Day 15. Onguma Bush Camp (Etosha)
We finally arrive at the grand Etosha National Park. It was a long drive but the scenery and animals are certainly worth all the effort.
Breakfast done and dusted, we jumped in the car, this time
heading towards Otavi where we go for a small detour to the Hoba
meteorite, the world's largest solid iron boulder. We pushed
further east because we wanted to see Grootfontein, however seeing
the town it was evident that there wasn't much to see. From
here we took the C42 towards Tsumeb and then back onto the B1
towards Onguma Bush Camp a few hundred meters outside the gates to
Etosha. There are a handful of lodges inside Etosha but these
are ridiculously overpriced and don't offer anything extra.
Once at the lodge we unpacked and jumped back in the car again
so that we could explore the famous Etosha National Park. We
paid our entrance fee and entered the gates. With nothing
more than a small map we toured the gravel and limestone tracks
trying to spot some animals.
It was here that we saw our first giraffe. I guess neither
one of us expected to just see it standing there, minding its own
business while our car drove past. In a way, a surreal
feeling came over me, and one completely different to visiting a
zoo. Here, we are in the wild, well about as wild as animals
in Africa get these days - man has really taken care of eliminating
them from all other areas. As large as Namibia is, there are
actually very few animals outside game or national parks. We
found out the other day that there are plans to further shrink
Etosha due to a population explosion to the north.
That afternoon we saw giraffes, gnu, springbok, eagles,
gazelles. But of course we wanted to find elephants and
lions. Our start to witnessing the big five.
We drove from one watering hole to another hoping to find the
elusive beasts, but unfortunately we weren't having any luck.
I was telling Ann-Marie that somehow I can feel the elephants
nearby, but of course she gives no time to my theories of
universal energy and dismissed my banter.
Going on my feelings and instinct I stopped the car in the
middle of the road, I could feel them nearby - within throwing
distance. As if by magic up the road, some 200m away we
spotted an elephant crossing. I turned on the car and we
crept up closer. It was standing next to some bush, ripping
it out from the ground and looking at us. We at the
elephant.
Ann-Marie opened her window wider and stuck half her body out
the window to get a better look. The elephant let out a burst
of noise, flapped its ears, stomped its foot and made a charge at
us. Ann-Marie screamed out in fright "go, go, go!!!", and
partially plunged back into the car blocking my access to the gear
stick. The car was running but we couldn't move anywhere.
Stuck between the elephant and the gear stick, she shot off
another photo. In moments like that it's hard to decide what
is more important, capturing the moment on camera or your own
safety. Eventually I pried her away from the gear stick and
we moved forward 10m away from the elephant. It too stopped
and went back about its business, albeit slightly annoyed about our
close proximity.
We watched countless other elephants cross the road and
disappear into the bush. Most of these though weren't as
aggressive and didn't kick up a fuss. On the flip side, we
kept the car running just in case we needed to run again.
The sun was settings and we still hadn't seen any lions so we
drove to a watering hole close to the park exit. There we
parked and watched at least 20 giraffes come close, clumsily
spreading their legs so that their parched lips could reach the
water.
It was a magical evening, the sun setting sun exposed only their
silhouettes. We hung around for another 20 minutes into the
night before hitting the track and heading back towards a well
deserved meal and sleep. Or so we thought.
In our haste to see the animals we must have missed some vital
instructions telling us to be out of the park by 6pm. Yes
that's right - in darkness we found ourselves standing behind a
locked gate with nobody in sight, and zero mobile signal. I
looked at Ann-Marie and said that perhaps we'll be spending the
night in the car. I inspected the gate to see if perhaps it
was just closed not locked, but no luck there.
We waited for about 15 minutes and then we saw a car in the
distance. I began flashing my lights and sounding the horn in
the hope that someone would be able to see us. As much as we
enjoyed the animals, we didn't feel like spending the night behind
bars. Luckily, a guy came and let us out. We gave him a
handsome tip for his efforts as well as for not issuing us with a
fine for overstaying inside the park.
Exhausted, we finished off dinner and then went to bed.
During the night we both heard noises and I remember Ann-Marie
waking me up telling me that she thinks lions are outside, but
I was beat and couldn't muster up the energy to get out of
bed and investigate.