The Great White Place of Dry Water

Was pleased to leave the paranoid foot-and-mouth Botswana (there are lots of stops where you have to get out and walk through disinfectant as only country without the disease in Africa) and head into Namibia. This is the country that I had most looked forward to seeing in Africa with all of its vast sand dunes and desert landscapes.

Our first campsite at Ngepi just across the border was awesome with really lush green lawn, a welcome respite from the constant sand. Also it had a hippo and croc pool - as in a safety cage so that you can swim without them visiting - and these great open-air themed eco-toilets and showers!! Plus the ubiquitous bar… and the best bit was that we had avoided bush camping for the night whereas the other truck (with only 12 remaining passengers after Vic Falls) were not so lucky.

The following night we did have to bush camp though but it was actually a humourous event. Bush camping is actually illegal so always have to try and pick a spot well away from the roadside and leave early in the morning to avoid detection… this day we arrived late in the evening and for some reason Phil and I had decided to sleep on the truck and not bother with the tent… a really fortuitous decision as only 30 minutes after we had parked up and the tents were erected, the land owner happened to pass by. He was a not particularly friendly Afrikaner along with his equally inhospitable wife and told us in broken English to get the hell off his land. So while the others packed up their tents, we rested on our laurels in glee at not having to do the tent again!! On the way out passed a sign at the end of the road that had skull and crossbones on it with bold letters underneath announcing that trespassers will be prosecuted… no wonder the guy wasn’t the president of Namibia’s welcoming committee.. We eventually found a spot in a layby on the road and had a great night admiring the stars and the most amazing red moon rise over the horizon.

So it was onwards to Etosha National Park – the name means great white place of dry water – which is particularly apt when you see the vast salt pans. The park spreads over 20,000 sq km and has several very well appointed camp sites with pool, bar, nice showers and even floodlit watering holes. Also both the different camps that we stayed at had their own animal viewing with little fluffy mongooses (like a cross between meerkat and a squirrel) or jackals running around stealing food at all available opportunities. The park is definitely one of the best game viewing opportunities that we’ve had as there are watering holes scattered throughout and as it is the dry season you can guarantee that you will see the animals in pairs, groups and even hundreds all crowded round for a drink. It is hilarious watching them all interact and give way to the different species jostling for space. As an example, elephants will chase away the rhinos and anything else in their way, lions scare away everything (saw quite a few prides lounging by the water), the rest all drank in uneasy acceptance of those close by.

Another reason that I loved Etosha was the amazing change in scenery from grassland and shrub to the wide open salt pan.. and the another bonus was that there were heaps and heaps of giraffes throughout the park… everyone else was quite over them by this stage but still humoured me and pointed all of them out on the way past. You could tell that most of our group had done quite a lot of game viewing in the last few months as between any good animal viewing spot a lot of people slept or read along the way and no-one hummed lion king tunes under their breath anymore.

The highlight was probably arriving at the second campsite in time for sunset and we all dashed to the watering hole to watch the elephants, rhinos and giraffes have a little sundowner and wander away into the fiery inferno of the glowing red sunset – absolutely magic. Went back later in the evening to watch some more animal antics – could really watch all night and almost had to as lost my way back to the campsite two times before managing to fall on our blue tent by accident. Note we have the only blue tent on the truck which has been a saviour on many a dark and drunken night!!