We woke up early. Al and Tony are heading home and George and Sue went to the waterhole, leaving embarrassed Morries behind. We had a delicious breakfast in the restaurant and set off on the 70km drive to Namutoni, along the pan.
As we left camp, our first sighing was the black faced Impala, they have a black strip running from their forehead to the tip of their noses.The sweet grassveld and mopani treeveld on the side of the road was totally grey for around 50m, caused by the dust from the limestone road, then it reverted back to it's natural state.
The word ‘etosha’ means ‘Great White Place’. The park was proclaimed in 1907 and covers around 22 912 square km. The Pan itself, covers 4731 square km (110km at it’s widest by 60km). The pan is mostly dry, except when the Morrison's visit – and in the rainy season. There are permanent springs in the southern section, fed by porous bedrock which permeates out onto the clay floor of the pan. We took a 3km detour off the main road to Etosha Lookout. Standing on the edge of the pan made one realise just how enormously vast and desolate this area is, devoid of all life. It was white clay from horizon to horizon – a spectacular view.
Back on the road we saw a flock of 40 ostriches, white rhino, a couple of herds of elephants, lots of before mentioned enteral game and more black faced impala. It was fascinating to see springbok and Impala grazing together. Another fascinating observation was the vast numbers present in the herd – 20 odd giraffe together, herds of 30 to 40 kudu and so on.
We sat at Chudop waterhole for a while watching 3 big male elephants drink, with herds of zebra and kudu waiting their turn. We then headed into Namutoni camp.
Namutoni camp was originally a fort built in 1902, destroyed by the Owambos in 1904 and rebuilt in 1906, it is a national monument. The waterhole in the camp was first noticed by John Anderson and Francis Galton, the first Europeans to discover the camp in 1851. We stayed in a very comfortable chalet, with a sunken bath and an outside shower.
As the afternoon started to cool, it was 35 degrees, we went for a sundown drive around
Fischer’s Pan, it was a beautiful drive and strange to see palms trees at Twee Palms. An ellie was scratching himself against the palm, when a lapped faced vulture landed in it, the ellie banged is full weight against the tree and poor vulture was knocked off his perch and flew away squawking madly.
We ate dinner at the restaurant, at one of the outside tables, and we were visited by a jackal. I went to bed with a heavy heart, this was our last night of real holiday, tomorrow we begin our nearly 2000km journey home.
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