Day 17: day two safari in etosha national park

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise over our campsite. 

Had another lovely breakfast and jumped into the truck, keen for more animal sightings.

Once threw the gates and after only a few minutes, we came across our first family of elephants.

The first of many....

These graceful animals are so quiet, and move around in families. 

Next up we were lucky enough to see another rhino! One of the girls on this trip has done all of east Africa and the route from Nairobi to Victoria falls and didn't see a rhino until this trip!

This guy came super close! And round the front of the truck. We then headed up to a few watering holes to see more giraffes, zebras and springbok.

We then turned a corner to get to another watering hole and came across this situation...

Yes they're all elephants...

Well except for the one rhino...

This guy was a particular favourite, throwing mud around having a whale of a time to try to keep cool. 

We headed to camp, which was in the middle of the park, had lunch in the much needed shade and headed to the pool to cool down.

The afternoon was spent with Stevie on leopard watch... which was sadly fruitless.. and then going to the etosha pan, a huge dried up lake in the middle of the part.

The rest of the game drive we continued to see red heart beasts, xebras. Giraffes. Wilderbeast. Then headed back to camp for spaghetti bolognese, a couple of savannahs and to gear up for a night trip to the watering hole.

We really wanted to do a night game drive, however when we tried to book only 8 spaces were available and 18 of us wanted to do it. Sadly our names didn't get draw out of the hat. At breakfast two of the girls gifted us they're places because they were going on to the next bit of the trip, up to vic falls. However on arrival at camp at lunch, the lodge had mysteriously lost the bookings. So none of us got to go.

However the camp site was in the middle of the park, it's the only one inside. It had a walk way down to a viewing platform over a watering hole.

We headed down around 9, a little scared as we'd been told horror stories about the honey badgers, these evil little fox/badger/ skunks who attack anything than moves and eat snakes and rats.

We got to the viewing platform, everyone was stoney silent. You could hear a pin drop. At first we just saw a few jackals, but then a rhino emerged out of no where...hung around for around twenty minutes, whilst some hyenas darted in and out of the tree line. The rhino then scurried back into the bushes and a few minutes later another rhino with a baby rhino emerged and the larger rhino shortly followed back. It was so magical! 

We were so lucky with the sightings. We headed back trying to avoid honey badgers again... for hopefully the last night in the tent....

Day 16: our first safari in etosha national park

After a reasonably early start and a beautiful sunrise over camp we headed off 2km down the road to etosha national park, a 22270km2 national park.

As we came threw the gates we turned left and encountered our first watering hole. Full of zebras, springbok and a few jackals. 

A few minutes down the road we encountered our first lion, a young male eating a giraffe behind a bush. The jackals were surrounding him hoping for a nibble at the giraffe but he was guarding his breakfast pretty well. 

We carried on up the road to the next watering hole. Will tonnes of zebras, wilderbeast, and ostriches.

Next up was some giraffes, there are tonnes of them here! 

We then saw our first elephant! A large male wandering alone. The first of many!

Next up was a very rare black rhino, who we got rather close to!

Feeling mega chuffed we headed to lunch which involved ample avocadoes. We used the pool at the campsite to cool off. Stevie did swimming races with some of the kids. Then it was back on the truck for the afternoon. 

The afternoon was a slow start. We saw more zebras and springbok but little else for some time. Lesson number one about safari. There is a lot of waiting. 

We headed to another watering hole and bumped into these guys having a drink. 

we then saw a couple of lions quite far away, guarding the watery hole and chillaxing. 

On the way out we saw entire herds of elephants walking along the horizon, with the sun setting behind them. 

We headed bsck to camp. Have a g and t at the bar with the team all feeling suitably smug and happy. 

Supper was homemade chipatis with curry and lentils then it was another early night before day two safari tomorrow!

Completely supraseeded my expectations! 

Day 15: a driving day and getting to etosha

We were suppose to get up for a swim this morning but decided to have an extra 45 mins in bed. We awoke to another beautiful day with a short drive to a bakery / lunch 2 1/2 hours away in oja. 

It was a small town with a few bakeries not far from etosha park. 

We had a lovely lunch of Russian pie and pizza ( very authentic Namibian ) and sat and chilled at a local cafe.

Pic of me writing the blog! 

We got back on the truck for a 2 hour drive to the Anderson gate of etosha where we would camp for two nights. We grabbed a g and t and headed straight to the pool before an early night prior to our first game drive. 

Day 14: Spitzkoppe and back to camping

We sadly left the comfort of our warm beds and 4 walls and got back on the truck. First stop was a supermarket where I managed to pick up a caffitiere. Thank god. Proper coffee every morning from now on. 

We then headed in land to a mountain range called spitzkoppe. 

We set up for lunch then had a few hours to explore the mountains ( and for me and Stevie to do some bouldering ).

It was pretty spectacular.

We got back to base and stevie decided to take a quad bike for a spin... driving like a grandad... you should see the video... it was more like someone driving a mobility scooter...

We then headed to camp for the night in brandburg, on the way back a huge number of springbok ran across the road in front of us. Amazing.  We arrived at our lovely camp site with a huge pool ( sadly I was on food prep so couldn't go in).

There was also a bar at the camp site which served a mean g + t. 

We stayed up a little later tonight till half 10, chatting round the campfire. Me and 3 of the Aussie girls are planning a trip together to Sri Lanka next year! On route to Stevie's bday trip to New Zealand. 

Day 13: chillaxing in Swakopmund

After a good night sleep in a real bed we had a nice lie in with breakfast at 8 then headed off for a chilled day in Swakopmund. 

There are tonnes of optional activities here such as quad biking and sky diving but we chose to just take stock and have a little break.

We started in a surf shop / coffee shop for real coffee and second breakfast. 

Then wandered around town browsing the shops. Namibia was previously under the Germans so felt a little like a German town. German is spoken widely here. 

We then found another epic coffee shop with bikes in. Both Sami and Stevie friendly. With amazing coffee. Was epic!

We then decided to pootle along the beach and both had massages at a hotel which was a lovely indulgence. We popped back to the room to get changed and then headed out with some friends for more sea food at the tug restaurant on the end of the pier. 

After a sea food extravaganza (and a cheeky gin and tonic) we headed back for one more night in 4 walls before heading back out to the bush tomorrow. 

Day 12: getting to Swakopmund

We sadly packed up our tents at the most beautiful camp site thus far and headed back on the truck to drive down to civilisation and an actual bed with 4 walls for two nights. How exciting! 

We stopped at the smallest town in Namibia, Solitaire for Africa's finest apple pie and a well needed coffee. 

Next stop on the road trip was the Tropic of Capricorn, where we stopped to take some pictures and of course do cartwheels across the line... 

We drove through this amazing Luna like landscape, simply beautiful. The landscape in Namibia is just outstanding. Everywhere is so different and simply stunning.

Then out of no where (and I'm sorry we didn't get pics) we saw our first giraffes!!! 3 of them! It was amazing!!  Lots more to come when we get to Etosha safari park.

We arrived at Swakopmund ( which I still can't say) around lunch time. Checked into our containers with hot shows, proper beds and heaters! 

Luxury!

Next stop was lunch, we decided to go for fish and chips and sit on the beach! You can take the girl out of shoreham....

We had a relaxed afternoon wandering around town then headed out for a group dinner. Sharing some lovely wine with John and lee, a couple in their late 60s from aus we've become very good friends with, and celebrating Martin and aga's 11th wedding anniversary. 

Then was off to bed for a warm, snuggly nights sleep behind 4 walls.

Day ten and eleven: the long drive and the real Namibia

After a rather cold nights sleep in the desert ( we swapped sleeping bags so I could use Stevie's very expensive warm one) we set of for a long day of driving. 500km was the aim of the day. The journey was spent watching a film on Netflix and playing games. We stopped at a town called bathanie for biltong ( a sort of dried meat ) and coffee. 

The journey continued through the most breathtaking landscape. We saw springbok and oryx and did spot some zebra. Lunch was at the road side, as a group we're got this down to military precision. A few of the guys get the table and chairs out. Another group preprare salad, tomatoes and cumcumber. We use last nights leftovers and make sandwiches.

We continued the long drive and eventually arrived at our beautiful campsite where we'd be for two nightsz yay! It was much warmer but still a little chilly overnight. 

Rather picturesque don't you think?

We had a dinner of pasta then settled in for a slightly warmer nights sleep.

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to head into Namib Naukluft national park and climb dune 45 at sunrise. Driving through the park was just breathtaking.

We climbed up the ridge of this beautiful dune, with Stevie having only one moment where the height was a little too much.

We came down to breakfast being cooked at the truck. eggy bread was on the cards (dad you know how much I like that!).

We then headed further into the park and jumped into 4x4s and headed down to Sossusvlei, a dried up lake in the desert. About half way on the walk to the lake, in the heat of the midday sun, we began to question if taking a freckly red head on a walk in the middle on the Namibian desert was a good idea. 

We made it to the lake, which was stunning but the heat was really getting to me. 

We turned and heated back in desperate need of shade. Stevie forcing me to drink water at every pace. 

We got back to the campsite around 2. Really ready for lunch. By this point I was feeling pretty rough. Despite the factor 50 and rehydration salts. 

A quick dip in the freezing pool certainly helped cool me down. However I decide to skip the afternoon trip to Sesriem canyon, a long with a few other people, and just chill and read my book. 

Que Stevie blog takeover about said canyon.

After leaving my lovely but very over cooked redhead in our tent to recover, I went with some of the group to a small canyon. 

The canyon was formed from water floods. The best way to describe it is like being inside a climbing wall all around you. 

It was cool down there... probably ideal for those suffering in the heat. It felt like somewhere people would hide from the heat if lost in the desert. I did enjoy seeing some baboons on the way back though as they scarpered off into the hills. Back to Samira to bring this day to a close.

The evening was spent having a lovely campsite dinner of steak at potatoes then off to bed for a very early night.