normal. The crowd had trickled down to only a few people when our next visitor came by. It was a visitor I had been expecting for a while, because I had heard its unmistakable call, “BoooowOOP”, several minutes before. The spotted hyena walked up to the edge of the water and took a sip. Apparently he was not too happy with the taste of the water, because he squatted in the same place he had been drinking from and added his own flavoring. The second time he lingered for a while as he slurped up the ‘tasty’ goodness of his perfectly seasoned water - I wasn’t too surprised, it was a hyena after all!

The following day was a long one. Many amazing things happened, but I watched a lot of it through uncaring eyes. It all started early as we were driving through a brushy section of the park. We were driving more quickly than we should have been and as a result we hadn’t seen much of anything all morning. On at least three different occasions I had spotted something that I couldn’t identify, but our guide refused to stop and investigate - He wanted only ‘certain’ animal sightings! There were two of us staring out of the rear window and we both caught a glimpse of a black rhino in the bushes just off of the road. We quickly yelled to the driver to stop and he did, but when he backed up he refused to go back as far as we were directing him. Instead, he positioned the bus so that the people in the front could see just the animal’s head sticking up from the bushes and the two of us in the back could see a tall bush. I let the driver know that the view from behind the bush, just one bus length back, would give everyone an unobstructed view of the rhino, but he decided not to move. I watched the bush for about five minutes, managing to get one or two glimpses of the rhino and then the large animal walked off. We started to move on, but the rhino walked back into the open a little further from us and I asked if we could stop again, which was ignored. It turned out that the rest of the group was not interested in seeing the animal anymore - It was not a lion, elephant or giraffe. It was beyond my comprehension how we could have one of the rarer animal sightings in Africa, a wild black rhino, yet not stay and watch it for more than five minutes! I was not at all happy, yet (I think) I managed to keep it to myself. A few minutes later my mood worsened when we came across several giraffes, which were one of the more common animals in Africa, and the excitement that had been lacking with the black rhino erupted throughout the bus. We stayed with the giraffes for what seemed like an eternity and I decided to look out the opposite window, ignoring the beautifully goofy creatures completely - It was then that I first noticed a violin playing in the distance. Someone asked me why I was not looking at the giraffes and I calmly said something along the lines of, “I have seen too many of them and I’m not interested in seeing any more”, which of course was a lie - I should have said, “I am feeling sorry for myself, because I was born in the heavily regulated ‘It’s for your own protection’ world and I am forced to drive through the wilderness in huge busses filled with people who are interested in seeing different things than me instead of walking through the wilderness by myself, using my own judgment to decide what is best for me.”, which would have been more accurate.

It was a chilly morning, so it wasn’t surprising to me when everyone closed their windows when we left the giraffes. I had planned for that and I was sitting in the back of the bus where I was hoping the wind from my open window would not bother anyone else - Several sharp glances in my direction quickly crushed my hopes. I was feeling closed in even with my window open and I was not willing to watch the landscape go by from behind a pane of glass - I also needed the cold wind on my face to help improve my selfish mood. I had already asked if I could tie myself to the luggage rack on top of the bus, which was, of course, denied, so I set to work constructing a windbreak in the back of the bus. I was quite happy with the resulting cocoon of bed mats that separated me from the rest of the bus and formed a wonderfully cold vortex of wind around me. I had my wind and everyone else had their warmth - I suppose everyone got a good laugh out of it as well. I had not built my wind enclosure out of anger and the cold breeze and solitude certainly improved my mood, but I was still unhappy to be on the bus. I was feeling frustrated that nobody seemed to be interested in the small animals, hoping for only the ‘big 5’ around every corner - I had forgotten how exciting seeing lions and elephants and giraffes had been and that I felt the same way they did on my first few days in Kruger. I knew it was my own selfishness that was fueling my mood and I also knew that it was unfair to the others in the group to act the way I was acting - I had not been openly rude or angry towards anyone yet, but I was struggling to keep my feelings to myself. I knew I had to change my attitude immediately.

Our next animal encounter was truly amazing. It was almost as if my mood-induced dislike of elephants and giraffes had been broadcast across the land. Elephants are actually one of my favorite animals, but it took a special encounter to remind me of the fact. We came across a huge, old male munching brush on the side of the road. He was a massive animal with broken tusks and a tough, battle-worn air. His dust covered skin had a bright white, chalky tint to it that accentuated his many scars and highlighted his deep wrinkles. We stopped the bus and the elephant slowly ambled towards us, seemingly drawn to my window at the back of the bus. It was an exciting moment. If the large bull had decided to be aggressive it would have been bad for the bus and everyone onboard, but he had a calm demeanor about him. He stopped a few feet from me. I was looking directly into his eyes and he returned the gaze, as if he was asking me, “Why did you say you didn’t like me anymore?” He even had what looked like a tear in one of his huge, intelligent eyes! I was instantly happy again. I said a silent apology to the giant elephant and to the giraffes and to all of my companions and I vowed to enjoy the remainder of the tour regardless of what happened - It wasn’t any of their faults that I was trapped in a bus-shaped prison. Despite being in a better mood, the whining violin music that had been playing in my head all morning was still there. I knew there was only one way to make the music go away, so I turned to my favorite singer Jimmy Buffett and I turned on my I-pod - I escaped to my own personal Margaritaville and, by lunchtime, my mood was on the fast-track to improvement. We stopped at the Halali Camp for lunch and we were given nearly an hour to walk around. Our guides pointed us in the direction of the big waterhole and told us when to be back for lunch. One of the guides then pulled me aside and asked if I was OK, mentioning that he had missed my usually enthusiastic behavior all morning. I told him that I was just feeling too enclosed in the bus, but that I was fine and then I walked towards the waterhole.

I walked past an odd looking giraffe skull and started down a well trodden path through the trees. I passed a sign that asked me to be quiet and then climbed a staircase to the top of a small cliff. The huge rocky outcrop was filled with nice seating areas that looked out over a mud-brown pond and a scrubby landscape. There were no animals at first, but it was clearly a nice place to sit - I climbed over a small, unfinished bridge and found a small rock that stuck out above the fence and I took a seat. After a few minutes a huge male kudu tentatively walked out of the bushes and warily made its way to the water. After a few sips the majestic animal suddenly held its head up high and froze stiff then it quickly bolted away into the trees. I had no idea what had spooked the kudu, but a quickly advancing cloud of dust in the distance told me it was not likely to be a predator. The cloud of dust flowed out of the brush at the heels of a huge herd of elephants and all of the other animals that had been in the area quickly disappeared. The elephants were a lot of fun to watch as they played in the water and trumpeted loudly. I sat watching them for a while and all of the remaining vestiges of my bad mood vanished - I don’t think it is possible to sit and watch a herd of elephants and not be happy (unless, perhaps, they were re-landscaping your yard!) I said farewell to the elephants and then I headed into the forest behind the viewing area and fruitlessly looked for snakes. Lunch was simple, but delicious as usual. As I sat there eating I watched a group of people from an ‘overland’ truck company that I had considered joining in South Africa. I was suddenly glad to be with the tour I was on, because it was clear that all of the young, beautiful people on the other tour were interested in something completely different than seeing the sights.

We loaded back on the bus and I headed to the back like before. The temperature had warmed considerably, so I no longer needed my windbreak. Over the next few hours we had several amazing animal encounters. One happened right after lunch when we spotted a large male lion sitting in the shade under a tree. He was a little hard to see at first, so I don’t know how our guide spotted him. We watched the king of the jungle for about ten minutes, but then he decided to go elsewhere, away from our prying eyes, and we continued down the road.

The rest of the day was amazing. We stopped and walked around in the large Etosha Pan, which was a huge, perfectly flat expanse of seasonally flooded land that stretched in a huge white plain to the distant, mirage-blurred horizon. It was truly barren of anything living, yet there were a large number of footprints crisscrossing the area. I managed to spot the footprints of a rhino and a large cat intermingled with all of the antelope prints - It was amazing place and there were no fences in sight!

We had been on the road for most of the day and the sun was getting low on the western horizon when we drove past a huge, castle-like stone tower and entered our last camp in Etosha National Park. Okaukuejo Camp is one of the most famous camps in Africa. The camp was located in the western part of Etosha and its flood-lit waterhole is well known for its plentiful, easy to see wildlife. I had heard about the waterhole years before and I was excited to get over and take a look. We went through the familiar motions of setting up camp and preparing for dinner. When our chores were done and our food was simmering on the fire our leader pointed us in the direction of the waterhole and then he pulled me aside and told me that there was a large, ‘wild’ corner of the camp near the waterhole where the fence was not entirely intact. He said the holes were not large enough to allow the larger animals to pass through, but that the small animals, like honey badgers, were regular visitors. I was excited when I set off. I decided that I would use the last hour of daylight to scope out the terrain in the area he was pointing me to, so that I wouldn’t get any nasty surprises after dark. I found the waterhole easily - All I had to do was walk through the newly constructed villas that lined one side of it. There were a few elephants playing in the water and I watched them for a few moments, but then I moved on. I walked along the fence to the left of the waterhole. The stone wall that bordered the viewing area gave way to a ragged looking metal fence topped with barbed wire. In places the trees grew right up against the fence and signs of regular repairs were evident everywhere. The whole corner of the camp was overgrown with a thick tangle of brush and stunted trees that formed a green canopy over my head. The ‘paths’ were mostly indistinguishable ruts in the grass - It would be a tough area to walk through in the dark, but I was excited to give it a try. I walked back to camp at the appointed dinner time, arriving just in time to watch a jackal run off with a pair of socks that were stuffed into the shoes of one of my companions. Our guide had regularly warned us not to leave our shoes or anything else outside of our tents because of the jackals, so the victim’s pleas for sympathy were answered unanimously with laughter - At least he still had his shoes! We enjoyed a delicious dinner of salad and beef stew around the camp fire and we talked about what we had seen that day. Excitement was high - Apparently a pair of black rhinos had visited the waterhole just after I had left. It seemed like everyone was anxious to get back to the viewing area, so we made quick work of our meal and the subsequent clean up. A few people retired to their tents, but most of us headed out to look for animals - Most of the group went straight to the waterhole, but I had other plans.

I walked straight for the over-grown corner of camp I had explored before dinner. Along the way I passed several jackals and a few well concealed mystery animals making their way towards camp for a night of foraging. I found the rotten fence and I slowly walked into the brush. It was a little too cold for snakes to be a big danger, but I was still cautious (and hopeful) as I walked through the thick tangle of vegetation. I found a relatively clear spot beneath the trees and I decided to stay put for a while hoping that some interesting animal would come out of hiding, but a while turned into an hour and I had not spotted a thing - Boredom set in and I decided to move on to the waterhole to see what I could find there. I had been standing motionless in the small clearing, so when I started walking again the tree above me exploded into cacophony of sound as a flock of birds started from their roosts and shot into the night sky - I suppose they had nestled in for the night after I had arrived at the clearing and they didn’t know I was there!

I spent the rest of the evening at the waterhole and what an amazing show it was. When I arrived at the nice stone viewing area in front of the villas it was fairly quiet. I found a nice section of wall that was not in direct view of the huge light and I set up my tripod. There were two old ladies sitting on a bench next to me. The large black pond was directly in front of me surrounded by a shoreline of rocky ground. To the left of the water stood a lovely tree and on the opposite bank was a gnarled, dead tree. The whole landscape was bathed in the yellowish light emitted from the sodium flood lamps that made that particular waterhole one of the most famous in Africa. Above the whole scene was the pitch black sky and the broad, red arc of the partial moon - The sky was smiling and it was a beautiful night. While I was staring at the abnormally large moon sliver a gangly form materialized out of the darkness and started walking towards the water. The giraffe was joined by several others as they tentatively approached the black water. It was a long and agonizing process to watch, but the beautifully goofy animals finally decided it was safe enough to drink. They all lined up on the far bank of the pond, spread their front legs wide, took one last look around them and plunged their heads down to the surface of the water. The odd spectacle of several giraffes drinking was enough to make it a memorable experience, but their odd forms were mirrored in the perfectly calm water making the scene even more spectacular - What an amazing sight! Something startled the giraffes and they all finished drinking and quickly moved into the background near the boundary of the light. A long line of lumbering forms approached out of the darkness as if they were the next act. The large group of elephants, including several calves, took their places on the right side of the pond and went about their business. A second group of male elephants came out from another direction and they began fighting amongst themselves. Several minor confrontations erupted between the two groups over the next several minutes, but eventually the group with the calves finished drinking and left. The remaining all male group remained, not overly interested in the water.

The silence that followed the departure of the aggressive mother elephants was nearly complete, but it was short lived. It all started with a low, nearly imperceptible rumbling. The noise progressively got louder, occasionally accompanied by the ‘whooshing’ sound of rushing air. Finally, in a rapid succession of loud explosions and multi-pitched trumpet blasts, the source of the noise was revealed - Elephant flatulence! It was a scene right out of Blazing Saddles, only there was no beans in sight. The ladies on the bench next to me were silent at first, as if they hadn’t noticed, but a particularly booming blast was all it took and then they were giggling too - The concert went on for nearly half an hour and there was no hope of silence from the on looking crowd! While the male elephants were trying to outdo each other there was more movement off to the left of the pond. A closer inspection revealed a small gray shape approaching the water - A black rhino had decided to join the fun! The rhino made it down to the water before one of the elephants challenged him. The size difference was huge between the seemingly tiny rhino and the massive elephant, but the rhino didn’t back down - They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity and then the rhino walked towards me and left the elephant in the background. For those of us sitting along the wall it was an amazing turn of events. The rhino walked to within ten feet of us, kicked up a cloud of dust and, joining the elephant party, he fired his own volley in our direction, only he wasn’t using blanks. The rhino did a slow lap around the pond and was then joined by a second black rhino on the far side. The rhinos and the elephants put on a long show. In fact, they were not showing any signs of leaving when I finally threw the towel in and headed back to my tent. There were a few people sitting around the dying embers of the fire when I got back to camp, but all else was quiet.

The following day we took one last drive around Etosha. It was a beautiful, but chilly morning. We drove across featureless grasslands that seemed to stretch unbroken to the horizon. A few distant clumps of majestic trees and green bushes added some much needed variety to the otherwise barren landscape. Animals were also lacking that morning. We spotted several dead animals along the road and it looked suspiciously like someone had either poisoned them or shot them in the night. One of the antelopes was being eaten by a jackal - It was an interesting sight to see, because the lone jackal would not have been able to bring it down alone and there were no signs of a larger predator. We also spotted a male lion, but, sadly, we had to put him in the dead animal category as well - He was lying still in the sun and we couldn’t see him breathing or moving. We managed to spot a few mongooses and a few ostriches just before we made it back to camp, but it was a fairly disappointing last drive through the park. We packed up camp and took a few minutes to climb the large stone tower at the visitors’ center, which had great view from the top, and then we said farewell to Etosha National Park. Our time in Etosha was over, but the tour continued - Ahead of us laid the unknown, little traveled expanses of northern Namibia and the mysterious Himba people. We were headed towards the Skeleton Coast!

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Photos

Reflections
The waterhole at Okaukuejo was amazing for animal spotting and photography.

Wild Dogs!
Finally I have seen wild dogs, but these were not wild.

The Aardvark and the Termite Mound
This was a surprise find at Okonjima.

A Cheetah in a Cage
This guy was happy to see us.

A Happy Cheetah
The cheetahs marked as un-releasable were all happy, smiling cats.

A Red Bird in a Leopard Cage
This was one of three animals we were able to spot in the leopard enclosure.

My What Big Teeth You Have!
Spending time with a maneater - That is donkey meat.

A Leopard Model
This guy seemed to know his job well - Pose for the tourist's cameras and get paid in donkey meat.

Getting A Closer Look
The big leopard decided to get a closer look at all of the tasty tourists behind the lake.

Rats! Twarted by a Pond!
The pond was all that separated us from the leopard, but there was a heavy steel grate just waiting to be slammed shut.

My Reptilian Friend
Of all of my searching, this was the only snake I found. It was a beautiful horned adder though.

The Camp Fire
This is were we did most of our cooking during the tour.

Lake Otjikoto
This is Namibia's largest permanent natural lake and our lunch stop on the second day.

Springboks
These guys were all over the place in Etosha National Park.

A Bird of Prey
The lack of trees in Etosha made it easy to spot and observe these animals.

A Wildebeest
There were not a lot of animals in Etosha, but there was a large variety.

Get Out of the Way!
All of the other animals know to run for cover when the elephants come to drink.

Sunset and Elephants
The late afternoon light made these elephants glow orange.

Sunset Over the Pan
A wonderful African Sunset.

Seasoning the Water
This hyena didn't like the taste of the water in the waterhole, so he added his own flavoring.

Just Right!
The very next picture in the camera shows the hyena enjoying his perfectly seasoned water.

A Wildebeest and an Oryx...
It sounds like the start of a bad joke.

The Black Rhino
This rhino is what fueled my bad mood on the second day in Etosha.

The White Elephant
This wise old beast crushed my bad mood and made me happy again.

Old Snaggletusk
The old elephant only had one tusk left and it was broken.

Wise Old Eyes
Notice the 'tear'.

The Etosha Pan
This is the center piece of the national park and it was a great place to get out and take a walk.

Oryx
The oryx is one of the most beautiful animals in Africa and they were all over the place in Etosha.

The Timid Kudu
I sat and watched this large male kudu approach the waterhole at Halali for nearly fifteen minutes, only to get scared away by the huge herd of elephants.

Elephants
It is always a fun thing to watch a group of elephants together.

Weeeeeeee!
This youngster was more interested in playing than drinking.

The King of the Jungle
He was well hidden, so I am surprised that our guide spotted him.

The King of the Jungle 3
He finally grew tired of all of us tourists and headed off into the bushes.

A Beautiful Landscape
There were not many animals at this waterhole, but it was still a beautiful spot.

Ostriches
We had to stop the bus for a while to let a large flock? of ostriches run by - It was fairly comical.

The Black Faced Impala
This is an endangered animal, but they are fairly common in the park.

Fun With White Ballance
I was playing with the camera settings and somehow came up with the strong red tint, but I liked it.

Drinking Problems
These giraffes were leery about drinking, but they all went as one picturesque group.

The Sky Was Smiling
The amazingly moon was huge.

The Faceoff
Next to an elephant the huge rhino looked small, but he was not backing down.

Two Black Rhinos
This time there realy were two black rhinos and they hung around for a long time.

Yummy!
This jackal got lucky when he found this huge meal.

The Dead Lion
I suppose he could have been a deep sleeper, but he didn't move for over half an hour.

The Mongoose
There were several mongooses out enjoying the morning sun on our last day in the park.

Groud Squirrels
They wanted to enjoy the warm sun as well.

The Bustard
One of the largest birds in Africa out for a morning stroll.

A Buffalo Weaver Nest
This huge nest was in a clump of trees just outside of camp.

The Round Tower
This was the stone tower in Okaukuejo. It, like the castle in the first camp, was left over from colonial times.

Stone and Flowers
A close up of the tower.

Comments

[Mercurycatcher]

An Amazing Adventure.
Thouroughly enjoyed reading your excellent account of your amazing adventures,you have also captured some incredible animal encounter photos,thanks for sharing them with us.