Small Holiday Big Dream

On safari you are up well before sunrise, in a tent you can hear all the goings on in the middle of the night, and by dawn you are itching to get out and explore

Halali was no different, packing up was a 10 minute task, as most items, such as table and chairs were stowed away the night before. Folding up the tent took next to no time, and before we knew it we were queueing for the camp gates to open at sunrise.

Five minutes spent queuing allowed us to form a plan of attack. Goas was the answer, “good chance of spotting leopard or hyena in the early morning”, declared the guidebook.

As we arrived we noticed a safari vehicle on the far side of the waterhole, a good sign, so we drove around to the far carpark.

There playing by the water’s edge without a care in the world were four lion cubs. Their mothers were a little further back from the water relaxing in the early morning light. The cubs enjoyed climbing up and around the base of some of the trees, playing cat and mouse with one another.

A third lioness emerged from the trees to join the others, everyone seemed nice and relaxed. Further back amongst the bushes was a male, lying rather still and occasionally popping his head up to catch any goings on. After a short while a couple of the cubs went over to hassle him, playing around whilst he was just trying to catch some rest.

Slowly the lions retreated from view into the bushes, and we headed off to Salvadora for a spot of breakfast overlooking the pan. Here was supposed to be a good spot for cheetah, but sadly there was nothing there for us but our muesli.

The parking area at Salvadora is visible from the road, and the sight of us stopped attracted many other self-drivers to visit the car park. At one point six or seven other vehicles must have been there, fruitlessly staring through their binoculars into the distance to see what we had spotted.

After breakfast we took in a loop of Aus, Olifantsbad and Gembokvlakte. All three are picture perfect wateringholes. At Aus we had a perfect view down over the pool as two separate herds of elephants vied for the freshwater fountain. Here there were impala rather than springboks, and more excitingly a lone Eland came down to take a drink.

Zebra, posing for the camera, drank in unison at Olifantsbad whilst several oryx made a nuisance of themselves. Gembsbokvlakte is an open pan, perfect for large numbers of game, however when we were there there was only a smattering of ostriches and giraffe.

Driving past Salvadora once more we spotted a secretary bird being dive bombed by a few anxious plovers.

Turning to head east, we stopped by Rietfontein where we spotted another solo black rhino coming down to drink. Close examination of yesterday’s photos verified that it was indeed a different rhino as his horn was completely different. He was still extremely skittish though, especially wary of the elephant bathing amongst the reeds in the middle of the pool

In the afternoon we stopped by the Etosha pan lookout, where you can drive about 1km out onto the pan and just take in the expanse. It’s very bright in the afternoon sun, so take your sunglasses. You’re unable to drive on the salt itself, probably for good reason, and a few selfish tourists have clearly broken through the bollards to trash the surface in their 4x4s

As the sun began to fade we made our way over to Namutoni camp, stopping at various waterholes along the way but without much success. A hyena approached the man-made water trough at Kalkheuwel and proceeded to jump right in. Some daydreaming impala got far too close before getting an almighty fright. Heading to Klein Namutoni we spotted some tiny little Damara dik-diks, which are the most beautiful small antelopes.

Reaching Namutoni camp on the stroke of sunset, we had a brief climb up the old German fortress to catch the last of the light over the waterhole. Spending the evening at Namutoni’s own King Nehale waterhole was not as fruitful as Halai, but it was enjoyable to sit and take in the sounds of the bush. Don’t forget your bug spray for this one!

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