Etosha National Park: The Ultimate Waterhole Experience

Look of serious intent

Black Backed Jackal

Before deciding on visiting Namibia I had posted a status on Facebook asking my friends to suggest which a better destination between Namibia and Tanzania was. The latter was the advice absolutely unanimously; I am guessing that could be because of a few reasons. The biggest probably is the draw of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro followed closely by seeing the great migration at the Serengeti National Park. What could also have mattered was that they were not aware of the astonishing wildlife in Namibia’s Etosha National Park which quite frankly I wasn’t aware either before moving to Africa. 

Elephant herd at the floodlit waterhole at Okaukuejio

Sneaky jackals

A quick Google search for the top ten best national parks or safari’s in Africa actually throws up Etosha more often than Serengeti. Most likely, Etosha suffers from a bit of obscurity compared to the parks in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania even though it’s one of the most easily accessible and inexpensive parks in Africa.

Bull Elephant

A solitary Black Rhino

The Park lies about 430kms north of Windhoek and the road to get there is tarred all the way through the park gates until the camp site of Okaukuejo which sits well within the park. One of the first things I did after arriving in Namibia was to book a car. Namibia being the fourth least densely populated country in the world (the first incidentally is the country I visited exactly a year ago…Mongolia) meant that getting around the country with public transport would be difficult and time consuming. The day I landed was a Saturday and a national holiday to boot, so finding a car rental company open and having an economical car was a considerable challenge.

Oryx...also called Gemsbok



Luckily one car rental company got back to me with a 2WD sedan that I was to pick up the following day. The next big task was to get my hands on Namibian dollars and the good ol’ Indian connection came through. At the center of downtown Windhoek lay a small store selling India goods and run by an elderly Sardar (person from North India who follows the Sikh faith).

Blue Wildebeests...not quite as many as Masai Mara

Trying to fly perhaps?

Black faced Impala

His reaction of bewilderment to me being in Namibia as a traveler was somewhat expected but his story was far more fascinating. A long time ago he lived in Kenya running a small business but a spur of the moment decision led him to move to Namibia along with his family and abandoning everything he had in Kenya. When I asked him why he undertook such a perilous journey he cheekily answered “Ab Sardar hoon…hum karte pehle hai aur sochte baad me”. A literal translation mean “…now I am a Sardar…we people do things first and think later”. The English translation doesn't do justice but the statement is far more colorful when heard with a Sikh accent and knowing the connotation of Sikh stereotypical traits of bravado and nuttiness. Paaji, as I referred to him in deference exchanged some money that would last me a few days.



Four species (Oryx, Springbok, Zebra & Ostrich) at the waterhole

Down at another backpacker place I met Liz who wanted to visit Etosha as well and offered to chip in with the fuel cost. Next morning, I picked up my shiny white Volkswagen Polo and stocked up for the next two weeks of camping with basic supplies cause I wasn’t coming back to Windhoek until the day before my departure a couple weeks later.

Elephant with baby at the Aus waterhole

Female Kudu

Driving the British way on the left side of the road was no problem as I switch back and forth between Liberia and India quite often, but the traffic on the roads was anything but similar to India. The B1 was one of Namibia’s primary highways but the traffic can at best be described as sporadic. Wanting to enter the park gates before they close at sunset, we sped past the seemingly sleepy cities of Okahandja, Outjo and the Africat foundation at Okonjima famous for their conservation work and the Cheetah Kingdom documentary on Animal Kingdom. As noble as the foundation’s works are, I wasn’t interested in a decaffeinated wildlife experience so skipped it.

Red Hartbeest

Springbok

In the end we made it to the Okaukuejo park gate before sunset quite comfortably. The first few sights included springboks, elephants, jackals, and zebras that were being stalked by lions. After paying the park fees, it was time to pull out my tent for the first time in Namibia. The campsite was surprisingly well equipped with a tap by the fireplace, clean ablution blocks with hot water for shower and even a small store where we picked up some firewood.

Plains or Common Zebra

Potrait

Once the sun set, the campsite became the domain of sneaky jackals that lurked around in the shadowy night. One of the sneaky little suckers almost got his hands (or paws) on my supper.


Herd of Springbok

The real attraction of the campsite was an adjacent floodlit waterhole; I quickly gobbled my supper, tucked into some warm clothes and made my way to the waterhole. Standing across from the predator proof barrier and through a column of dust was a huge herd of elephants ; a quick count resulted in 28 elephants which was by far the biggest herd I've seen. As the clock ticked by through the night, two black rhinos showed up and they were followed by a small pride of lions among other occasional visits by smaller game.

Zebras at Rietfontein waterhole

Although tired from the long drive during the day, I could not pull myself away from the waterhole for a few hours despite the cool of the night. Watching wildlife at night was a totally unique experience and the inter-species behavior was a fascinating watch. My personal favorite was watching a solitary black rhino spooking a herd of elephants and the same rhino later chasing away lions. It’s amazing the respect this prehistoric looking stocky creature gains from the others Big 5 creatures of the African plains. I went to sleep that night seeing star and listening to the growls of lions.

Giraffes at Goas waterhole

A personal highlight...an
African Wild Cat

The following morning we got out of the gates as soon as they opened and drove around the less visited section to the west of the main Etosha salt pan with sightings of several springbok, giraffe, ostrich, and oryx. Seeing the latter for the first time in my life was personally a special moment since the cover of my Bradt guidebook had a picture of an oryx staring right back at the reader and whenever I picked up the book, I felt a real sense of yearning to visit Namibia. Perhaps that’s why I will always associate Namibia with the oryx.

Ostrich on the Etosha salt pan

Birds

The rest of the morning was spent driving around the various waterholes in the vicinity of the campsite with decent game around Gemsbokvlakte, Olifantsbad and great game viewing at Nebrownii (a steady march of springboks, zebras, ostriches, oryxes, kudus) and Aus (elephants, kudus, and black impalas). Some of the other waterholes around the main pan like Ondongab, Homob, Sueda and Salvadora were dry and other than the spectacular scenery and the solitary grazer there wasn't much action.

Animals taking a Sip: Male Kudu

Lioness

The best waterhole visited that day was Rietfontein with hundreds of springboks and zebras flocking around the waterhole with the superbly contrasting green of the reeds and white of the pan making for great pictures. For sunset, we parked at the Goas waterhole as the guidebook had highly recommended it, but other than a solitary hyena and a few giraffes it was fairly low key.

Giraffe

Classic Etosha shot

That night we camped at the Halali campsite and although the floodlit waterhole there was delightfully quiet and aesthetically pleasing, it did not quite match the traffic at Okaukuejo. Even then, it was a good place to camp with the bold honey badgers being the creatures of the night instead of the jackals.

My best ever wildlife shot!

The following morning we made our way to the best waterhole (personally) after looping around the main pan and several stops at other low key waterholes along the way. Kalkheuwel was a favorite due to the sheer size, variety and proximity of the wildlife. It was time to turn the car off and just take in the superb action. Just a few meter beside the car were lions lazing around while the waterhole across had a revolving flow of Giraffes, Zebras, Black Impalas, Kudus, and Elands stopping by for a drink. Every 10-15 minutes of so it was fascinating to see alarm calls go out from the impalas sending all of the animals scuttling for their life only to realize that the lions were disinterested and then return back to quench their thirst.



All this while, the lions seemed at total ease befitting their stature as kings of the jungle…that was until the big daddy showed up. A huge herd of elephants with some babies came by for a drink and when they smelt the lions, rather than dart away they assertively pushed the lions out of their slumber. It was funny to see the tables being turned for once and the mighty lions sent packing with their tails between their legs.

Banded Mongoose at the Namutoni camp

A couple hours and we had to move on as much as I didn’t want to. Next we visited the highly recommended waterhole at Chudop, which although stocked with a lot of game including several big male lions, wasn’t quite as action packed and diverse as Kalkheuwel.

While I was planning for Namibia sitting on the couch back in Liberia, I had earmarked 3 days and 3 nights at Etosha but after Kalkheuwel I had a sense of contentment and it was time to move on to the next adventure in Namibia. We drove around the eastern edge of the park before exited it through the Namutoni gate exactly two days after entering it. The areas immediately around the park were private game reserves which also act as a buffer zone where we saw some damara dik-diks and steenboks scampering across the road.

Around 30kms outside the park, we checked in at a guest farm (typically a farm owned by white Namibians that also caters to travelers). The next morning I was to drop off Liz to the nearest place so she could get a ride back to Windhoek while I continue my journey first north and then swing west towards the Angola border.

If I were to judge Etosha to other parks I have been to then it has its pros and cons. By far its biggest asset is the fact that its huge population of game is easily visible especially during the dry months and coupled with the stark scenery makes it perfect for photographs. On the flip side, the park is easily accessible with a 2WD plus the camps and lodges have a lot of facilities that I consider as touristy. This along with the fact that the park, although gargantuan with 22,270 sq km, is completely fenced-in means the wildlife is not technically free roaming and to a wildlife connoisseur it leaves with a feeling of “not quite wild”.

The same points that I refer to as negatives, could probably be rated as pros by others so it all depends on an individual’s perspective. To me it was far better than Kruger but not quite as charming as Masai Mara and definitely not as wild as Ivindo or Loango in Gabon. Perhaps it’s just better to enjoy the uniqueness of Etosha and its waterholes and scenery rather than judging it.