Mid afternoon we reached Etosha, entering through the Andersson Gate in the south central part of this huge 22,270 square kilometre National Park, and within just two kilometres we were happily surrounded by animals. A group of banded mongooses were scratching about in the undergrowth and around the legs of some black-faced impala, who appeared not to have even noticed the mongooses, being content to stand in the shade of the acacia trees while waiting for the heat of the day to subside. Less bothered by the heat were the springbok, a few herds of zebra, some gemsbok and a few kudu, all of whom were either walking to or from the nearby waterhole. Further up the track we watched as a secretary bird came striding purposefully towards the waterhole at its regimented 120 paces a minute, while standing like statues a short distance back from the waterhole were a few sombre looking marabou storks. Along with all the animals, numerous small birds were flying in and out to get some water - the mixed flocks of birds would explode into the air at intervals in a panicky evasive manoeuvre, sparked off as one predatory bird or another circled overhead probing for the weak or less alert. A lanner falcon was the most successful, racing through the panicked flocks and snatching out of the air some small bird, a puff of feathers marking the moment of the strike. As we made our way on towards our night stop we saw our first rhino walking nonchalantly off into the bushes, stopping every so often to chew at a thorny acacia branch that somehow appealed to him. By the end of the evening we had seven more great rhino sightings under our belt. Once again the camp’s waterhole provided non-stop wildlife action, from the various rhino sightings to elephants, giraffe, gemsbok and springbok. Black-backed jackals kept up a constant back and forth around the waterhole, drifting into and out of the pool of light cast by the floodlights as they hunted rodents, beetles and insects, while a more patient and composed hunter moved with much more stealth closer to where we were sitting. Using the deep shadows, cast by the lights shining over the rough bolder strewn foreground, the African wild cat moved slowly, stopping often and seeming to become frozen in mid stride, as it listened intently with its huge ears to the sounds of mice scurrying about in the grassy patches between the stones. Despite the wild cat’s patience and stealth not every flash of speed as it pounced proved successful, and so it would move on a short distance to start a new hunt - we eventually lost sight of it between all the distractions of the other waterhole visitors.

The next morning our drive out across the far stretching grasslands produced some interesting sightings. A total of seven hyenas were moving along in a very loose group, and were most probably members of the same family clan heading back to their den site after a busy night terrifying the plains animals. We came across what I eventually identified as the remains of a zebra carcass - it had so many black-backed jackals fighting on, over and around it, for what scraps they could snatch, that it was difficult to see what it was they were fighting over! As is typical at such a scene there were those who just dived in and got what they could, those that spent all their time trying to stop the others from getting to the carcass (and thus never seemed to take time out to eat themselves), and many other characters between the extremes, all of which made for some interesting interactions to observe. While at the jackal foray I took the opportunity to scan the plains to see if I could pick out what might have been the cause of the demise of the zebra, but could not see any sign of the lions. I did however see bat eared foxes, and then a rarely sighted animal that made it worth leaving the jackal entertainment centre to get a closer look. Fortunately there happened to be a track near to the spot and so we were able to get within a reasonable distance of a caracal (also known as a lynx). These well built animals have huge paws for their size (males weigh up to 14kgs/30lbs and are 43cm/17 inches high) and use them on occasion to leap into the air and swat down a bird that it has flushed from the undergrowth. This particular caracal was not so inclined to put on such a show for us, but instead moved steadily off into the distance and eventually disappeared - but it was a lucky sighting. The caracal hunts mostly birds and rodents and would be happy with a ground squirrel - of which we saw quite a number as the morning chill faded away. There are many creatures that take protection from the extremes of temperature by going underground at night when it gets bitterly cold, or during the heat of the day when it gets scorching hot - one of the best excavators in this hard earth are the ground squirrels, and I often see their burrows commandeered by other similar sized animals. On this particular morning we saw a number of “shared” burrows, where there were both ground squirrels and yellow mongoose huddling at the entrance of a hole warming up in the early morning sun.

I have a number of favourite waterholes in Etosha and at one particular “favourite” we arrived to find a pride of eleven lions in situ. The lionesses were laying about looking full and relaxed, while their sub-adult cubs were still full of energy, chasing each other around and playing with the horns of a male impala, which no doubt they had helped consume not too long before. Over the next hour the lions put on a good show with lots of activity, while in the background, pacing back and forth behind the vehicle, was a frustrated hyena. I think the hyena must have been really hungry, even though it looked in peak condition, as it wandered back and forth hoping the lions would eventually move on and leave the scene so that it could scrounge for any scraps leftover from the kill. Normally hyenas quickly figure out a situation and go and lay up under a bush waiting for the lions to leave - but not this guy! - when a rhino came wandering in to drink it made the hyena even more nervous. After drinking the rhino started to walk off but then picked up the scent of the lions, and so we watched as for the next twenty minutes or so the rhino kept harassing the lions, eventually intimidating them enough to make them get up and walk away into the woodland, while the rhino, having made the waterhole a safer place for everyone else, turned and wandered off in the opposite direction. By the time the rhino left the waterhole the first breeding herds of elephant had begun to arrive, and at last the hyena called it quits for the day and slunk off into the woodland. We moved on and again were lucky to get another sighting of the rhino, as it had walked through the bush and come out next to a track a couple of kilometres beyond the waterhole.

Seeing plains filled with thousands of springbok and nearly as many zebra are, without doubt, fantastic sights to behold, and it is also great to see some of the lesser known species like the red hartebeest or dik-dik. Herds of elephant with playful youngsters are hard to pass up on, but…. we all want to see a kill! On this safari we had already had some incredible sightings of unusual animals, plus we had seen birds of prey making kills, the jackals and the wild cat had made kills, and even the lions had provided a few small adrenalin rushes in their half hearted attempts at giraffe, impala and springbok at the one waterhole, but the ultimate was to come, and it was all down to persistence and patience - and of course a lot of luck! We had found two cheetah resting at the outer edge of a huge grassy plain, so they were still quite a distance off (the focus point on my 400mm lens was set at “infinity”). Also out on the plain were a few bachelor springbok, dotted about at even greater distances than the cheetah were from us. It was now mid afternoon and so we waited, hoping that at the least the cheetah might get up and come closer to the track or in the direction of the springbok. We passed the time chatting, bird watching, enjoying the wide open spaces and just being out in the wild. A few of the springbok had begun to move in the direction of the cheetah while steadily feeding, but the distance was still enormous. We carried on watching while the time passed - an hour, then some more. The gap between the cheetah and the springbok was closing, so I moved to a spot about halfway between the two sets of animals. After a further short interval and without any warning the two cheetah got up and moved rapidly towards the one springbok, stopping and going to ground as soon as the springbok looked up to search for the next choice clump of grass. The gap closed further.
After having moved just short distances from one feeding spot to the next, the springbok suddenly felt the urge to go further afield, and so began to walk directly towards the two cheetah that were crouched in the long grass - in doing so the critical distance was breached and the two cheetah sprang forward in unison, beginning their power run towards the springbok, who after a fleeting second saw the danger and took off obliquely across the cheetahs advancing path, forcing them to make a high speed arcing turn to come in behind the fleeing springbok. From that point on it was an open race but the springbok was losing ground. In one final attempt to throw off his pursuers the springbok did a kink to the left, but the two cheetah followed the change in direction, flinging their long tails out to keep their balance. The lead cheetah reached out and ankle tapped the springbok, which went down in a cloud of flying dirt that was closely followed up by the two cheetah - 25 seconds and about 400 meters, all caught on video and played back again and again to relive the thrill of the hunt - fantastic! While waiting for the cheetah to recover from their exertions and finally begin to feed, we took time out to watch a tiny male grey-backed finchlark, flying back and forth and bringing its own kills of insects back to the nest to feed its chicks - it was all action!

Back in camp we saw three different owls in the space of five minutes, and although we did not see the bush babies come out of their day roost we did get to see them bounding from branch to branch and tree to tree in death defying leaps. On the way to the floodlit waterhole after dinner we encountered the dustbin raiding honey badgers, while at the waterhole itself there were thirty odd elephants drinking, with some leaving as new herds arrived to take their place. A couple of rhinos tried to come in to drink, but were chased off by the elephants every time they got close to the waters edge. With so much activity going on around this small waterhole the next visitor was a surprise - a male leopard - but he had even less chance of getting to the water for a drink and so soon gave up and wandered off back into the darkness. When all the elephants had finally drunk their fill they moved on, making way for the two rhinos to return for a quick drink before departing back into the bush themselves. A scrub hare tried to hold the audiences attention, but after such an action packed day pillows were calling, and so we left the scrub hare with the waterhole all to himself.

Moving on through the park we encountered more great scenes with lots of animals spread out over the grasslands, while the coming and goings at the various waterholes was, as always, unpredictable. Sometimes we would sit for a time and only a few birds would give us something to train our binoculars on, or there might be some lizards competing for the prime spot on a rock. We would then move on to another waterhole and spend hours enthralled by the variety of all the animals arriving and departing - eland, giraffe, elephant, kudu, wildebeest, gemsbok and many more. We also had further good sightings of rhino coming to visit the waterholes to drink, while at one waterhole the resident rock python was still laying about, although this time it was in the process of shedding its skin, while hundreds of red billed quelia flocked noisily into the reeds around it before dropping to the water to drink and fly off. Normally the python would be catching the birds, but today it was the pale chanting goshawks and lanner falcons that were successfully catching and feeding on the quelia - more kills! Near to one waterhole we watched as some jackals pulled and tugged at the sinews of the remains of a giraffe carcass, their tails swinging around wildly as if in some way the action was keeping them wound up like a child’s clockwork toy! We also got to see a male lion resting up in the bushes on his own, while at another site we found two more lionesses and a male cub resting near the track, bathed in lovely light for photography. There were more great bird sightings and lots of small critters to enjoy, but one fun sighting was of a female warthog licking and cleaning her youngster, who stretched out and was obviously revelling in the attention. Later it was the mother warthogs turn to get the cleaning treatment - behaviour I had never seen before. As always each day came to an end all too quickly, but for now it also marked the end of the Namibian part of this particular safari, with two of the guests leaving the group while the remainder travelled on with us to Botswana for yet more adventures.

Until next month....