We made it to Etosha National Park about an hour before sunset, when the gates close. Our campsite was at Halasi, the second campsite. We made it to the waterhole, wine in hand, just in time to watch the sunset and some black rhinos sipping.
We took a short break from the waterhole to make dinner and, when we came back to the waterhole, there were six lions lounging. They were tired—in the dark, it was easy to confuse them with rocks—and apparently satiated. They were completely uninterested in the other small animals that came up to the waterhole to drink.
The next day, we spent a whole day driving around the park, with a short break lounging near the pool at the third campsite. Before we came to Etosha, I thought that we would not be able to see as many animals without a guide. Instead, we saw a beautiful family of lions with the smallest cub we've seen yet,
a leopard, and tons of elephants, giraffes, antelope, zebra, etc. Almost as amazing as the big cats was the number of animals that were hanging out together at the waterhole. At one waterhole, there were zebra, giraffe, several breeds of antelope, a hyena, a jackal, and warthogs all drinking at the same time.
On the way back to camp, we stopped for a few pictures on the very dry Etosha Pan.
I guess this explains why the waterholes are so popular.
That night, the waterhole was less lively. We did see some more rhinos and a leopard, but that was about it. The next day we drove around the western part of Etosha, again stopping at one of the campsites for a swim. There were not as many big animals that day, but there were lots of other animals and interesting birds. We also observed a lot of interesting animal behavior such as giraffes engaging in foreplay and zebra fighting.
Sunrise
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