Only 3 zebras and a giraffe

Day 11 Tuesday 11th March 2008
Halali to Okaukuejo - Etosha National Reserve

Indeed, the animals were in the Namutoni region, for we saw fewer large mammals as we drove to Okaukeujo. However, we were very amused to be stopped by a couple of German tourists who advised us they had seen "only 3 zebras and a giraffe!" We told them about the elephants and buck we'd seen at Fisher Pan and they took off in a cloud of dust to "see the big game" - straight past a small herd of Hartebeest. We laughed. They wouldn't see anything if they drove like that all day!

This dirty fellow had obviously had a wonderful mud bath! They might have seen him even at high speed.

They may even have seen these giraffe, grazing on the tops of the trees. There were about 8 giraffes in this herd. The very large one on the left towered over the others, and they were all feeding on the tops of these acacia thorn trees.

Please notice the lush grass and lovely yellow flowers and lavender bushes. The landscape was exquisite after all the rains and I took several photos of the terrain and the flowers. They didn't come out very well, unfortunately. When my camera is on zoom, I struggle to snap photos when we're moving. The zoom blurs too much, even with the Steady Shot activated.

Anyway, our German friends would definitely have missed the smaller creatures as they travelled. Such as a small flock of guinea fowl scurrying through the flowers. They are exceptionally stupid creatures, and would run in different directions, bumping into each other and getting totally flustered, somehow not getting out of the way of the car if they were in the road. Nature's comic relief! They look pretty though, their dappled grey and iridescent blue against the flowers.

And our Germans would definitely miss the extremely shy and very elusive klipspringer. This little guy is almost impossible to catch on a photo, as he normally hears you long before you hear him and takes off like a self-propelled ballistic missile! Fortunately Simon is very appreciative of the necessity of cautious driving and silence (sometimes we would travel in silence for an hour or so, until we saw something, which we would point out in low tones) so we did happen upon a klipspringer on 2 occasions. Unfortunately this was the best photo I could get of the tiny fellow. The other photos are obscured by foliage.

Around mid-morning we stopped for breakfast, cooking oats as usual. Only this time I managed to spill the almost-cooked oats over my leg! (I did mention that I get boiled and fried as often as my food! That's why Simon usually does the cooking! LOL) Having screamed in agony and been doctored by my ever-patient (and somewhat impatient "how do you always do this?) wonderful man, Simon started a new batch of breakfast and noticed that the spilled oats was being rolled away by beetles! We couldn't believe it! They came in, rolled up a ball of oats, and rolled it off somewhere. Just like dung beetles! What surprised us more was that we didn't see a single ant.

Breakfast over, we continued down to Okaukuejo, but there were no more large mammals. We did see several giant spider webs. Some of them were over just a branch of a tree, while others actually covered the whole tree, some over 1.5m/5" in height! My dad has told me about bird-eating spiders. I don't know what spiders these were, we didn't see any of the spiders themselves (I didn't want to go looking, frankly), but these webs looked large enough to stop a small bird!

We passed a watering hole that was absolutely covered in storks! There were hundreds of the birds, all just wandering around the water hole doing like an afternoon tea party. They were not too upset by our presence and we drove very close to the water, to discover it was man made! You can see the concrete edge of the trench in this photo.

Anyone who knows birds, was this a migration stop? They weren't nesting or anything, just congregating around the water like a rest stop.

Further along I noticed a large chameleon crossing the road. We went back to take a photo and he really didn't appreciate the interruption. He turned around and went back the way he came, climbed into a shrub at the side of the road and went to the highest point furthest away from the road. He obviously was camera shy!

Well, that was the last animal we saw before we got to camp. The last couple of hours were just bush and scrub and a few birds flying too far or fast for us to get a picture. I did try to take some photos of the landscape, and I got a couple of lovely photos of the beautiful flowers that were scattered all over the place. Besides the ubiquitous yellow flowers that have appeared so prolifically in so many of these photos, there were delicate whites, pretty pinks, and even deep, deep blues in different areas.

We made it into camp quite early and were assigned to a camp next to a tree with huge nests in it. The lower branch on the left hand side of the tree is being supported with a large, ladder-like wooden structure. The nests must be very heavy, as one was also lying on the ground under the tree. Breeding season was in full swing as the adult birds were constantly swooping in with beakfuls of yummy grubs for the hungry chicks, and the cacophony that ensued when an adult when into the nest was deafening. How did the adults know which chicks to feed?

The adults were not averse to grabbing a morsel for themselves either. We had delicious grilled steaks for dinner, and I mixed up a batch of instant mash as accompaniment. Simon dropped some smash as he was dishing up for himself, so he scooped it off the table and threw it on the floor.

The birds scrabbled over the titbit and then looked for another helping. They reminded me of Oliver Twist, three bandits in a row asking
"Please sir, may we have some more?"

Cheeky little fellows!

After dinner we went to the watering hole, as we had done at both Halali and Namutoni. As at the other two, not a thing. Due to the rains, the animals had no need of the watering hole. Apparently during the dry season you can go to the watering hole at Okaukuejo at any time of day and see animals.

Simon had made a flask of divine peppermint tea, we were bundled up with jackets and blankets against the cold, and armed with camera and binoculars. Unfortunately, we were out of luck - not even a ground squirrel popped up for a sip!

However, we did meet a lovely German couple who we'd seen the previous two nights as well ... and they turned out to be Geocachers! (For more info on this game, see www.geocaching.com) Simon and Wolfgang trotted off to go find a cache while Alexandra and I chatted. No luck on both of the listed caches in this area, but the men enjoyed the jaunt!

Finally, eyes drooping, we decided to give up and go to bed. Each day I would "make the bed" in the tent so that we could just climb in and go to sleep. It was cosy and comfortable and perfect after a long day.

Zzzzzz .....