While today was never going to beat yesterday, we also had a pretty phenomenal day. We started they day with another early morning game drive, but this time it started even earlier at 05:30, how unsociable! The game drive was a lot slower than yesterday’s, but in the end we saw a good amount of wildlife, including more Cheetahs, before returning to camp. After packing the truck, we headed out on a self drive from Halali Restcamp to Namutoni Restcamp. It was fairly hot by this point in the day, so for the first part we didn’t see much wildlife, but once the scenery opened up to lots of luscious green meadows, we saw lakes, birds and then hundreds of Zebra, Springbok and Gemsbok. We even saw a lion hiding under a tree to get out of the sun. Our afternoon game drive was wonderful with so many zebra and giraffe in the lush green environment, the highlight was definitely the giraffes crossing the road in front of us, and walking next to us multiple times.
- Start: Halali Restcamp
- Destination: Namutoni Restcamp
- Distance: 80km
- Planned Duration: 1h30min
- Actual Duration: 3h25min (self drive safari)
- Animals Seen: Red Hartebeest, Springbok, Gemsbok, Gnu, Impala, Spotted Hyena, Jackal, Giraffe, Cheetah, Black Rhino, Ostrich, Tawny Eagle, Kori Bustard, Guinea Faul, Lion, Zebra, Black-winged Stilt, Tortoise, Secretarybird, Marabou Stork
Game Drive
After the success of yesterday’s game drive, expectations were high, and while today’s was definitely not as good as yesterday’s, it was certainly a good morning excursion. We set off in the dark at 05:30, with the driver using a red light to search for wildlife. The first hour or so was very quiet, with only a few Springbok being spotted. Eventually we saw a Kori Bustard and while we were looking at that through the binoculars, the driver spotted a male lion on a small ridge a long way into the distance.
Shortly after this we observed a group of 3 spotted hyenas walking across the plain, while another was chasing some Red Hartebeest. Unfortunately the light was fairly challenging for the photography, and just as they were turning into the morning light, they must have slept something as they all ran off into the distance (the direction the other hyena chased the Red Hartebeest. Other than photographing some of the Red Hartebeest which were not chased by the Hyena in the morning light, it was then very uneventful for a while, until Becky spotted a Giraffe. As we were already on our way back by this point, we were hoping for more, but expecting not much, however we were very surprised to find three cheetah walking down the middle of the road back towards camp. Again the light was pretty challenging, but they were great to see and this was an excellent way to finish the tour, or so we thought.
Just a few hundred meters further down the road, the driver spotted a Black Rhino in the undergrowth to the side of the road, due to the undergrowth and distance there are no photos, but this really was the icing on the cake and a great way to end the drive.
Drive to Namutoni Restcamp
Having woken up very early two mornings in a row, it was safe to say we were both feeling pretty tired on the drive to Namutoni. The first half was very slow with almost no wildlife, it was already very hot and sunny. We stopped off a the viewpoint over Etosha Pan, which was a vast expanse of nothingness, with a few animal tracks across it. We took a detour on the next section of the driving hoping that it might be better for wildlife, but all that this resulted in was a longer drive and no wildlife!
All of a sudden the landscape totally changed, and became luscious green meadows and lakes of water, such as stark and sudden contrast. Here we started seeing loads of birds and the wildlife picking up again. Then we arrived at the meadows prior to the restcamp which was full of wildlife with huge dazzles of Zebras, Gnu, Springbok, some Giraffe and even a lion hiding from the sunshine.
When we arrived at the rest camp we hid out of the sun for a bit, before heading back out on our late afternoon self-drive.
Evening Drive
Our evening self drive was excellent from the very start, we were in lush green meadows which were full of springbok, gemsbok, gnu, and more importantly, absolutely teeming with dazzles zebra and towers of giraffe. After this first section is slowed down for a bit, and then we had some rain, then we saw some more animals and then we had a lot of rain.
It did clear up for the end of the day, and we had a lovely time driving back around where we were earlier in the day, the highlight being a zebra with her very small foal and the vast number of giraffe. At the end of the day we saw 21 giraffe walking together, after crossing the road the dominant male waited for the other giraffe who were slower before moving on. A wonderful end to the day.
Comments