Aat: TT Namibia (Last update April 6)*

[aat]

PART 7: Okaukuejo at night

First I like to say thanks for all warm comments so it's a pleasure to continue with more , more and more....

This part is about Okaukuejo, a camp we stayed 4 nights. One night we could not see anything since power was off... one day without water and power...not nice but these things can happen anywhere....

I selected some pictures I made during the evenings and nights. We stayed in one of the huts just near the waterhole, so sinking nice drinks we could watch the waterhole and we were lucky with several animals joining us for a drink.... at the right side of the fence.

First night, 23 november, about 21:00 pm we were still talking about the perfect black rhino sighting when we saw "something" coming closer to the waterhole. Okaukuejo is "famous" for black rhino's near the waterhole so ... curious I took my camera and we walked to the seats near the fence.
And yessssss.... a Black Rhino at night... reading about it is different from actualy seeing one... a bit mysterious and so quiet...

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with some help by the spotlights and high ISO values I was happy I could capture this rhino

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Then november 24th early evening this Gemsbok came for a drink

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I liked the mirror effect of animals close to the water.

Just busy with the Gemsbok when I saw another animal far away but approaching the waterhole... and yess..another Black Rhino.
Before we went to Etosha we were just hoping to see one or a few , this was number 3 and just our second day... life can be beautiful.

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and a second shot..

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Looking at the rhino something came into my mind... I was thinking of this film on television about black rhino's in Namibia, that secret place where sometimes many of them come together. At the samen time we felt happy to see another one on his own here....

Rhino went away into the night and a bit later we heard something .... zebra and giraffe arrived at the samen time....
Oh what night.... isn't that a song ?

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November 25th ....
After dinner, we were sitting outside but no animals so far. Then this sound we like so much.... we were looking at each other with a smile and saying something like "this is like Satara at night" roaring lion....
After some minutes again... sound coming closer.... then for some time nothing.... and just we thought...no... roaring again and very close to the waterhole.... Camera ready... and searching .... yes...something moving to the waterhole.... there he is , male lion coming for a drink.
Not really easy to capture him but this is what we saw...

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Our first Lion in Etosha

Another bottle of wine was empty before we went to bed with a big smile on our faces.

November 26th...

Our last night here. Hoping for a lovely night again....

We did not have to wait long before another Black Rhino came to say goodbye to us

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Then someone pointed me to a tree and on a branch a Giant Eagle Owl was posing...

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Drinking a nice glass of wine and talking about what we have seen so far and curious about our next camp (Halali) suddenly we saw something getting to the waterhole and guess.... yess... Black Rhino at 23:30 pm

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Ending this part with a nice sunset ....

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With two roaring Lions far away we went to bed with a big big smile on our faces..... life can be wonderful.

Oke.... this was about some great nights in Okaukuejo

Next Part about...? will think about it...

[aat]

First of all, thanks for all the nice comments.
Some remarks about the Black Rhino: If you really like to see them, Etosha is a great place to find them. With daylight I recommend early morning and late afternoon. Being in Okaukuejo go to the waterhole late afternoon till ..? and wait. We have seen a nice number of them, will show you some more later on... (nice way to keep you here...lollllllllllll)

Mel: your question about poaching situation. I don't really know, haven't heard too much about that in Etosha, but this is what I could find based on comments on this subject by Etosha NP info:

"With the terrible scourge of rhino poaching continue to ravage South Africa’s national parks, neighbouring Namibia offers a welcome break from all the needless bloodshed. Almost unaffected by poaching for the last two decades or so, Namibia currently boasts the largest population of black rhino in the world, most of which are found in the beautiful and vast expanses of Etosha National Park.
In fact, numbers of this more endangered and notoriously shy rhino species are actually on the increase within the park"

Part 8 - LION

Showed to you so far: Black Rhino & Cheetah, time to look at the other Big Cat , the Lion.

At the night pics you could recognize a male lion drinking at the waterhole. Now it's time to finf them with daylight. November 28th , early morning and we driving on the main road. Very white and dusty , like driving on a road covered with snow.

Then suddenly we saw a lioness coming out of nowhere... some small bush and she was there.... followed by two "sisters". One was carrying a collar but she did not show herself that well so could not make a nice pic of her. Let's focus on the other two....

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coming out of the bush towards the road....

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and looks like they planned to cross the road just in front of us...always nice

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You can just look at this like we have seen it...

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sister was not far behind and stopped a second ... looking behind her for ? nothing to see, allthough we were hoping to see some cubs...

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then at the other side of the road (the collared one crossed the road already and I just could see her back 100 meters ahead)

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And again a look like " I am waiting for someone, where are you ?"

The answer showed up a few minutes later.... mr male lion , not in a hurry at all.

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with a last shot we say goodbay to this small pride with this proud experienced male

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I promised TOKO to limit the number of pics per chapter. This sighting took about 10 minutes , just lucky to be at the right place at the right time.... all you need for a sighting where lions are on their feet and not sleeping or eating....

Migth be an idea for next part....

[aat]

We spotted them when we left Halali towards the main road , at the T-junction we turned right and then about 5k towards Namutoni.

Great shots of the lions. Where did you spot them? Was it near Rietfontein perhaps?

[aat]

Thanks for the nice comments for previous parts.

Part 9 - Nice Encounters

Back from a full week working in the UK , time for another chapter of our trip

So far I mainly showed some sightings with the larger animals. Within the first few days in Etosha we also had some "rare" encounters I like to share with you. Some people might say something like "uhhhhhhh...bhhhhhhh" looking at some pics in this part 9.

Let me start with a nice and friendly jackal we have seen. Well fed or pregnant ?
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Our second day we were driving to "Sprookjesbos" , north of Okaukuejo.

On the way we had a nice sighting with two Honeybadgers. It looked they did notice us for some time because they did not run away and different to other sightings we had with the HB they were not running all the time. So a nice opportunity to make some pictures of them.

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playing , sniffeling, w bit of digging....

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and both of them together

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Getting in "Sprookjesbos" (Fairy Forest) I like to show a few of these rare trees. Kind of upside down trees, known as the Moringa trees.

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The learning part:

This unique forest is about 32 kilometres west of Okaukuejo and covers an area of approximately one square kilometre. The fairy-tale tree (Moringa ovalifolia) is to be found in Namibia only and occurs from Naukluft in the south to Kunene Region in the north. What makes the Fairy-Tale Forest unique is that the trunks of these trees are particularly knobbly except on the Halali hills where their trunks are fairly smooth and upright. The trees usually only grow on the slopes of mountains and hills and Etosha is the only place where the trees grow in such numbers on the plains.

The San People described them as upside-down trees, since they believed the trees were thrown out of paradise in anger and landed upside-down.

Moringa ovalifolia

The genus Moringa consists of 9 species. These are found in southern Africa, north-eastern Africa, Madagascar and India. The only endemic southern African species, Moringa ovalifolia, is an inhabitant of northern Namibia and south-western Angola. This species is a smooth-stemmed, stem-succulent tree growing up to 7 metres tall. This species is very common on the many granitic and dolomitic hills of northern Namibia.

Regrettably these trees are enjoyed by the many elephants of the Park and many have been destroyed

Then.... I just could stop before I almost hit this lovely snake. A Cobra on the road and he/she was not amused to meet me....

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more detailed

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I am not afraid of snakes (sitting in my car and windows closed .......) so getting a bit back to get out of his spitting range I opened my window to make some more pictures. I think because of the "vibration" noises of my car he prepared himself for protecting action... and for us.... beautiful posing for some pictures of him in "strike position"

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and more in detail:

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end of this part.... next one will follow tomorrow with Big Cats having dinner.... stay tuned...

[Lisbeth]

Honey badgers and spitting cobra was seriously a nice result of the drive

[nan]

wow the chance
2 Honey Badgers and a Cobra pausing for the pictures
I love to the trees

[Tina]

just catching up here, aat.

You were very lucky with black rhinos

Wonderful sightings and pictures of the honey badgers and cobra

[vinkie]

Great photos of the Badgers....a Cobra is very special ......nice pictures

[aat]

Thanks again for the comments. It was great to see the Honey Badgers and spitting Cobra at such a short distance

Part 10 - Breakfast with the Lionesses

Second part I promised to launch this weekend

Time to go back to the Big Cats.
Remember the part with the Cheetah mother and her cubs? 10 minutes later and still being impressed by that sighting we had our next surprise. Just near the main road (less then 20 meters) we saw 4 lionesses with their breakfast. They killed a zebra and looking at the scene I guess they just killed it a few hours before we arrived.

First look at the breakfast spot....

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4 lionesses with a (almost) full belly....

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Almost full because lions eat and eat and fresh meat attracts this one again.... another bite ?

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I asked her if the taste was ok.... and sure I got this sweet look of her .
Lioness with collar , being traced by one of the research organizations

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And if one lioness starts to eat again another will follow... always some space left in the belly

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Very charming way of posing for a "lady" .... almost waiting for an explosion....

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This time a better look at her

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She is saying "Yes... breakfast is delicious...."

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But ladies can change their expression in seconds

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The lioness decided to move "breakfast" to another place before the sun rises.
Now we really can see how strong they are...

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No helping hand by the others....

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A last view on two of the lionesses....
It took just two minutes for the lioness to move the carcass... very impressive !

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End of this Part....
More to come soon

[aat]

Toko,
I think I know a little bit about Tuskers but snakes..? no.. may be someone else can answer your question...sorry

Great sightings, aat - love the lions on the kill and the fairy trees

Is the snake a Mozambique Spitting Cobra ?