The Africa of my childhood imagination came to be today. With a private driver I was off into Etosha National Park, which is a land of thousands of animals that are symbolic of Africa. Shortly after entering through the Namutoni Gate, the first animal we saw was the impala. Male impala have horns whilst both sexes have a distinct colouring and pattern on their bum.
After paying the entrance fee we drove full steam into the park. It didn't take long before spotting springbok and kudu but one of the big draws here is the world's largest land animal: the majestic African elephant.
After getting out of the car to take photos of elephants, one of the official game drivers yelled out to me. I figured he was telling me to stand back a bit so his group could get photos but I was told that you're not allowed to get out of your car except at designated areas. Etosha is basically a zoo in reverse: you have to be inside a cage instead of the animals being in one. Bicycles and motorcycles aren't allowed in the park, either. Doing one of the official game drives would have been more expensive but are advantageous of being a raised vehicle and with more room for photography. After driving round for a few minutes we saw a few ostriches, which are the world's largest bird.
They also lay the largest eggs of any extant creature. We were doing well only a half hour into our drive as we spotted more than half-dozen types of animals early. Where there is water there will be life, so we made a run for a nearby water hole. In one photo I had zebra, wildebeest, springbok, impala, and kudu.
Foolishly, I forgot to charge my camera batteries last night, and all three of my batteries were flat by noon. I also forgot my high-powered camera lens at my cousin's home in Pennsylvania; it would be really handy for photographing wildlife. For the next couple of hours I'd have to rely on my phone for taking photos. I mustn't forgot to enjoy the view in person as well. A mistake many people make whilst travelling (and I'm often guilty of this) is focusing on taking many photos and often not focusing on the view and the present moment.
Africa's "Big Five" are the elephant, buffalo, leopard, rhinoceros, and lion but it's not possibly to see all of them here as there are no buffalo in Etosha. My favourite animal as a child was the zebra, and I sure saw hundreds of them today.
Just like the human fingerprint, no two zebras have precisely the same stripe pattern. Half way into our day we spotted a cheetah with her cub. As the world's fastest land animal, the cheetah can run up to 85 mph but for only a short distance due to having to catch its breath. It seems almost every animal in Etosha has some short of extreme. Along with what I've pointed out previously, the giraffe is the tallest animal and the rhinoceros is said to have the worst eyesight of any animal. After a brief stop at a picnic area, we made a run for Halali Camp so I could charge up one of my camera batteries and stretch my legs. Although I saw many animals by mid-afternoon I still hadn't seen a giraffe, lion, hyena, or rhinoceros. With a bit of life in a camera battery, we drove to two different water holes only to not see much except for a few zebras. It was getting late in the day and we had to start journeying back since the park officially closes at sunset. Finally we spotted our first of two rhinoceros for the day.
This is a white rhinoceros, which is the world's second-largest land animal. Whilst much more numerous than the black rhinoceros, they are still under threat due to poaching for their horn. A sign at the park entrance read "blow the horn on rhino poaching," and it's a very fitting pun. Giraffe would steal the show as we drove east toward the gate.
We did a few more final stops for elephants as the sun was dipping toward the horizon, and we spotted our first hyena. In all we saw impala, kudu, springbok, elephant, zebra, rhinoceros, hyena, cheetah, ostrich, and giraffe. The only animal we didn't see today was a lion but one of the game drivers told me that they're best seen either early in the morning or late in the evening, but I can't complain as we had a great run today. Out of all the animals I saw today, I had only previously seen a giraffe, hyena, and kudu in the wild. I'm sure elsewhere in Africa I'll someday see a lion and buffalo.
At least one fellow traveller has described Etosha National Park as like Disneyland. Whilst it does get quite a few visitors, it's a fantastic place to see all of these creatures in their national habitat...something that's a million times better than going to the zoo.
