Today we had very little travelling, as we were just travelling between camps in Etosha, which also meant that the short drive was just another part of our self-drive safari. We started the day with a paid-for safari as we thought that it would give us a better chance of seeing some wildlife, and how right we were! After this had finished, we did a bit of a self drive to go and see the lion again, before heading east to get to our second camp at Halali Restcamp.
After arriving here and checking into our little chalet, we went off on a self-drive safari, which was very slow to start with, but finished in an amazing fashion, as a great end to a brilliant day. We cannot really see how tomorrow can better today!
- Start: Okaukuejo Restcamp
- Destination: Halali Restcamp
- Distance: 70km
- Planned Duration: 1h20min
- Actual Duration: 1h25min
- Animals Seen: Spotted Hyena, Springbok, Zebra, Gnu, Gemsbok, Lion, Giraffe, Black Rhino, Cheetah, Jackal, Secretarybird, Ostrich, Tawny Eagle, Impala, Kori Bustard, Guinea Fowl, Red Hartebeest
Morning Game Drive
Our day started horribly early with a 5am alarm call so that we could be ready for the game drive at 5:50. No sooner as we had left the camp we saw our first wildlife, while it was still essentially dark, a spotted hyena. This was definitely a sign of things to come.
Shortly into our drive we saw three lions, a male and two females, however they were not very obliging, as they just wanted to lie down, and the light still wasn’t brilliant while we were there. I made a note of the exact location, as this was pretty similar to where our friends had seem them the night before, with a plan to return later.
As we were driving along, a shout of stop came from one of the passengers, who, somehow, had managed to spot a cheetah and a cub in the undergrowth.
We followed the cheetah along the road, while they were ducking in and out of bush cover quite a distance away. However, they gradually made their way closer towards us and came to the road to drink out of a puddle! So there we were, sitting on the road, watching a cheetah and her cub drink water just meters away from us, amazing!
On our way back to camp our luck ended, as the safari vehicle got a puncture! After the wheel was replaced, we finally made it back to camp, elated with our experience.
Morning Self-Drive
After the game drive we had some food, and then quickly headed back to where we had seen the lion before, and luckily enough, they were still there. Although it was already getting too hot and they were clearly hiding from the sun. Thankfully the male did make a brief appearance and posed for the camera.
Relocation & Afternoon Self Drive
We then headed to our next rest camp and checked in, before heading out on our afternoon game drive. While the land around Okaukuejo was all very open, the route we took was the polar opposite, and we quickly realised what people meant about the downside of the wet season. You could hardly see any distance, and just had to be lucky that something was right by the roadside as you passed. For ages we didn’t see anything, we just drove through a lot of muddy puddles, eventually we started to serious species of antelope and Gnu, which was at least a relief. The drive continued with much of the same, we saw a lone zebra at a watering hole, along with lots of more wildebeest and a buzzard.
As we were starting to think that we weren’t going to see anything, we were excited to spot a tower of giraffe, which made our afternoon, as we had been wanting to get a better view of the giraffe. As we were driving down the more major road back to camp, Becky suddenly spotted something in the road ahead, and when she looked through her binoculars, she excitedly proclaimed that they were lions.
There were two young male lions and one female lion casually wondering down the road. As we approached they were totally unfased by us turning up in a car, and just continued walking down the road and playing with each other (the males). At times it felt like they were so close, if we reached out of the car we would have been able to stroke them, it was really quite surreal. We think we drive around 1km down the road with them, before they went off into the bushes for a lie down.
At this point we were elated and thought that it was a brilliant end to our day, but we had one more surprise in store. About 10minutes before we got back to camp, I spotted another Black Rhino, which was a wonderful way to end the day.
We really do not know how tomorrow, or for that matter, any other safari day can beat today, but let’s see!
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