At night it is difficult to sleep with the wind blowing and the thunder and lightning outside. So we are ready for the early breakfast which is again a cold buffet and eggs. It is quite good and filling and soon we are ready for a day of exploration.
The waterhole receives a lot of birds in the morning so we are able to see quite a few interesting and nicely colored birds, including the beautiful waxbills, while we are moving our luggage to the car and check out. Today we have a smaller distance to cover than in previous days however it is mostly through Etosha National Park where the speed limit is only 60 km/h compared to 100 km/h on dirt roads outside the National Park.
Even though now we know that the road through Onguma up to the main road is full of animals we are again surprised by the number of animals on a stretch of only 13 km.
Right outside the gate we find a few springbok who really appear bored and don’t even move and then shortly afterwards we see zebras and wildebeest and of course a lot of birds.
The most interesting bird is the Snake-Eagle, which as the namesuggests eats snakes as it implies there are enough snakes around to sustain a healthy population.
And then we enter Etosha National Park. Etosha was first established as a game reserve in 1907 by Germany, the colonial ruler at that time, and had a surface area of about 100,000 km² (38,500 mile²) similar to current day Hungary or Portugal. As a comparison Yellowstone NP in the US has 9,000 km². However with all the political changes across the years and population pressure the protected surface has been reduced to a quarter of the original area which is still a huge area that we are trying to traverse today.
At the entrance gate again we enter all the information about us and the car and then we are directed to the nearby Rest Camp Namutoni to pay the entrance fee. The road up to Namutoni is still paved but we drive carefully and almost immediately after the entrance we notice our first giraffe which is eating from the trees at the side of the road.
It is by no means the only wildlife we see as there are lots of springboks crossing the road and also a few hornbills and bustards and we stop a lot to take pictures.
We arrive at Namutoni and find the reception immediately and then go inside to pay the entrance fee for the park. The park has a few simple rules the major ones being “do not exit out of cars outside of developed areas such as rest camps” and “exit the park or be in a rest camp by sunset”. The first one we definitely intend to keep and the second one we hope that we can keep.
As we return to the car we notice that a troop of mongooses has (again) taken an inordinate interest in our car and are jumping in the motor area and examining it. We try to shoo them away but no luck so we go to visit the rest camp and hope they are gone when we are back.
The rest camp is an old German fort and it looks like it with a defensive wall that repelled an attack of Hereros back in the early 20th century. That is if you read the plaque in fact they retreated after one day of repelling the attacks and the Hereros burned down the fort. So no repelling except for one day. It was then rebuilt by Germans and that is the structure that can be seen today.
Inside the camp are a few shops where we buy some souvenirs. Then we go to the waterhole which is the first one that we see which is typical of Etosha with lots of animals just sitting or drinking.
While leaving we stop at the gas station to fill the tank – gas stations are at a premium in the area so we want to be prepared. And we also enjoy a few more common birds here before moving on west through Etosha.
