Tues 19th May. Day 9
We left Swakopmund at 7.45am for Etosha NP, our first major chance for some game viewing. After arriving at Etosha Safari Camp after lunch, we washed and had a light lunch before setting off on a 4 hour game drive. We saw plenty of zebra, springboks, wildebeest and giraffes plus oryx, a Black-backed Jackal, a number of birds and were very excited to see our first wild lion.
We had spaghetti bolognaise in the evening and then it was off to the bar in the evening. However, it was full of Germans who had appeared out of the woodwork, not the sort of wildlife I had come to Etosha to see.
Weds 20th May. Day 10
We left camp at 6am this morning for an early morning game drive. I'd picked up a nasty lurgy from someone, spent most of the previous night coughing up stuff and hence hadn't had much sleep. The highlight of the game drive was a pride of lions, I counted 8 cubs and 4 adults. There were various zebra, springbok and wildebeest wandering around the lions and it was interesting watching the lionesses crouch in the tall grass watching their potential prey but they were too far away to do any actual hunting and killing. We also saw elephants, warthogs, giraffe and impala.
We returned to camp for lunch. Afterwards, I made my way to a nearby waterhole but there were only a few impala and they were outnumbered by Germans in any case.
Later in the afternoon, we went on another game drive. We saw some more elephants and also Red Hartebeest and I'd become more interested in birdwatching - there were more to see, and it was challenging trying to identify and photograph them. I saw a Red-billed Hornbill and Pied Avocet for starters. I'd have to relay my new-found interest to Robert and Que and hope they stopped more often to look at birds rather than just pass them by because they thought no-one was interested.
We had dinner in the camp of sweet and sour pork and oryx steak. I had just a glass of wine which meant I didn't have to get up in the night for a piss. Happy days!
The personalities and group interaction in the camp were also becoming interesting. Barbara and Patricia had already bugged me twice by asking me and Doug to move our tent to the other side of the camp, all because at the start of the trip I said I might snore if I'd been drinking, although to be fair, I had been drinking every night! Patricia (who always got Barbara to do the asking) had already stated that her sister snored anyway and they were in the same tent! Also, I failed to see how moving our tent a few yards away would reduce the noise during the night, since there was a constant cacophony of sound from the insects, frogs, birds, and mammals.
If someone opened the windows in the truck while we were driving, Patricia would complain about dust getting in her eyes, but she didn't seem to worry so much when it was her or her sister who opened the window.
I'd also got into an argument with Barbara when she asked me how much I was going to tip Robert and Que at the end of the trip. She'd come up with an amount she was going to give and tried justifying it based on the cost of the tour and flights and all the work that they were doing for us (didn't they get paid for that?). However, I tried arguing that the size of the tip (and indeed, whether one wanted to tip) was down to the individual based on their circumstances. There was nothing wrong with stating what you were going to tip but she shouldn't pressurise people by stating an amount she thought they should give. I told her that previously, we had put all our tips into a single sealed envelope but she didn't want to do this in case she put in a lot of money and others didn't and she wanted Robert and Que to know how much she was tipping. I ended up telling her to just give her own tip to them, and when she kept on asking me what I was going to give, told her to mind her own business.
Soo was very quiet most of the time, probably because of her limited English. Doug seemed to get very bored of the tour after the first game drive and would actually spend his time sleeping in the truck or reading rather than show an interest in the wildlife. He later confided in me that he had got a free flight and picked this trip at random!
So, when wildlife was scarce, watch the humans instead!
Wildlife watching in Etosha NP
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Etosha National Park, Namibia
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