African Adventure VI

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Karen & I were up early to take another try at Moringa water hole at sunrise. Still no animals, but many birds. We saw some really close as they came near us to feed, mostly on last night's moths. Guinea fowl, shrikes, hornbills, owls, starlings (not little black birds), doves, and numerous others I couldn't identify. 

After breakfast, in the dark because there was no power, we headed out. Fortunately, we had filled the cars with gas the evening before during the time the power was on. Our immediate destination was the Etosha Pan Overlook. It is another place you can get out of your car and look at the 5000 sq km pan, or dry lakebed, from which the park gets its name. Only we couldn't go all the way out to the usual overlook (the road was blocked) because of the real danger of its being under water in a heavy rain. It is still an impressive sight. 

We returned back to Namutoni, seeing many more giraffe, zebra, springbok, wildebeest and the like. Including several young ones of each kind, some wildebeests nursing. Several giraffe were very close and walked right in front of the car. They are so graceful when they move.

At Namutoni we saw a colony of banded mongeese playing on the lawn of the reception center. One more animal not previously noted. 

As we were loading back into the cars to head out and back to Otavi, by chance we met a lady from Norway with her daughter. She has been a visiting prof at PLU, and works with the consortium of colleges that includes the University of Namibia, PLU, and her school in Norway. So we agreed to meet her for a coffee date in Tsumeb, outside the park. 

When we got to the gate to leave, we discovered we had overstayed our daily permit by about three hours, and the guard would not let us out until we went back to Namutoni and paid for another day. (What happened to Africa Time??) That set us back almost an hour. But our new friends were still waiting for us at the agreed caffé shop in Tsumeb. We had a very nice visit in a lovely biergarten. 

We returned to the Palmenecke Guest House in Otavi for the night. Dinner that night was kudu steak! Two nights in a row. Fixed entirely differently, but still very good. 

African Adventure V

Tuesday, 17 February 2009

We drove west from Otavi to Etosha National Park's east entrance at Von Lindequist Gate. You get your daily permit at the gate, but pay later at the first rest camp you come to. So we drove in to Namutoni. On the way we saw zebra and giraffe and some antelope. It was a good beginning to our game "hunt." 

Namutoni looks like a fort, and indeed started life as a military outpost. It was leveled by the natives a year or so after it was built, then rebuilt a couple of times, most recently in the 1980s as a resort. After paying our fees and checking the shops and getting oriented, we headed off into the park to see the animals. Our destination was the Halali Rest Camp, our overnight stay.

Summer is the rainy, wet season, so the books all warn that animals may be less easily found since they don't have to come to the water holes for water. But we saw many giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, springbok, gemsbok, impala, kudu, warthogs, and others grazing placidly in the bush along the way. OK, the warthogs were almost always running away, but the others seemed unperturbed by the presence of a couple of cars. 

The roads in Etosha are gravel, usually well graded. However, the daily occurrence of heavy thunderstorm rains created some interesting passages through very large puddles (or very small lakes) in the road. We stopped for a sort of picnic at a designated spot where you were allowed to get out of the car. It has a fence around it, a couple of concrete tables, and a dilapidated concrete outhouse. But there was no gate. Not that it would keep elephants out anyway. So we kept one eye on the road in and the car doors open in case we needed to make a hasty retreat. But no one showed up. We enjoyed our lunch of biltong, cheese, bread, and juice.

After lunch the trek continued through the bush. We stopped at a couple of water holes where there had been sightings in the last week, but came up blank. In fact, we never did see any animals at a water hole. But we did continue to see many grazing.

At Halali we had a very nice house. It looked like one of the newest buildings at the rest camp. Dinner, which we tried to eat out on the patio, was moved inside when the downpour of the thunderstorm invaded our area. Once again, the food was very good. I had  steak of what may now be my favorite meat, kudu. Flavorful, tender, low fat. And unavailable in the states. After dinner we went out to Moringa water hole at the camp, but alas, no animals.

Electricity is somewhat sporadic in this area. And there are planned times of no power. It just makes life more interesting. Remember, as much as possible, travel as a local.