Our first stop on the journey around Namibia was the capital city of Windhoek. We were all in high spirits when we pulled up outside a rather nice looking hotel. A little bit of luxury considering we had been camping for roughly 3 weeks solidly (since Zanzibar). I'm not too sure the hotel staff were of the same opinion as we bombarded the foyer with our massive backpacks and unwashed bodies. It was in Windhoek at Joe's beerhouse where we all experienced our first taste of game meat... Zebra, Ostrich and Kudu, washed down with the House Wine... Jagermeister!
After tasting the game meat it was time to go and observe the animals in their natural habitat at Etosha National Park. On our game drive through the park towards our campsite the number of Giraffe and Antelope throwing themselves in front of the road was incredible.. everywhere you looked you could see the huge neck of a Giraffe poking out. It appeared that the Lions in Etosha also preferred to sleep in the middle of the road rather than under the shade of a tree. I guess when you are the King of the Jungle you can pretty much do as you please.
Etosha National Park is also well known for the Salt Pans that spread to the north of the park. We were warned when we were travelling down through Africa that Namibia had experienced significant amounts of rainfall this year.. affecting all the roads. However, apparently it also affected the Salt Pans! We arrived expecting hard salty ground.. perfect for taking beautiful and artistic infinity photos. Instead we were greeted with soggy, soft, deep muddy ground. The mud rose up around our calves which made it impossible to escape clean... especially as our tour guide decided to reap havoc and start a mud fight.
Each campsite we stayed at had a waterhole where you could sit and watch the sunset whilst watching the wildlife gathering to gaze and drink. One night in particular we witnessed herds of Zebra and Wildebeast come and go, whilst a number of hyennas disguised themselves waiting for an easy kill. The sunsets were truely unbelievable and were always accompanied by the presence of silent lightening.
Whilst travelling through Africa we have learnt to open our ears at night particularly when camping in a National Park and Etosha was no different. From the safety of our tents we could hear the incredible roar of Lions roughly 3km away and the cheeky laughs of Hyennas. A little closer to home we could hear the screams of rabied Jackals as they rushed around our tents... scavaging for food (or in this case stealing Hannah's flip flop from outside her tent and moving it 8 metres away towards the kitchen, covering them in slober).
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