Our first day in the park was rather uneventful sadly - with the exception of getting very close to some giraffes and also watching some rhinos drink at the watering hole - we didn't see a lot else of great interest. It's wet season here and everything is very green so the animals are quite spread out and hard to find. Despite this, the great thing about Etosha is each campsite not only has its own swimming pool and great camping facilities, but they also have their own 24hr watering holes with viewing platforms. So you can happily sit out to the wee hours of the morning watching for game.
We saw our best game at the campsite watering holes and on our second night in the park we were treated to a bull elephant, plenty of zebras, rhino, giraffes, jackels and owls. Okay, so there were hours and hours of nothing that we had to sit through, but with a few glasses of wine the time soon passed. On our drive out this morning we also managed to see some lions feasting on a recent kill - so not a bad set of sighting all in all.
From the park we said goodbye to Pim and Git once again. They plan to head South towards Swakopmund whilst we head North to the Angolan border on a bit of a 4x4 jaunt before heading towards the Skeleton Coast. The day consisted of another long boring drive on incredibly straight roads. As we got towards Opowo though the landscape started to become more attractive as we could see hills in the distance. Various Herero and Himba tribespeople walked along the road making for interesting viewing! Himba women cover their bodies in a special red ochra butter which protects them from the sun and wear little else other than a loin cloth and jewellery. I think Namibia should win the prize for most awesome tribes. Between the scantily glad Himba of the North and the 'click, click' !Kung tribe of the East, you really have your sterotypical African tribe. The !Kung language in particular is my favourite African language. It's so strange to hear and impossible to copy.
Another great thing about Namibia is the campsites. We're currently staying in a rather nice and expensive lodge.....but in the cheapo camping bit. For £7 a night (which granted is one of the more expensive campsites we've stayed at on this trip) we get to use all the nice facilities - including an infinity pool! We're making the most of it as tomorrow we head North to Epupa Falls and will probably be in the wilderness for days depending on the conditions of the roads.