Etosha National Park – Okaukeujo waterhole and more elephants and rhinos!

Ostrich at Etosha National Park — An Ostrich runs away from my car

Today I was due to move from the Mushara Bush camp, just outside the east gate of the park, to the Okaukuejo camp located inside the central gate. It was about 150km away, so I combined moving with a “game drive” which included parts of the park I had not visited before. I said a sad farewell to the Mushara Bush Camp, which had been a wonderful place to stay, and set off.

This morning I was less lucky with my game spotting. I tried a track called “Eland Drive”, since I had yet to see the eland, Africa’s biggest antelope. At first, there was no sign of any animals – just lots of unusually green trees, which contrasted with the dry scrub that makes most of the park. I found it surprising that animals seemed to be avoiding this cooler area with lots of edible vegetation- maybe predators were hiding somewhere, out of my sight. After an hour’s driving I finally ran into some zebra and springbok, and as I progressed, they became more and more numerous. I also glimpsed a red hartebeest….but no elands.

Zebra at Etosha National Park — Zebra blocking the route at Etosha

After the slight disappointment of Eland Drive, I reverted to the usual strategy of visiting waterholes. In the midday sun, these were dominated by elephants, who drank and sprayed their bodies with water to keep cool. At my first waterhole, there was a family group with a couple of babies.

Mummy and baby elephant — Mummy and Baby Elephant at an Etosha waterhole

After a few minutes a rhino joined the group. Etosha has white and black rhinos. Confusingly, they are both the same grey colour and the main difference between them is the shape of their lip. This one had a pointed lip, so was probably a black rhino.

Black Rhino approaches waterhole — A black rhino joins the group….

Rhino at Etosha — ….and changes colour after rolling in the mud.

The next two watering holes I visited also featured elephants. At the first, two of them were washing and drinking.

Elephants at Etosha — More elephants at Etosha….

At the second, a couple appeared to express affection to each other with their trunks.

more elephants at Etosha — ….yet more elephants

I finally arrived at Okaukuejo, a government-owned camp near Etosha’s main entrance. It is famous for having a large watering hole just outside the camp, which is lit up during the night and frequently visited by lions, elephants and rhino. After checking in, I went straight there and found a viewing platform and lots of other guests with cameras and binoculars……but no animals. So instead, I headed off to the swimming pool to spend the hottest hours of the afternoon – like the elephants I had seen earlier!

At six, as the sun was setting, I returned to the Okaukeujo waterhole to find an elephant, giraffe and magnificent black rhino. The latter approached the viewing platform, watched the crowd of humans for a while, and then lay down on the ground to snooze. It was an amazing sight, and I was a little puzzled as to why the waterhole viewing area was not overflowing with fellow tourists and their cameras.

Rhino at Okaukuejo Watering Hole — …and then sits down to sleep.

With this thought in my mind, I headed off to dinner. It was a chaotic affair. The waitress told me that I had booked table 32, but after half an hour of waiting there, a group of German ladies arrived to claim my place. They went to fetch the reservation list which showed that I should have been on table 25. In any case, the choice of table made little difference since the waitresses were all busy serving in a different part of the restaurant and completely ignored us all. I realised that if I sat there patiently, I would wait forever, so I collared the person who seemed to be the drinks waitress and ordered steak and a beer. After another long wait, the steak arrived – tasty and tender, but cold – without the beer. To get this, I had to accompany my waitress to the bar and stand there reminding her of my order, as she was accosted by a stream of other complaining customers. A simple dinner of steak and a beer took ninety minutes, even thought my persistence meant that I was one of the first to be served. After finishing my beer, I hurried back to the waterhole but found it quiet – the elephant had left, and the rhino was still asleep on the ground. I suddenly realised why the waterhole was not overcrowded with fellow guests – many of them were stuck in the restaurant, still waiting for their dinner. With nothing new to see, I headed back to my hut for an early bedtime, resolving to try my luck again if I woke up during the night.

I returned to the waterhole at 2am to find a wonderful sight – a herd of elephant, including several babies, drinking quietly in the moonlight. I stayed for a half an hour, watching the elephants, a cautious giraffe, and finally a tiny scrub hare – not much bigger than me – taking its place to drink alongside the massive elephants.

Elephants at Okaukuejo Waterhole — 2am at the Okaukeujo waterhole, Etosha

A giraffe approaches Okaukuejo — A giraffe approaches the Okaukeujo waterhole

Elephants at Okaukuejo Etosha — The elephants continue to drink

scrub hare and elephants Okaukuejo — A tiny scrub hare (left) joins the elephants

Finally, the herd of elephants headed off into the night, and I decided to do the same. It had been a memorable day, and I went back to my hut to sleep for the rest of the night.