Heathers Mucky World: Etosha National Park, day 1

Etosha National park, one of the most amazing places to see wildlife in the world.

This is one of my favorite giraffe pics

Okaukuejo watering hole

Springbok and black faced impala

Etosha apparently has a pretty big problem with anthrax. Yes, anthrax. It is killing off a large number of herbivores, though apparently is not affecting humans at the moment. These guys are testing this zebra to see if it is infected. A little disconcerting I must say

This watering hole was right next to our campsite. Most of our time in camp was happily spent here.
The elephants like clean water, so they would predictably walk all the way around the watering hole to the source

Back at camp, Jimmy is protecting his head

As the sun set, the animals drinking took on a ethereal look

Early morning hyena and Egyptian geese

Black backed jackal

Morning zebras

Okondeka watering hole

We set out early the next day to go to this watering hole in search of lions. They were pretty far away, but fun to watch as they played and brought out their babies

Yellow mongoose

Korhaan, or upside down bird, I think

One of the reason Etosha is so great for seeing animals is because there is so little plant life to block your view. You can see for ages.

Zebra butts

Jan and our driver for the day

Blue wildebeest

Springbok

Oryx, or gemsbok. Known as the prince of the desert. Very elegant animals

I'm not sure what this bird is, but I like it

Nebrownii watering hole

This place was amazing. The other reason Etosha is so wonderful is that it is a desert and there is no water anywhere except at the watering holes. Consequently, you don't really need to go off searching for game, you simply sit and let it come to you.

Here we encountered a pride of very young lions who were obviously very hungry.
This is the first of many hunting attempts we witnessed.

Try, try again

These beauties obviously weren't very experienced

It's quite amazing to have a lion walk right by your vehicle. They are big! (this is a theme on this trip, yes)

Another try

Look at her run

She was after an oryx this time

hmm, regroup

Go!

Almost!

She walked so close, that this was as far back as I could pull the zoom!

damn

food, food, everywhere, but not a bite to eat

What are you looking at?

Now he just looks like a house cat

drinking time

oh look, another hunting attempt

but we aren't concerned

I obviously had a hard time choosing which pics to post

I love this picture, sphynx like, no?

sigh

Ostrich and springbok

Just hanging out now

Things got interesting when the elephant showed up

Everyone gives way to the elephant, even the lion

Out of my way punk, it's bath time!

Etosha actually has white elephants

it just takes a little work to get them that way

It looks like fun though

la ti da

singing in the bath?

What are you looking at?

my space!

hmmmm

He eventually got the lion to leave, temporarily

Now that he's got that one all muddy, up to the clean water for a drink

I love how he's crossing his legs

the trunk gets tired after all that work

the now white elephant, off to do his thing

Slowly, everyone returns to the water, wary of the lions of course.

Oryx, looking elegant and powerful

Oryx sparring

Zebra nursing

Eventually, we left (sniff) to check out other watering holes

Kori bustard, a really big bird

Gemsbokvlatke watering hole

this watering hole mostly had zebra, lots of them

This little ground squirrel was fun

very curious about our truck

back at Nebrownii, our driver scared the lions out of the shady culvert they had retreated to after the unsuccesful morning of hunting.

Not 1/2 km away, there was a truck with a flat tire. All the tourist were out on the road. When we asked if they knew there was lions just down the road, they enthusiastically said they did. Idiots.

These guys were so close that I didn't have to zoom in to get these pics

You can see how young they are, the boys don't have their full manes yet

I love the texture of the grass in this pic

Pretty girl

oops, sorry! tough girl

phew

While we were gone, more elephants came to the water

Ironically, after all the hunting attempts, there was a zebra dead of anthrax (presumably) on the outskirts of the watering hole. And these dunderheads didn't even notice.

I do love these multi species pictures

Elephant love

Zebra love

5 legged elephant

peace on the watering hole, for the moment

back at Okaukuejo, eating dinner with this view. Beats TV any day

Getting these pics was difficult. No flash because it was 1. useless and 2. rude. So I set the camera on the wall, pressed the button, and hoped the animal didnt move. I have a lot of fuzzy pics for sure.
Rhino in repose