It was another beautiful day in Africa this morning. We woke at a reasonable time to get packed up, have a quick breakfast, and met up with our new friends Paul and Glenda from Sydney. They too are self driving and will be staying at the same lodge as us in a few days time.

For us, it was time to leave Damaraland, hot, brilliant sun and beautiful red stone landscape swept with green feathers of grass from the recent rains.

We got in the car and set our GPS for our next location – the Etosha Safari Lodge, and away we went. We decided not to make any side trips as we wanted to get to the lodge in time to book a half day safari which would orient us to our own park exploration day tomorrow.

We had one quick stop in a small town about half way and filled up with gas. The enterprising young man at the pumps ushered is in and proceeded to give our windows the best wash they have ever seen!

We finally made it to our lodge by around 1 pm. A little early for check in at 2, but just in time to book the 2 pm afternoon safari. Phil, our driver and guide loaded 8 passengers into his three tiered vehicle. It was open to the air, but had huge roll bars on it, so it was as safe as we were going to be here!

We headed into the park at the Anderson Gate (named after the explorer who found this immense wilderness area, but let’s be honest… this place was known to the local bush people for millennia!)once through the gate, we proceeded to the first watering hole…no action, so we left that and started driving deeper in to the park when right before us a line of about 100 zebras started to run across the road. Phil believed they were heading to the watering hole where had just been, and he was absolutely right. Not only were the zebras heading there, but 2 large male African elephants also decided to visit! When we looked up to the right we saw an immense male elephant approaching as well! Slow on lumbering, he certainly took control of the watering hole.a couple of zebras braved it with the elephants, but for the most part they stood back and let the big guys have their fill!

We soon left this action packed area and moved further down the road. As we drove on we saw an amazing number of animals grazing. Springbok (small antelope) with Gnus (silver backed wildebeests) grazing behind them Apparently, the Sprinkbok feed off the long grass, and leave the shorter stuff, which is like candy to the gnus. A marriage made in heaven!

We also saw a lone Zebra, a small herd of oryx an impala and some ground squirrels. All in all a very fruitful afternoon.

We managed to get back to the lodge around 6 and headed to our quarters to put some warmer clothes on and then head to dinner. Here the temp reached a high of about 27, with lows hitting around 16-17C overnight. Interestingly our room has an air conditioner, but I don’t think we’ll need it!

Well I’ll end this here. We don’t have internet at the moment, so I’m unable to post, but will keep trying until I can get this off…hopefully before we hit Windhoek once again!

Take care, and we’ll chat again soon!