And then it’s off towards Onguma Bush Camp our next accomodation which is at the entrance to Etosha, the most well known national park in Namibia due to its varied and rich wildlife. As we start towards it we get a few drops of rain and there are clouds everywhere which we think it is unusual given that it is the dry season. After reaching the pavement and the B1 the going is much faster and we reach Otjiwarongo the major closeby city relatively fast.
As the gas station attendant has said most shops are closed but there are people celebrating or hanging out everywhere. Here as we try to identify which road to take we observe for the first time a major naming feature for the Namibian north – lots of city names start with O. We have to choose between Otavi followed by Oshivelo going to Omuthia, Onyati, Onankali, Ondangwa, Oshikango and the Angola border or Outjo, Okaukuejo – yep lots of cities starting with O. Most major cities seem to have a roadblock at the entrance or exit however today we are mostly waved through or they are not even manned in our direction as the majority of traffic is in the other direction with people returning to Windhoek at the end of the long weekend. Still we are stopped once asked where we are going and asked to show the driver licence but that is the worst it gets. Along the road we see many animals mostly warthogs, baboons and a few birds like guinea fowl and hornbills.
As we get close to Etosha NP we are searching carefully for the entrance to the Onguma Private Game Reserve but we shouldn’t have worried as it is very obvious and it even has a guard at the entrance. After finding us on the list and after us completing all the necessary information on his checklist we are allowed in but our camp is still 12 km down the road. So we drive carefully as the dirt road is not in great shape in places and the road curves and then goes straight next to the border to Etosha. Barely a couple km in we see lots of antelopes grazing on the Etosha side and immediately after we notice an elephant. This is really exciting even though he is on the other side and in Etosha and at a distance so we take quite a few pictures and move on finding immediately our first Kori Bustard also. Quite cool!
And the surprises keep coming as we do not get far before seeing lots of zebra on the plains. And then springboks and other antelopes. And then warthogs. And so it goes as we stop almost every a few 100 m to see an animal or bird and to take pictures. Even though we expected to see animals in Etosha we didn’t expect the abundance even on this short road and are really enthralled about them.
There are also lots of birds including weavers as well as Black-winged Kite looking around carefully but not minding us at all which is nice.
When we get close to the Camp we get to the fence that encircles the camp for safety and after opening the gate we drive the short way to the reception. As we are pulling up we are offered two fresh glasses of guava juice and then again we go through the now known ritual of signing in.
Afterwards we get a tour of the facilities pool, restaurant, reading room, waterhole overlook room and of course the waterhole where we see in the distance two elephants that supposedly just drank from it.
Our room is really nice and overlooks the waterhole which is what we wanted as we can watch for animals and birds from our room. The room is great, it looks like a yurt, and it has all the modern conveniences except TV. It even has Wifi so we can check our email.
While we watch for animals the sun is setting and given the clouds it is a beautiful sunset so we take lots of pictures as the sun falls towards the horizon. Also the wind starts to pick up, it almost feels like there is going to be rain. Actually we see lightning on the horizon but no rain yet. Before dinner we go to the reception and book a night drive to go after dinner but we are not sure whether it will be held given the weather.
We are almost first at dinner but still it takes a long time to get served the whole menu. As main dishes we get pork and beef so the food was not as exciting as we were hoping for Africa – still it is good as well as the soup and the dessert.
And then it is off to our nighttime adventure. To our surprise and delight we are the only ones on the tour and there are 2 guides one who drives and one that relentlessly moves a strong searchlight from left to right searching for eyes of night creatures. The safari is 1 1/2h long and we start seeing animals right from the beginning, lots of antelopes (including a sleeping impala) and zebras everywhere even on the roads as we are driving towards them.
We tell the guide that we want to stop for any animals and he mostly does that. Halfway on our trip we see a genet (a small cat) then a few white owls and then the highlight of the trip is a bushbaby which looks almost like a plush toy. We also have a chance to see a bushfire on the farm that we also noticed at dinner but the guide tells us it is a controlled burn. Given the wind all around us we hope that it doesn’t get out of control at least until we leave the area. After we get back and tip the guides we finally go to sleep as tomorrow is the day we are driving through Etosha and hope to see as many animals as possible.
