After packing the house up, going to the grocery store and eating lunch we headed to Etosha Park. We will be camping for two nights inside the park. Our first night we will be staying at the Okaukuejo campsite. We had to phone ahead because we realized we were going to miss there gate closing (noticing a pattern). Unfortunately a phone call does not give them permission to keep the park gates open, so we have to put the pedal to the metal. We played group 20 questions and chatted making the time fly. We passed through many small towns and for the first time in Namibia traveled mostly by tarmac (their word). Once safely in the park before the gates closed, we set up camp (in the dark), ate sandwiches and headed excitedly(with booze) to the watering hole. It started off very slowly with only some loud american teenagers to watch, but with patience (and the teenagers gone) we got quite a show.
With binoculars in hand and nothing in sight I swore I finally saw something. It turned out to be a whole bunch of zebras. They took there time to get the watering hole something they apparently do to make sure there aren't any predators nearby. Eventually 2 giraffes, a wildebeest, an elephant and a rhino joined. It was so peaceful and serene and you get a true sense of "animals in the wild". One time when the elephant moved toward the rhino, the rhino sort of scurried out of the way showing the elephant was indeed the boss. After all of the excitement at the watering hole we headed to our campsite for some shuteye.
Good to see you back! How exciting to finally get a new blog post. You really left out how suspenseful our drive was though. We did not have enough time to get there before the gate closed. And getting there before the gate closed was not an option. We had reserved a camp site months in advance and this was the only way to sit by the famous watering hole at night, where you can see animals, but they cannot see you. Literally desperate to make it in time, Ulrich drove those five hours at least 20 miles above the speed limit the whole time. It was not the safest trip, but we made it with only 20 minutes to spare! Good times. We got one bathroom break that whole time. If worse came to worse, we planned to pee in a bag in the car. haha
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