The tent is stapled onto solid wood beams and the entire tent is quite sturdy. I took a wuick shower and went to dinner, where I met Tina and Anton. I had seen them earlier in the day on the way to Dolomite, and we now met formerly at the bar. Anton is South African and lost a leg, I don't know how, below the knee and wears a prosthetic. Tina is German and the two of them are on the last leg of their London to Cape Town overland journey that has so far taken them months. We were joined for dinner by Penny, a UK pensioner who had lived 6 years in Namibia and talked endlessly.
Anton is a paralympic athlete who competed in the London Games. We had a marvelous dinner of Kudu and Steak, and talked until 10:30. The told me about their trip down, the highs and lows, and it sounds like Angola is a country as wonderful as Namibia – with the world's cheapest petrol. After dinner, I took the golf cart back to my room, which is on the other side of the camp from the dinning hall. They shut the generator off between midnight and 4am, and I had just an hour to sort out my bed and get ready. I had a head lamp, and worked on my day's photos before checking the linens for creepy crawlies. Nothing there, but just as I got ready to turn in the wind kicked up and the hot evening cooled off nicely.
I transferred my photos to my phone and reviewed them as I fell asleep. About 20 after 12, I awoke suddenly feeling a thing crawling on my hand. I jumped up and it stung me. Didn't see it but felt the claw and knew from the sting it was a small scorpion. Must have been hiding in my duvet and came out when I was snuggled in. Hurt like a wasp sting and my hand got swollen. I could feel the sting up to my elbow but it wasn't too bad. Still, I had a scorpion in my room and no lights. I fetched the headlamp and started looking for it. I extended my monopod and poked around the sheets, but it was gone. I thought briefly about sleeping on the easy chair instead of the bed, but decided to call the manager and get a new room. They were super nice and carried my stuff to my new room #1. As we walked over, there were no lights on in the camp and the Milky Way lit up the sky and looked like you could just reach up and grab it. It was so beautiful. I have never seen it so expansive in the sky.
This morning, I had breakfast with Anton, Tina, and Penny and recounted my scorpion adventure. Anton brought his iPad and showed me photos of Angola, Siera Leone, and Gabon. I am definately infected with new countries in Africa to visit.
After breakfast, I picked up my camera gear and headed out for what I planned to be a light game drive. I had only slept 4 hours and was pretty tired. I left the camp and turned left to take the long southern loop. First stop was Klippen Waterhole, which had some nice wildlife – Zebra, Oryx, Red Hartebeat, Warthog, but no elephant. On the way in I had spotted an own and some other large birds, but I was looking for elephant and left Klippen after 30 minutes. I backed out of the drive and went back to the main road and turned right, continuing on my journey on the southern loop. My GPS showed a staff service road that offered a short cut around the Galton Gate exit, and I took it despite the warning on the road stone that said “staff only.” Staff roads in Etosha are less corrugated than regular roads and are more fun. They cross riverbeds, have ups and downs, and pass through areas often untouched by humans. This road passed through a lightly forrested valley and while I only saw some Giraffe, it was a fun shortcut. O
n the other side of the staff road, I found the JackalsWater hole. I turned in right and followed a deeply cut road in. As I approached the wide water hole area, I could see a herd of Elephant and quickly drove in. Big mistake. Elephants need a wider security zone around them than Giraffe, Zebra, and Springbok, and the herd took off as I came in. They trumpeted and ran off in an anxious state and I felt aweful for scaring them off. There must have been a dozen, with 3 babies and a few other young ones. I was so sad about that and waited there for 30 minutes hoping they would come back but they did not. I decided to leave and see if I could find another water hole further on where I could meet them. On the way out, I noticed some lovely flowers that I stopped to photograph. I used my Raynox macro lens atop the Olympus 45mm 1.8, which didn't work as well as the Panasonic 100-300 and the best shots that day were with that lens.
I drove onward for about 20 minutes and came upon a herd of Giraffe. There was a male that was just huge. He must have been over 25 feet tall and was really muscular, accompanied by two females and three youngsters. Giraffes will let you drive right up to them if you come in slow and this herd was not at all afraid of me and I think pretty curious. I don't think humans drive often through this part of the park. I watched them for about 20 minutes and then got an idea to return to Jackalswater and creep in slow to the hole, so I turned around and drove back.
When I arrived at the hole I parked my car at the far end, just where the forrest ended and the open plain in front of the hole began. I must have been 90 meters from the water hole. By this time, the scorpion episode was really making me tired, so I leaned back the front seat and took a nap in the afternoon sun. Animals came and went while I snoozed for an hour. It is so quiet in Africa, and animals live in a world in which they make very little sound and the wind is the biggest contributor to noise pollution, except for bumbling humans driving in with diesel trucks making a huge racket.
After 1.5 hours, I awoke to find an Elephant at the waterhole. She was drinking and bathing with some giraffe and zebra. She was not at all threatened by me as I was a long way off. My car was pointed towards her and I opened my door slightly and put the beanbag in the door jam and stepped one foot out to snap some shots with the 100-300. After about 15 minutes I closed the door, started the engine and moved the car up about 20 meters. She heard the sound and got a little agitated but setttled in again after I cut the engine and put on the parking brake. I got some great shots of her with a Giraffe, Zebra, and a Rhino that wandered in for a bath as well.
She exited the hole and I moved my car up to the parking circle. Just as I cut the engine and setup my beanbag facing the hole a bull elephant came in to have a drink and splash himself with mud. I was about 40 meters from him and the waterhole separated us. For a while he drank and ignored me. But after 10 minutes or so he started chasing away the other animals and claimed the water hole for himself.
He then started to very slowly come around the hole towards me. I had apples in the car. He was not showing signs of aggression, but I didn't want to take a chance that he was coming for my apples, so when he got halfway round the waterhole, I took my last shot and started the engine and slowly moved off and left the hole.
I had spent over an hour with two elephants. Not only photographing them, but observing them close up – how they behaved, what made them agitated, and how they drank and bathed. I got some great shots and some good video footage. And I had a good nap and felt rested enough to move on. The trip from that hole to the next one took an hour. I must have been 65km from the Dolomite Camp, which gives you an idea of just how vast the distances are in Etosha. The entire park is about the size of New Jersey, and there are maybe 120 elephant in the entire park so it is not easy to find them. Better yet, there are maybe only 300-400 humans in the park, and in the western part there are probably only 20.
So I was alone most of the day until I got to Druidsdrink hole at about 4:30. I had passed by there the same time the day before and had found elephant waiting on the hill above the water hole not coming down because I was parked next to it.
This time I parked farther away. They were also up on the hill and would not come down. There were vultures on the hole, four giraffe, warthogs, and a flock of giniefowl. The elephants went wide around the hole towards the marsh on the far end of the open space and walked away from me. Just then another 4x4 pulled into the water hole and sat iddling a few feet from me. I gave them some signals to cut their engine but the didn't hear me so I pulled up alongside them and we began to chat. In the car was Raj and Kim, who had just driven up from the South and were on an extended holiday. Kim had quit her job at NHS and Raj had taken a month holiday to do this trip across Namibia to end in Vic Falls.
We had a great time talking and sharing photos while watching the Giraffe. Just then Kim said, “look behind you,” and the herd of elephant ran towards the water hole from the road entrance. They must have been circling around the hole while we were talking. Our cars were close together which made our “beast” seem larger so the herd was in a gallop. They got to the hole and drank together for 30 minutes while Raj, Kim, and I snapped photos and smiled at each other for our incredible luck that we were there at just the right time together to watch a large family of elephant happily drink together.
It was an awesome experience, the highlight of my stay in Etosha. After they were done drinking the walked off together towards the hill, with the huge matriarch leading and two bulls in the vanguard watching the rear. We let them clear the hill before deciding to go back to camp. As we were driving back we saw the herd come over the hill on the other side, with the setting sun illuminating them all, and we stopped to shoot photos. But we were in their path so we moved ahead of them and gave them some room to pass without feeling threatened. I had a feeling that at that moment the elephants understood we were giving them space and there was an easy balance between us that made both groups feel safer. We watched the walk off into the sunset and I will never forget this magical day.
Had dinner that night with Raj, Kim, and Penny and had such a wonderful time talking about London, Africa, and Elephants.
Zebra in the background = awesome.
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