Namatubis Guest Farm Etosha National Park

... the bar. Ah, refreshing, as is the cold beer and gin and tonic afterwards. We estimate the air temperature to be between 33 to 35 C (91 to 95 F).<br><br>We go back on another game drive at 3:30 PM. The sky is quite hazy, like yesterday, and now we know why. The small white crystals in the rocks from the salty pan heat up under the strong sun and the wind blows them around, creating enough friction for them to start a natural fire. At ...

... The next day we went on a very long and boring 7 hour game drive where we sat at watering holes watching nothing almost the entire time. After returning to the campsite for lunch and an afternoon dip in the pool, Sarah and Elena decided to stay behind for the afternoon game drive. Lindsey and Brittany spiced the drive up with a few Savannah ciders in hand. After driving for a bit, Tim slammed on the breaks and pointed to a tree, saying there was a cheetah underneath it ...

... 10 feet in front of us. Her jaw and chest were stained red with blood and she walked languorously to an open spot, ignoring the cubs and males and settling herself down to lick her paws and close her eyes in the sunshine. Ten minutes later another one walked out, her front also covered in blood. She picked a spot past the first one and also ignored the cries of one of the little cubs as she curled ...

... complete with wood grain and growth rings. It is the biggest accumulation of petrified logs in<br><br>southern Africa. Floodwaters uprooted the trees elsewhere and carried them to their present position towards the<br><br>end of an ice age on the Gondwana super continent. The trees were coordinates, early conifers, that are now<br><br>extinct.<br><br>Etosha National Park: Large enough to be classified as a saline desert in its own right, the Etosha Pan lies in ...

... of 35 elephant at the waterhole at the same time....compeletly amazing).<br>2 Spotted Hyaena appeared sneakily as the elephants were leaving, only spotted these due to their reflection in the water.<br>2 Black rhinos (Mother and baby)<br>1 white rhino, came after the other 2 left<br>1 black rhino, as the white one was leaving<br>1 black rhino and 1 white rhino were at the waterhole at the same time, coming from different directions, made it good to spot the ...

... I saw a lion with 3 cubs.  OMG, I was totally unprepared, slowed down, grabbed my cameras out of the bags and banged out a few shots and some video before they ran into the long grass.  How brilliant is that!!??  With adrenaline still pumping off I drove still with the distant sound of the mother calling the cubs with a deep growl and the cubs answering with cute little lion-cubbie meows.    Just an FYI ...

... was driving all I could see was the sun getting lower in the sky.  Finally I hit the tarred road again.  It was just 60km to the rest camp inside the park, so fewer kms to the entrance gate.  But I had only about 20mins to get there.  So again I raced off.  Miraculously I made it to the gate 10mins after sunset.  They let me in.  Then I sped off to the camp, and again made it in time.  PHEW!  <br><br>I paid my bill at the reception, parked my poor little rental ...

... part of the world seems to be hung up on a &#8220;per person per night&#8221; rate, regardless of how few beds you use, or how little room you require&#8230;this becomes a challenge when there are 5 of you (with #6 on the way)*.<br><br>10. Fortunately we had free internet in our Cape Town accommodations, so after much late night surfing, we found one company that had a lodge near the famous Namibian sand dunes, as well as one just outside of Etosha National ...

... hanging around, and then we spot some elephants coming in! There are five of them and they are all males. They seem to take turns drinking, as if some keep watch while one or two of them drink. THey stay for a while, and then head off and then five black rhino come in. It's truly amazing, as these are such rare animals and we are seeing five of them. By this point, it's getting too dark to take photos without a tripod (even with the floodlights) so we just sit there and appeciate the ...

... yet but will do. The we had to head back to the entrance because James had the part needed for the truck. Turns out he had ordered the wrong part and Pat the driver had a shouting match with him and made him sit in the back with us for a bit. Back into the park we got to see Zeebra and just as the sun was setting we saw a Rhino. We set up camp and got ready for the evening meal ...