Being on safari is many people´s dream. No matter the destination it is always an inspiration to see wildlife in their natural habitat. Namibia offers this experience, which is great when you realize it´s not very far away from the most ancient desert in the world. The contrast is truly amazing.
I must admit going on safari was not the main purpose of this trip. However, it made sense to join a G Adventures Namibia tour to spend quality time in this country and that inevitably included visiting Etosha National Park, the biggest and most famous wildlife park in Namibia. There are smaller private reserves but nothing like visiting the big national parks.
“There is no wifi on safari, but you will find a better connection“
I am tremendously blessed to say Namibia was not my first experience doing safari 😉 I knew what to expect and yet I felt super excited when the games started, just like watching Animal Planet again and again.
Getting there
Our itinerary was a roadtrip from the coastal town of Swakopmund to Etosha, approximately 500 km north-east with good road conditions. On the way you can already see some wildlife every now and then close to the roads.
The distance from Namibia´s capital, Windhoek, is almost the same. For people traveling only to Etosha, the easiest way is to fly to Windhoek and then travel from there. There are also charter flights from Windhoek that take about an hour, but in my experience the distance and road conditions are very decent to manage by land.
Okaukuejo Camp
We are in! After half-day travel, we entered the park and we were already watching giraffes on the way to our accommodation 😉
The biggest advantage of staying inside the National Park is you don´t need to drive long distances to get in and out of the park. Trust me, in the safari world it does matter if you don´t want to start your day 5 am in the morning!
The lodges and campsites inside the park are managed by the government. They are considered basic or at least not as fancy compared to private high-end lodges outside the park.
Our G Adventures tour included the camping site and all the camping equipment like we did in the Namib desert.
The trip was in November which is the start of the rain season in this area. Since there were not that many tourists this time of the year, I had the possibility to “upgrade” from my humble tent to an actual room with all the comfort you give for granted until you´re camping 😉 -yeah, not a camping person here but I cover my adventure quota in the desert- so I did!
Anyway.. point is this accommodation is NOT that basic as per the reviews. At least I was satisfied with my room, air conditioning and facilities I paid for, so no regrets. The camping area also looked very decent with kitchen facilities, charging stations and showers and many places for those camper-vans.
There were also much fancier rooms and bungalows overlooking the watering hole, so I think it´s a good option for anyone who wants to stay in the park and not spend a fortune outside. I have nothing against it.
Mind blowing African sunsets!
I know you are probably here for the animal pictures.. but OH MY GOD the sunsets I got to see in Etosha National Park.
Perhaps even more than the animals, one of my biggest “OMG I cannot believe I´m here” moments were the sunsets. It was just so perfect! Like the tree, the waterhole and sunset combined were just meant to be in a painting!
Africa – You can see a sunset and believe you have witnessed the Hand of God
Then we had rainy evenings remember? The combination made the landscape so pretty I cannot even describe it but thank God we have photos to help 😉 Also the fact that silence is required in this area made it so peaceful.
Watering holes
The government campsites inside the park have easy access to watering holes. These are particularly important before the rain season, as it forces animals to go there. That´s why it´s a quiet zone to respect animals and don´t scare them.
Same case in the park itself. The guides already know where the watering holes are so it´s expected to drive by them during the day to increase the chances to see more wildlife.
In the campsite, it is a huge advantage that you are already there and can just sit and wait all the time you want
Wildlife! (… finally)
Let´s get to business, we had officially 2 game drives plus the optional night safari that half the group chose to have. I am sharing here some of my favorite shots of the main species we saw, and a bit more on Instagram!
Springboks
Any variation of antelope is pretty but I found these little guys particularly cute! They are abundant and I will never forget my guide saying: They are “the McDonalds of the park” 😉😉 I´m sorry for them but it´s the circle of life! So pretty, so elegant…
.. but also so fragile. We saw one that was hurt and limping.. most likely did not make the day ☹ but this is wildlife and something almost expected on these safaris. It´s always rough but real nature behavior.
More photos on Instagram. We saw a lot of these! Females have the smaller horns
Giraffes
The highlight was the drinking position 😉 As large as they are, it´s incredible how much they flex to reach to water!
We watched a group of 3 giraffes walk to the mini lake to drink until they left. The team work and precaution they take is remarkable. Thankfully for us, with such huge animals it is very easy to witness and understand what´s going on.
First, they were in 3 different positions continuously scanning the surroundings until they felt it was safe to drink water. However, there was always one on the watch while the other two were drinking,
Last fun fact of giraffes, when they run the distance they cover so quickly is just unthinkable until you see it.
Lions
Again I saw a lot more females than adult males. We saw a small group in the morning, as expected not doing much. Then we found a bigger group under a tree, not much activity either but on our way back we saw them again, this time more active and interacting with each other. Others.. still dong nothing 😉 No surprise as these guys get active during the night!
Short video of this interaction! Looks like mommy lioness would not leave the teenager alone.
And.. because I really loved how close we were and the pictures I could take.. a couple of more photos on Instragram! The youngsters were super cute, not cubs anymore but not fully adults yet.
Oryx
I was particularly looking forward to see Oryx. They are so symbolic of Southern Africa and even more Namibia! They are so beautiful and elegant with those big antlers. Females also have them, just not as big as the males.
We were fortunate to see many Oryx along the way in Namibia including the iconic views with desert background. Being in the park allowed us to see them even closer. I had not see this species in Eastern Africa!
Zebras
Another classic for African safaris. The new thing is there are 2 species of Zebras here: Burchell’s zebra (or plain zebras) and the Mountain zebras. The main distinction are the stripes on the legs.
The stripes on the sides run down and join under the belly, but the stripes on the legs are fading. This also caught my eye as the zebras I had seen in Eastern Africa had more defined stripes on the whole body.
We mainly saw and photographed the plain zebras, but we also saw the Mountain ones. They were a bit far so I didn´t get a good photo but the main difference was in their stripes being more solid, also they are slightly bigger.
Last, video of the zebras having a dust-bath that we see in one picture above.
Red hartebeest
This is another antelope species I had not seen in Eastern Africa, so always exciting when this happens! We saw a timid couple. We can differentiate the male from the size, black face and bigger horns.
Wildebeest
Let´s be honest, compared to the thousands of wildebeest I saw in Kenya, this was very discrete (well same with zebras), but as said in the beginning of the blog, it does not mean at all it´s not exciting to see!
The color of wildebeest also varies depending on the soil. These ones were not fully black but they had lighter color. They are normally in peace with other animals, in this case we saw them together with Oryx.
Ostrich
These big birds are always fun to see! The best way to understand their true speed is by seeing them in the wild!
They are incredibly fast when they run! We normally saw them in pairs, but every now and then there was a single one (ehem… why not?)
Steenboks
This was another … awww antilope moment. Such a cutie! Male on the left, female on the right. They are found in Southern African countries, also in some places of Kenya and Tanzania. I don´t remember particularly seeing them there (I saw mainly impalas), so I´m counting this as new species ;D
-yes, I´m annoying with the NEW thing- but I must say, this is the beauty of Africa. Apart from the big 5 or most common animals people want to see, for me it´s amazing to see different antelope species or in this case even zebra species across Africa. The continent is huge and we were really in the south!
Night safari
Again new experience for me! During the day there are both government and private safari operators. However, if weather allows to do night safari, it is only possible via the official park rangers. You can´t even book it in advance, until you are there and the drivers assess if you can go or not.
I truly had no idea what to expect but I went for it anyway -of course!-
How it works? We go out before sunset so you can admire it on the road, and also can see animals with the remaining light (by then my big camera battery died..)
As we continued, the clouds and intensity of the thunders and lighting increased! It was amazing and a little scaring at the same time (Note: I´m usually afraid of this, where I live now this is not a thing but it reminded me why I used to be afraid of it)
When it gets fully dark, the guide turns off the vehicle´s normal lights and uses a manual red light to “scan” animals while he keeps driving. -I was like wooooooooo this is dangerous driving but hei, adventure!- We survived!!
Only the rain made us come back a bit earlier than anticipated, but we were still out there for about 2-3 hours. We saw rinos, hyenas and more steenboks. Still a success!
Bonus: Meanwhile in the campsite..
Fun fact is while were on the night safari, it turned out couple of elephants came close to the watering hole! Below is not my picture, but thankfully our amazing group was kind to share their photos with us. I´m still happy I went for the night safari but also the guys who stayed had a great experience with the lightnings AND animal background.
And good-bye Etosha. After one and half, very intensive days, it was time to move on south to Windhoek to leave Namibia.
… Safari again?
That´s easy.
YES! If life gives me that opportunity again, I definitely see myself experiencing this again. It is absolutely amazing!
Interested in Safari? See here my Kenya and Tanzania safari experiences!
