Having crossed over from Angola we were now in what can be called “Africa Light”, or Africa with Shoprite supermarkets in every small town. People spoke english and there were again more tourists around.
We were planning on staying three nights in Etosha National Park, but as all of the campsites were full we only got one night in Halali and then two nights in the Eldorado Guest farm just a couple of kilometers outside of the park entrance.
As we had already bought a 72 hour entrance pass to the park, we still went the whole three days on safari, driving our truck on the dusty roads. What I found particularly special about Etosha compared to other national parks was that everything was happening around the waterholes. We could be driving for hours without seeing much more than some ostriches, oryxes and impalas and then it was first when we stopped at the viewpoints, usually by waterholes that we got to see rhinos, lions, elephants and giraffes. But that was also the beauty of Etosha. The camps, like Okaukuejo where we stopped for lunch every day had their own waterholes where you could sit day and night and watch the animals come to drink, while you could peacefully be sitting drinking some wine yourself. People might have had other experiences than me, traveling in the dry season, but all safaris I have been on before like in Botswana, Zambia, South Africa etc it has been more of a “hit or miss” than it was in Namibia.
Etosha was one of the places I had been looking forward to visiting the most on my West Africa trip and it did not disappoint me. We saw heaps of animals in a comfortable and relaxing way and had pools, good food and plenty of time as there was no longer any deadlines for visas etc that we had to reach. I finally had a feeling that the rest of my West Africa trip was going to be a holiday.
