Where He leads...: Etosha: Take Two

Etosha: Take Two

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We had left our schedule at the Himba village pretty flexible. I hadn't even looked at a map until we were always a few hours down the road. When I did, I noticed how close Etosha National Park was from our route. Mentioning that to Heather and Imogen, we quickly decided that if possible, we'd love to squeeze Etosha into our long-weekend agenda! "Oh, we can make it happen," I assured them. And we did.

We headed back south in time to find a place to stay, shower, sleep, and get up early Monday morning to drive into and around Etosha. The only definite... we had to leave the park early enough to get back to Windhoek without having to do much driving in the dark. The plan was a complete success!

Throughout our weekend together, we remarked several times at how blessed we were to have the chance for such an experience, and also at how smoothly everything went. We can only thank God for being in the details of our fun time together as much as He's in the details of everything else in our lives. The only request I have for Him next time is that I can see lions in Etosha! This was my second time there and still no lions. :( The day before most everyone saw at least 8 lions AND a kill. But Monday, the 300+ lions were all in hiding. Major bummer! We did see warthogs, blackbacked jackals, springbok, oryx, zebras, red hartebeests, kudus, blue wildebeests, giraffes, ostriches, blackfaced impalas, yellow mon(geese?), and LOADS of elephants! Not to mention birds... ovambo sparrowhawk, kori bustard, guinea fowl, red-crested korhaan, pied crows, cape crows, and of course other "normal" looking birds that we didn't take time to identify. The elephants were a big hit. Sometimes you can go to Etosha and not see an elephant, so we were blessed to see so many. Easily over 50+. At the last waterhole alone there were at least 30.

So here again are more photos of animals in Namibia. :) I hope I haven't bored you with too many throughout this blog. Even though I've seen some of these animals hundreds of times, I'm certainly never bored with them. I do realize it's a bit different... photos vs. real life. But indulge me and have a look anyway!

Oryx. We were looking for a word to describe these beautiful creatures. Heather came up with "majestic". We all agreed that it was the perfect adjective. And they run so gracefully, more like horses than antelopes.

A jackal who was quite curious about all the people enjoying the view at the waterhole. There are only a few places in the park (the actual rest camps) where you can get out of your vehicle. That's why they have the fence. Though I'm pretty sure a lion could easily hop right over!

Mama and baby red hartebeest! How adorable! I rarely ever see these animals, so to see so many AND a baby was a big treat.

This guinea fowl was quite hilarious. He/she was coming right up to the car. It even chased us as we were leaving. So funny!

I love zebras! They are just so cool looking!

We are pretty convinced that there was a lion near this waterhole. There were about 100 springbox and 50 or so zebra. Most were all standing completely still like this. They would take a few steps and stop again. All staring in the same direction. Unfortunately we couldn't see a lion anywhere. Pretty sure they knew exactly where it was!

Teenage oryx! Another unique find!

Now this certainly doesn't happen every day!! This was both awesome and slightly terrifying. Elephants actually follow ancient paths. So I knew they'd be crossing in this spot. BUT... that certainly doesn't mean they won't leave that path to show another animal who's boss. Like us!

Another herd of lighter-looking color elephants. They looked so interesting and very statuesque.

These two were my favorite.

They were constantly nuzzling and playing.

We came back to the Okaukuejo waterhole as we were leaving. This is the same waterhole Dad, Kelly, and I went to where we saw so many different animals. We saw most of those animals this time as well, so I won't repost. But the elephants were definitely new to me in this spot. And so many of them!