Since Swako, we have been dealing with absolutely abysmal Wi-Fi. The hotel claims they offer it, but its ability to sustain any sort of meaningful connection is severely lacking. I spent about 15 minutes yesterday downloading an 1 mb map of Etosha National Park for our reference. It has been a little frustrating, and hence the long delay between posts. There’s no way I’d ever be able to upload pictures and post a blog with the crappy wi-fi situation we have here. ANYWAY...
Yesterday was spent mostly on the road —more than five hours to be precise, but fortunately almost all of it was paved. Wowzers! We arrived at Etosha Village around 3:30pm, where we checked into our own personal little chalet. The temperature is a lot warmer in the north of the country than what we have been experiencing up to now. We checked out the newly opened general store down the road a little ways and made a few purchases before heading back to our place and chilling for the rest of the evening.
The following day, we got up early to drive into Etosha National Park. We were close to the park entrance, and there were only five cars ahead of us when we arrived. HOWEVER, there might as well have been 50 because the efficiency level of park entrances in this country leaves something to be desired. First, a guy came around to ask where we were headed, which I found to be a very silly question considering everyone was heading into the park, but he did have a stern warning about making sure we paid. Alright, fair enough, I figured that would occur at the booth by the gate entrance, but it wasn’t! While there, I had to fill out a piece of paper with our license plate and how many people were in the car etc, and was handed what looked like a brochure. Payment would occur 17km down the road, where I had to stand in another line for about 20 minutes, and then finally after probably 90 minutes since we started our journey, we were “inside” the park.
The primary draw of Etosha is its dryness. It essentially guarantees that you will see at least some kind of wild animals due to the presence of a dozen or so watering holes in an area that is otherwise barren and just a massive salt pan. Shortly after the entrance to the park is the largest watering hole, albeit manmade. We skirted the parking area briefly, but it was absolutely inundated with tour buses, safari trucks, and other tourists. If we parked, we would surely be blocked in, and that wasn’t appealing. I put in my GPS the location of a small watering hole about 45 km up the road.
Enroute we saw a few elephants, but then again, so did a bunch of other vehicles, and we were blocked in until one of them finally moved. So far, our experience in Etosha wasn’t great. However, the further we drove, the fewer vehicles we encountered. By the time we reached Charitsaub water hole, there was only one car parked at the viewpoint, but probably 50 zebras and springbok taking turns drinking water. We lingered there for a while, as it was our first zebra sighting, and we probably overdid it on pictures of the old black-and white. After a while we continued east to other neighboring water holes, where we saw more zebra herds, bok, oryx, wildebeest, and an occasional ostrich. Eventually we reached a point, where I decided would be as far east as we should go, so we doubled back to the west, hitting some of the water holes that we had skipped over earlier in the day.
I had pulled over briefly to watch a few ostrich crossing the road, and then witnessed a safari truck go flying by at top speed along the bumpy road. They turned into the next water hole, and we followed shortly thereafter. Nicole and I speculated that there was some sort of sighting at that water hole, but at first glance it looked the same as the others. But then we saw it lumbering slowly in front of us - the rare black rhino. It didn’t quite make it to the water hole because it just kind of fell over, rolled around for a second or two, and then lay there in the mud, just chilling. It stayed that way for a while. After about 15-20 minutes though, a small group of elephants rolled up to the water hole and the rhino took that as its cue to leave. It seems that when the elephants show up, all the other animals kind of scatter. Eventually so did we. We continued west and eventually got all the way back to the large manmade pan, where there was just one car parked now — a far cry from the situation earlier in the day. We thought perhaps the tour groups and other guided tours were now getting lunch, while we, fueled just by granola bars and some crackers, had a panoramic view of numerous species sharing the large water hole.
We sat there for a while taking it all in when Nicole thought she saw something on the horizon. She used her binoculars and discovered they were elephants. We thought perhaps they might make their way to the water hole, and some 25 minutes later, they finally arrived, causing all the other animals to briefly scatter while they played in the mud. There were eight elephants in total, and it appeared to be two separate families that seemed to travel together. Eventually they headed off somewhere else, and the other animals closed back in on the water hole. After all this, we made a brief stop at the Okaukuejo camp, which is kind of like the epicenter for everything in the park with a gas station, convenience store, and my destination — the restroom. We got back in the car and did some exploring to the west this time, encountering a total of three vehicles over the course of the next two hours or so. The landscape in this direction was even more barren or dried out. Many of these water holes had dried up. The habitat looked more like where the hyenas hang out in the Lion King. In fact, we saw a few dried carcasses alongside the road. As we continued, we saw a small herd of zebras walking along the road, and we found ourselves basically migrating along with them slowly. Sometimes we’d stop to take a picture, and they would often stop too, sizing us up and wondering what our next move would be. We encountered a small herd of oryx just down the road from them, and much further along even saw a few giraffes. The lighting on them, however, was poor, so we were glad we had seen them in Chobe back in Botswana.
All in all it was a good day of adventuring through Etosha. I didn’t know if Etosha would seem like old hat since Chobe had wowed us in so many ways, but each safari offered its own charms. The benefit of Etosha is that it’s self-guided (should one choose to explore it that way), so while we saw various buses or safari jeeps pull up to a water hole, they would be gone in a minute or two. We were able to linger and really observe the animals without feeling rushed. We also were able to see the rhino and numerous zebra in Etosha, and completely different species like hippo, lion, and crocodile while we were in Chobe. There is a lot of talk of “The Big Five,” in Africa — an outdated colonial expression for the five African animals that were most difficult to track and hunt. That terminology has been coopted by tour groups who encourage tourists to “check the boxes” of these five animals. They are elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and cape buffalo. If Nicole and I were seeking these, we would have checked four of five. But I really don’t care. The leopard is an apex predator who, if successful, won’t really be seen anyway, and I figured it would have to be some kind of miracle to see that or a cheetah in the wild. I’d pretty much written off rhino until I saw the one sauntering over to see us today. And Nicole and I really enjoyed the zebra and giraffes, who aren’t part of the “Big Five.” The point being that we were watching the zebra for probably hours today and it wasn’t getting old, but some of these buses pulled up, didn’t even kill their engines, and just kept on driving as if a herd of 100 zebra was like finding pigeons in New York. It was a bit perplexing, but I’m afraid people get caught up in this “Big Five” nonsense and aren’t able to enjoy the numerous other species of animals that are unique to Africa. Anyway, it has been a long post, but there’s no internet, so I have plenty of time to write. That is the price you must pay. Tomorrow we have no idea where we are even driving to or where we will spend the night because that would require an internet connection. Wish us luck.
Yesterday was spent mostly on the road —more than five hours to be precise, but fortunately almost all of it was paved. Wowzers! We arrived at Etosha Village around 3:30pm, where we checked into our own personal little chalet. The temperature is a lot warmer in the north of the country than what we have been experiencing up to now. We checked out the newly opened general store down the road a little ways and made a few purchases before heading back to our place and chilling for the rest of the evening.
The following day, we got up early to drive into Etosha National Park. We were close to the park entrance, and there were only five cars ahead of us when we arrived. HOWEVER, there might as well have been 50 because the efficiency level of park entrances in this country leaves something to be desired. First, a guy came around to ask where we were headed, which I found to be a very silly question considering everyone was heading into the park, but he did have a stern warning about making sure we paid. Alright, fair enough, I figured that would occur at the booth by the gate entrance, but it wasn’t! While there, I had to fill out a piece of paper with our license plate and how many people were in the car etc, and was handed what looked like a brochure. Payment would occur 17km down the road, where I had to stand in another line for about 20 minutes, and then finally after probably 90 minutes since we started our journey, we were “inside” the park.
The primary draw of Etosha is its dryness. It essentially guarantees that you will see at least some kind of wild animals due to the presence of a dozen or so watering holes in an area that is otherwise barren and just a massive salt pan. Shortly after the entrance to the park is the largest watering hole, albeit manmade. We skirted the parking area briefly, but it was absolutely inundated with tour buses, safari trucks, and other tourists. If we parked, we would surely be blocked in, and that wasn’t appealing. I put in my GPS the location of a small watering hole about 45 km up the road.
Enroute we saw a few elephants, but then again, so did a bunch of other vehicles, and we were blocked in until one of them finally moved. So far, our experience in Etosha wasn’t great. However, the further we drove, the fewer vehicles we encountered. By the time we reached Charitsaub water hole, there was only one car parked at the viewpoint, but probably 50 zebras and springbok taking turns drinking water. We lingered there for a while, as it was our first zebra sighting, and we probably overdid it on pictures of the old black-and white. After a while we continued east to other neighboring water holes, where we saw more zebra herds, bok, oryx, wildebeest, and an occasional ostrich. Eventually we reached a point, where I decided would be as far east as we should go, so we doubled back to the west, hitting some of the water holes that we had skipped over earlier in the day.
I had pulled over briefly to watch a few ostrich crossing the road, and then witnessed a safari truck go flying by at top speed along the bumpy road. They turned into the next water hole, and we followed shortly thereafter. Nicole and I speculated that there was some sort of sighting at that water hole, but at first glance it looked the same as the others. But then we saw it lumbering slowly in front of us - the rare black rhino. It didn’t quite make it to the water hole because it just kind of fell over, rolled around for a second or two, and then lay there in the mud, just chilling. It stayed that way for a while. After about 15-20 minutes though, a small group of elephants rolled up to the water hole and the rhino took that as its cue to leave. It seems that when the elephants show up, all the other animals kind of scatter. Eventually so did we. We continued west and eventually got all the way back to the large manmade pan, where there was just one car parked now — a far cry from the situation earlier in the day. We thought perhaps the tour groups and other guided tours were now getting lunch, while we, fueled just by granola bars and some crackers, had a panoramic view of numerous species sharing the large water hole.
We sat there for a while taking it all in when Nicole thought she saw something on the horizon. She used her binoculars and discovered they were elephants. We thought perhaps they might make their way to the water hole, and some 25 minutes later, they finally arrived, causing all the other animals to briefly scatter while they played in the mud. There were eight elephants in total, and it appeared to be two separate families that seemed to travel together. Eventually they headed off somewhere else, and the other animals closed back in on the water hole. After all this, we made a brief stop at the Okaukuejo camp, which is kind of like the epicenter for everything in the park with a gas station, convenience store, and my destination — the restroom. We got back in the car and did some exploring to the west this time, encountering a total of three vehicles over the course of the next two hours or so. The landscape in this direction was even more barren or dried out. Many of these water holes had dried up. The habitat looked more like where the hyenas hang out in the Lion King. In fact, we saw a few dried carcasses alongside the road. As we continued, we saw a small herd of zebras walking along the road, and we found ourselves basically migrating along with them slowly. Sometimes we’d stop to take a picture, and they would often stop too, sizing us up and wondering what our next move would be. We encountered a small herd of oryx just down the road from them, and much further along even saw a few giraffes. The lighting on them, however, was poor, so we were glad we had seen them in Chobe back in Botswana.
All in all it was a good day of adventuring through Etosha. I didn’t know if Etosha would seem like old hat since Chobe had wowed us in so many ways, but each safari offered its own charms. The benefit of Etosha is that it’s self-guided (should one choose to explore it that way), so while we saw various buses or safari jeeps pull up to a water hole, they would be gone in a minute or two. We were able to linger and really observe the animals without feeling rushed. We also were able to see the rhino and numerous zebra in Etosha, and completely different species like hippo, lion, and crocodile while we were in Chobe. There is a lot of talk of “The Big Five,” in Africa — an outdated colonial expression for the five African animals that were most difficult to track and hunt. That terminology has been coopted by tour groups who encourage tourists to “check the boxes” of these five animals. They are elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and cape buffalo. If Nicole and I were seeking these, we would have checked four of five. But I really don’t care. The leopard is an apex predator who, if successful, won’t really be seen anyway, and I figured it would have to be some kind of miracle to see that or a cheetah in the wild. I’d pretty much written off rhino until I saw the one sauntering over to see us today. And Nicole and I really enjoyed the zebra and giraffes, who aren’t part of the “Big Five.” The point being that we were watching the zebra for probably hours today and it wasn’t getting old, but some of these buses pulled up, didn’t even kill their engines, and just kept on driving as if a herd of 100 zebra was like finding pigeons in New York. It was a bit perplexing, but I’m afraid people get caught up in this “Big Five” nonsense and aren’t able to enjoy the numerous other species of animals that are unique to Africa. Anyway, it has been a long post, but there’s no internet, so I have plenty of time to write. That is the price you must pay. Tomorrow we have no idea where we are even driving to or where we will spend the night because that would require an internet connection. Wish us luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment