Tag Archives: safari

Namibia

Etosha National Park: Lions and Elephants and Rhinos, Oh My!

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Our visit with Wahu and his friends primed us for the next stop on our tour of Northern Namibia, and we were excited to see the animals that roamed Etosha National Park. Our itinerary gave us two days and nights in Etosha: we would arrive around noon on the first day and set up camp at Namutoni Camp before setting out an afternoon game drive, and our second day would begin with a morning game drive, a brief respite for lunch at Halali Camp, and then a drive to Okaukuejo Camp, where we could visit the watering hole around which the camp was set after dark. Our guides suggested that, if we were lucky, we might see a black rhino during the evening at the floodlit Okaukuejo watering hole.

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Welcome to Etosha National Park.

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South Africa

Tracking the Elusive Animals at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park

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Hluhluwe-Imfolozi1 Park is the oldest proclaimed national park in Africa, and is widely regarded as one of the best. Although it is much smaller than Kruger, covering only 960 square kilometers, and, strangely, a public road runs through it, 2 the park is allegedly a great spot to sight animals – it is also much less crowded than Kruger, and set in an arguably more beautiful setting, which covers large hills and river valleys. Everything we had read about the place sounded awesome, and we couldn’t wait to visit.

We arrived from Swaziland late on Sunday afternoon, only to learn at the entrance gate that there were no accommodation vacancies at Hilltop Camp in the park. Having naively hoped to simply turn up and be able to stay in the park, we hadn’t arranged alternate accommodation (a fact which, once revealed to the park staff at the entrance gate, elicited a few raised eyebrows), and so we decided to cut our losses and return to the park first thing in the morning.

We backtracked into Hluhluwe village and found a room at the Bushbaby Lodge & Camping. True to its name, bushbabies2 lived in the trees surrounding the lodge, and the owner of the lodge sets out a plate of bananas for the bushbabies each night.

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Bushbabies enjoying their bananas

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South Africa

Is that Elephant Charging Us?: A Kruger Play-by-Play

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We spent two days driving around Kruger National Park, one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It sprawls over more than 7,500 square miles (for those at home, that is a bit smaller than the state of New Jersey), covered in a network of tarred and dirt roads that allow visitors to drive around the park in their own cars. Thousands upon thousands of animals –including all of the “Big Five” (lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceroses, and buffaloes) –live in the park, and many of them are easily viewable, even by complete novices like us equipped with just a Toyota Corolla and some snacks for the road.

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Surrounded by impalas

NB: Even though I’m referring to the following as a play-by-play, I’ve edited for time and interest. No one needs to know about the zillionth impala we saw, and (amazingly) even the elephants and giraffes began getting repetitive. Only the most notable sightings are listed. (And it’s still a long post! Seriously, Kruger is awesome.) Continue reading Is that Elephant Charging Us?: A Kruger Play-by-Play →