Namutoni, Etosha

It’s raining and there’s a big thunderstorm on its way. I’m in our more spacious 3 room, 8-man tent – it’s like moving into the Taj Mahal after a week of pop-tents and roof tents. We’ve been in Etosha National Park in northern Namibia for 3 days – and we’re here for another two before we head to Popa Falls in the Caprivi strip and then Botswana. Etosha: what a place.

When we arrived in South Africa we had a Canadian notion of what National Parks were about: big, beautiful spaces with absolutely no facilities for anyone who dares venture into them. Well, South African national parks are incredible with amazing facilities, beautiful buildings and lots to do. Etosha camps are of the same ilk: beautiful pools, great restaurants, “chill rooms”, 5-star rooms, coffee shops, great camping facilities – and it’s all generally really well done. Namutoni is one of the three camps in Etosha – and it has been brilliant.

We are getting well-settled into a camping routine that seems to work for all of us, most of the time. Standards have dropped a little: the kids seem to wear the same clothes for a day longer and a few other things have slipped a little (thank goodness). We’re all in bed around 9:30 p.m. and up at 5:30 a.m. with the sun for an early game drive. Most of the afternoon is spent in the swimming pool, ordering drinks from the pool bar and wallowing around… It’s 40C most days and the sun is blisteringly hot, but it’s a dry heat so bearable. There is a short storm most afternoons which brings the temperature down to make the nights cool and comfortable. We go for a late afternoon game drive until sunset, and then back for a braai/barbecue and bed. Etosha is wet so the animals don’t tend to congregate around waterholes as they would in the dry/winter season. This makes it a bit more difficult to find the animals but in spite of that, we’ve done well; lions, zebra, elephants, giraffe, springbok, kudu, wildebeest, warthog, gemsbok, and more. The animals are a lot less habituated than in Kruger National Park – they see a car and scatter. The campsite is terrorized by jackals every night, who are bold as brass and looking for any opportunity to steal food. They’ve met their match in our kids though, who chase them about the campsite shouting and gesticulating wildly. And there’s a troupe of banded mongoose who rove around the camp. The camp is also terrorized by our rather loud kids who are having a blast but don’t really understand that about 100 people can hear every word they say at night, including their rather random and bizarre nocturnal enunciations: “I said only ONE sweet!”, “Get out of my sleeping bag!”, “Dad! That’s my sandwich!”.

Every day brings a new set of neighbours. There are lots of overlander groups in their stonking trucks filled with Europeans and Americans. South Africans in their Defenders and Land Cruisers. A-Teamers with their offroad trailers and pop-up mansions. The kids make friends of a sort every day in the pool – and a new set the next day.

We are on malaria meds now (Etosha is mildly malarial), sunscreen all day and mosquito stuff the rest of the time. It’s like having an extra set of clothes to worry about all day – and I forgot to bring any underwear on the trip so you can imagine how this is going – only the stakes are higher. And there are BUGS. Not the wee little things you see in South Africa or Canada – BIG BUGGER BUGS. You can’t leave an open beer can around for long – the moths dive-bomb it. Leave a flashlight on for more than 10 seconds and you’re surrounded by half of the insect world. There are cockroach-like things more than 10cm long.

Etosha is beautiful. It is mostly comprised of massive pans/shallow lakes that sustain an amazing array of birdlife and bigger mammals. We’ve been taking lots of video footage on Fiona’s new Canon 5D and GoPro Hero – good fun. Today we spent more than two hours watching and filming a couple of female lions hunt springbok and wildebeest… awesome.