Days 18 and 19

(Rhia’s comments are italicized)

Most safari visitors quest for a look at the Big 5 game animals in Africa. Not us. We are looking for all the animal road signs.

But this is not to take away from our more serious travel goals such as experiencing the culture, the geography, and of course, the huge amount of bio-diversity that Africa has to offer. So that means another safari. This time, though, we are able to get around the park in our own car, without a guide/driver and that made a HUGE difference because we could stay at watering holes as long as we liked…and that was a loooong time! But look at a couple of the results:

Etosha National Park is situated on a large salt pan in Central Namibia. In a normal year, the salt pan would have some water, but Namibia is experiencing the worst drought in a hundred years we have heard. But there are quite a few water spots that water gets pumped throughout the park. As unfortunate as this drought is, it does make for some good viewing opportunities, and with our car we can drive to them! We parked ourselves at these water holes and then just waited for the animals to drop by.

And drop by they did…in massive numbers.

Occasionally, a vehicle would pull in, not stop the engine, then quickly leave because there were no special animals to see at that moment. But just being parked left me with time to be able to ponder and enjoy the moment. Being in one spot helped me realize there is so much more around me than the photographic opportunities of large animals. Birds clung to blowing acacia branches, guinea fowl scratched for food, mongooses paraded through the field, stirring up mischief at every turn. With that waiting brings the anticipation of the next big discovery that may, or may not happen. Sometimes moving less actually makes you see more!

Because we’ve loved our two days here, we’re going to extend our time in this park…the beauty of not having plans!

This last photo looks like it’s been photoshopped but it hasn’t! We saw the biggest elephant we’ve ever seen! He joined a family group at the watering hole for a while then wandered away alone again. He was HUGE (and he seemed to have a bladder problem as he dripped the whole time!