Etosha National Park

Namibia & South Africa, July – August 2024

Day 7 – Jul 17: San tribal village – Etosha National Park (Halali Campsite)

We drove via Grootfontein, where re refueled and did some major shopping for our next destination, Etosha, where we were going to spend a whole week, in 3 different campsites. This was my third trip to Etosha, which helped a lot to decide where to stay, where to look for wildlife and which waterholes are best to visit.

We entered the park at the Namutoni Gate and drove slowly towards our camp, Halali, visiting a couple of different waterholes along the way.

Our first cat: the African Wild Cat

Springbok males fighting over dominance

We checked in at the Halali Restcamp and set up camp, before our afternoon safari drive. Halali is my absolute favorite camp in Etosha, for its waterhole as well as some great diverse habitat nearby. One of it home to cheetahs, one of our top targets to see up close.

Hornbill

Elephants hugging

Yes, our first lions, in beautiful afternoon light

A good start in Etosha, with our first lions! We had dinner and then went to the Halali waterhole, always an exciting place and great opportunity to see some Rhinos up close!

Soon Rhinos showed up, together with some zebra

Black Rhino

Day 8 & 9 – Jul 18 & 19: Etosha National Park

The next 2 days we did more or less the same loop along the Etosha Pan and some waterholes, mainly targeting the area where I’d found cheetahs in two previous years. You need good eyes, and a lot of patience…

Hartebeast males fighting for dominance

Black Rhino feeding on acacia

Spotted Hyena and a vulture on a young elephant carcass

Hyena picking order

Oryx, a large antelope

6 Black Rhinos and an elephant!

Black Rhino

Spotted Hyena at dawn

Cheetahs!

Mother teaching her young to hunt

Cheetahs like higher vantage points, in search of prey

Female Ostrich

Black Rhino mom with large calf

Sunset over the Halali waterhole

Elephants surrounding a lone Black Rhino, eventually chasing it away

Our time at Halali came to an end; it certainly delivered what I had hoped for, so everybody was super excited with this first leg of our visit to Etosha.

Day 10 & 11 – Jul 20 & 21: Etosha National Park

Today we moved to Okaukuejo Campsite, the largest and most popular camp in Etosha. Its central location provides many routes to drive, all in different directions and diverse habitat.

We had an excellent start here, when during our late afternoon drive we spend a long time with 2 different mating lion couples! I took some spectacular close-up photos, but… Accidentally didn’t properly save them when transferring to a hard drive. I still can’t get over it… Not only the lions, but also a group of a dozen spotted hyenas on the young elephant carcass we had spotted a day earlier; so just believe me, without the proof… Lesson learnt, will not happen ever again!

The massive Okaukuejo waterhole

Wildebeests

Kudu

A Kudu male leading his female harem

Oryx cooling down

Ostriches at he edge of the Etosha Pan

Lions preparing to hunt

On a hunt

Lion in ambush; eventually the hunt failed, too bad

Day 12 – Jul 22: Etosha National Park

Today we moved to our third campsite in Etosha, Olifantsrus, in the far west of the park. It’s the smallest camp in the park, and far less popular. We liked the intimacy of the camp a lot, and it also has a great waterhole with watchtower as well as water-level view point. Our short stay eventually didn’t deliver the anticipated lion sightings, nor the rare Brown Hyena that I was quietly hoping to see again, as a couple of years ago..!

Unfortunately photos were on the memory card that I failed to download, so no photos of the elephants and night-time visitor to our campsite, a curious Cape Fox…

Himba Tribe, Opuwo

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