Namibia
JACKPOT IN ETOSHA
Mar
HELLO + WELCOME to today’s post about our time in Etosha National Park.
When we drove into Etosha we had grand visions of wildlife, waterholes and endless plains. We got a little more than we bargained for when the fan fell out of our car’s engine and found ourselves leaning over the engine bay while looking out for elephants and lions. You can read all about that disaster here and here.
But lucky for us, before all of this happened we had hit the jackpot in Etosha. Including spotting our 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th rhinoceros. Something that is not normal…
Here’s a collection of some of our favourite moments.
^ We spent our evenings waiting patiently at waterholes. In the silence of the night animals appeared for a drink and a play. All just 100-metres from our campsite.
^ Sunset and storms roaring in the distance
^ Rhino + his clay mud bath. He appeared to be covering his wounds (note: the red) on his face and in the creases of his legs
^ Just metres off the road and we were the only humans in sight
^ Well, hello there!
^ Hyena drunk on food and morning light
^ In the moment
^ Gareth is obsessed with these critters. It’s a Shongololo eating a caterpillar.
^ Squirrels with massive balls played around the camp.
^ Title this one yourself
^ 80’s punk
^ Raining on the pans
^ We visited Etosha in the rainy season, and although it made wildlife visibility tricky with tall bushes, it played wonders with the light
How friggn’ spectacular is this park! Etosha totally blew our socks off… or perhaps that should be ‘it totally spun our fan off’ (Note1: Apologies for ‘Kirsty humour’. Note2: Note 1 made by Gareth)
In retrospect we are lucky that our first ever Troopy disaster happened where and when it did. After seeing all these animals and surrounded by people who could help.
Keep your eyes out on the website tomorrow as we will be posting about our time in Botswana. It was wet and kind of miserable!
As always thanks for sharing the journey with us. We love having you here.
Cheers
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Check out out these posts: Tracking Desert Rhino In Damaraland with Wilderness Safaris, What we like about our rig + set-up, Whispered Words Atop Dune-45
Hi Gareth & Kirsty
Myself & Denise were in Etosha in August 2000.We were in Africa for three weeks with Absolute Africa, from Victoria falls to Cape town. The highlight for us was the four days in Etosha, especially the two nights at Okaukuejo campsite. More animals than you could poke a stick at. for a good 100mtrs arround the water hole you could not see the ground just a multitude of animals. Then the Elephants moved in & started a game of filling there trunks with water then spraying it over all the other animals close to them which moved away. After about ten minutes the animals returned,then the Elephants did it all again. This went on for over an hour.There are many other stories of our trip,but this is your trip. Keep up the posts as I enjoy reading them. Have the time of your lives.
Regards Stephen & Denise
Hi Stephen! WOW your experience at Etosha sounds incredible! Such a special place.
Thanks for all your support. It means a lot to us! Africa can be a bumpy ride and it’s so awesome to have a cheer squad online helping us get there 🙂
Cheers
Kirsty and Gareth
Great humour and Epic shots!!
Ha! Cheers Justin, I knew SOMEONE would get the 80s punk reference 😉
Kx
You guys are truly inspirational! We love reading your blog. We have just started our own 12 month camping adventure in Australia & started a blog. When we cam across your blog, it really motivated us to document our trip. Africa looks amazing, we are very jealous. Best of luck with it all and we look forward to hearing about your future adventures.
JESS and MATT! It’s so great to hear from you! We have just hit a fast free spot of wifi and we are smashing it and got to look at your site.
WOW your photos are spectacular. Can’t believe you guys got a spot at Cape Le Grand. That is epic.
And you know what else we can’t believe? Matt, you look EXACTLY like Gareth’s brother! To the point where he is now sending that photo of you holding the fish to his family 🙂
Enjoy the travels guys. We are putting together a resources page linking to blogs we think are impressive. We’ll put yours up there if that’s OK?
Cheers
Kirst (G says hi!)