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

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

Momma and baby black rhino

lots of black rhinos

While everyone gives way to the elephants, the rhinos don't really like to and stubbornly stick it out for as long as possible

Rhino butt

Funny looking things, arent they?

Etosha: Lion vs Springbok

This was truly the most spectacular experience in my entire trip. This was the 5th or 6th attempt by a hungry pride of young lions to obtain some food that we were able to watch. Since it is the most spectacular, and I will probably want to pull it up to show people, I'm posting it separately. Look for more wonderful lions in my next postings.

Nebrownii watering hole (I think)

Poor, unsuccessful lion

On the road in Namibia

We headed north out of Windhoek, on our way to Etosha. Warthogs! Boy did Jan get the gullible people on our bus with a story of warthogs and their tight skin necessitating tails to be raised while they run so that they can see. Otherwise their skin is so tight that it pulls their eyes shut. While Jan is a master of bullshit delivery, it was still amazing how many people fell for this story.
The traditional dress of one of the Namibian tribes is a pseudo Victorian with a hat that looks like cow horns.

Unlike the Victorians though, they are smart enough to use light cloth in the tropical heat.

Windhoek

In the middle of the Aus mountains lies the capital city of Windhoek
Namibia was a German colony and they were pretty nasty at first (like most colonists I guess). After killing off the majority of the main tribe, they built this church in a gesture of peace. ha

Above is the new history museum being built

Below is the old museum, as well as German fort.

This is some bureaucratic building, with pretty gardens

I liked this reflection

We got there on Sunday, so most stuff was closed. These die hard curio vendors were out though

Lots of wooden hippos for sale. Funny in a desert country.

Thees ladies are of the Himba tribe. They live in Northern Namibia herding cattle. The most noticeable thing though, is their coloring. They cover themselves in a paste of animal fat and ochre. It gives them this coppery glow and is quite beautiful. Not that my picture show it because I snuck it from a distance, but google them and you will see.

Namibia: Sandune Lodge

After a very long day of driving, we left beautiful Botswana and entered into Namibia. There were a few adventures along the way, namely the lost passport, but we eventually arrived to the lovely Sandune lodge.
The greatest feature of this place was the kilometers and kilometers of walking trails. After so many days on a bus, it felt wonderful to walk. Also, pretty exciting to see some of these animals face to face.
I think this is a Kudu in the distance
Black wildebeests

They are also known as white tailed gnus. A little less common than the blue wildebeest, or common gnu.Wildebeests are apparently super playful animals, gaining them the reputation of the clowns of the bush.

Giraffes are big when there's nothing between you and them. I was later told that they are super curious animals and if you lay down on the ground, they often will come up to see what you are doing. That could have been fun.

But instead, we just scared this one off into a goofy run.

As we left, we saw what Jan affectionately called a 'Kalahari Ferrari'

After we left the lodge, we stopped at a rest stop. Here is where I discovered the magic formula. If you show a kid a picture of themselves, they will go nuts and ask you to take picture after picture. Great opportunity to take pictures of adorable children.

Eventually, they got tired of this, and moved on to the swings. Fun stuff