We were able to wake early, a little before sunrise. We went through our now morning ritual, breakfast and then packing away the tent, exiting the Halali gate right after it opened. We decided to hit a few waterholes in the area that we missed yesterday, visit the pan, and then make our way west to Okaukuejo towards the afternoon. Reception had already told us Okaukuejo was full that night, but seeing as they were batting 100 at being wrong, we decided to go there anyway and finagle a spot for us to camp at tonight.
We headed out, stopping at the Etosha Pan. Just a huge to the horizon zone of white, scorched, dead zone with nothing apparently living there. Still, would be cool as hell to cross, but we didn't have the time. It was an experience just visiting it for 15-30 minutes. Not out too long after leaving the pan, we were driving past a wide-open dry area and into a grassy plain, when Radhika emphatically said, "Stop!” She had spotted our first lion!! It was a female, relaxing in the tall yellow/tan grass. Zebra and springbok were eyeballing here. The zebra were like stone, hardly moving a muscle, with eyes fixed on her. The springbok however, would glance in her direction, but would continue on. They are so quick and agile, they are not as concerned about the lion as the zebra. Then, by surprise, out of the tall grass a male lion laying next to the female lifts his head to check out the scene. He was totally hidden from view. They both took in the menu as it passed, but showed little interest. That's because they had other things on their minds - - SEX!! Yeah baby. There was some shagging going on in the bush. After they both had almost completely vanished from site laying back down in the grass, she raised up to all fours. She looked at the frozen zebras, still not moving much, glanced over at the male and slowly walked over to him. He raised his head as she came near, and she walked past him, but as she did she smacked him in the face with her hindquarters! She just swung her ass in his direction and popped him with her hips. He made it to his feet and followed her to where she had stopped, crouched down, and waited for lover boy. For all of 10 seconds, we watched as these two (I guess you can say) went at it. It was not inspiring, so all you guys should know if your partner calls you a lion in the sack, it's really a slam. Don't be bragging to the fellas. However, as women like to complain about, after he did what he needed to do, he walked a short distance and promptly fell back down into the grass to resume his nap. She, on the other hand, rolled over onto her back, paws up in the air like the Don Juan of the lion world had just ravished her. We stayed there for almost 2 hours watching them, waiting for them to exhibit some interesting behavior, chase some game, welcome more lions, but all they did roughly every 30 minutes was get busy. And it was the exact same way each time - the male getting a smack in the face with the business end of the female. It was interesting when a herd of Wildebeests came up on these two. The entire herd, maybe 50 or so, locked it up quick when the lions were first detected. I could almost hear the screeching tire sound in my mind. But even they, eventually, weren't as skittish as the zebra, and I know why. That zebra flank we ate in Windhoek was damned tasty! If I were a lion, that silly, striped horse would be at the top of my list of what I would want to run down, suffocate, and than chew on for the next several hours. After watching the 4th ho-hum hump-fest, we decided to move on to see what else was going on.
Not too far down the road from where we watched the al fresco fornication, we came upon 5 more females laying low in the tall grass on the opposite side of the road. As luck would have it, a bus came by to watch for a little while, and out through one of the windows popped cousin Jens smiling mug, as her group toured Etosha before returning to their program back near Windhoek. These lions were stationary, and it was now late morning and the sun had heated up the earth pretty efficiently. I didn't think they would hunt at this time of day, as they were huddled under a scrub tree for its shade. But we sat and watched for a while anyway, in the event something would happen. It didn't. So, with it being close to noon and we weren't far from Halali, we returned to have our lunch there. It was pretty empty, with most out in the park. We sat near the pool and outdoor restaurant, ordering a couple of drinks to go with our sandwiches that Radhika made. Halali is a really nice camp, with a great swimming pool, nice restaurant, and plentiful campsites.
After lunch, hit some waterholes and then made our way west towards Okaukuejo. We saw many animals along the way at the waterholes and on the plains. But one of the best ones waited until we were practically at the gate of Okaukuejo, when we spied a rhinoceros in the bushes foraging. Jockeying the truck back and forth as it moved along, we watched it until it went deep into the wooded area and out of sight (at one point it got within perhaps 20 feet of the truck!). By then, it was close to 5pm, so we figured our viewing was done for the day and we went to reception to secure a spot to park and camp. We were given spot #40 and a map to find it (remember - we were told at Halali that Okaukuejo was OVER booked). Well, it took a little effort to find it, as the map and the verbal directions didn't seem to match to me or Radhika. But we eventually found it, parked, and checked out the area and what is widely considered the best, nighttime waterhole for viewing game. The lodges here are the best in the park. Also, the most numerous. The restaurant and shops looked pretty nice, and they had a "baby" pool along with the larger Olympic sized one. They have a tower that offers great views, and the waterhole IS fantastic. I would say a perfect visit to Etosha would be a night in Namutoni, two in Halali, and as many as three in Okaukuejo. That night after dinner, we watched a large group of giraffes come for water, and heard lions in the distance groaning, which set off howling amongst some closer to the camp wild dogs. I took a shower late, as Radhika was in the tent. On my way from showers to tent, the lions released some low groans, sounding a lot closer to the camp. I must admit to climbing the ladder into the tent with more purpose than usual. I know there's fencing around the entire camp - or at least that's what I was told and assumed, but my heart was saying get your ass up the ladder tout de suite. Radhika could hear the lions from inside the tent, and she smiled as I told her my determination to scale that ladder a little faster than past nights.
Tomorrow we would leave Etosha and head for Damaraland, not too far from the Skeleton Coast. The animals of Namibia, for the most part, would be left in Etosha.
To see the album for this post, go to:
http://www.photoshop.com/user/johndp/?galleryid=0f9906f085c9411d92efe254cf526e7b&rlang=en_US&trackingid=BTAGC&wf=sharegrid
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