We drove into Etosha late yesterday afternoon and set up camp at the campsite closest to Andersson Gate. We passed by the camp waterhole on the way to the shop and were happy to see some jackals, an elephant, some antelope and a lone zebra. As it got dark giraffe came to drink and we were lucky to see a parade of elephants and their young troupe up in line. Not quite holding eachothers tails, but very close to the Disney picture (actually, Disney has a lot to answer for when it comes to shaping expectations of wild animals). Later that evening, after we'd cooked dinner, we returned to the waterhole where the elusive black rhino came to drink. Then another one came and they had a territory standoff. Very interesting watching (and listening) to the grumpy one complain and stamp his feet to make the other one move.
We were up early for a game drive and although we saw many many zebra and springbok on the plains, clearly all the action was at the waterhole at camp.
When we returned for lunch, we stopped by and I was amazed at all the animals that had come to drink in scores. Kudu, springbok, zebra and elephants were all competing for a place at the waterhole. Unreal.
We went out for another drive to a different waterhole that had previously been busy and were surprised to find several cars of tourists parked, but only birds at the waterhole. After a few minutes, I thought I saw a jackal trotting up to drink but a closer look with the binoculars revealed a young lion. So far, so exciting. After the drink the lion wandered off and lay down behind a tree with what turned out to be four other young lions. The next tree over revealed a large maned lion asleep with his back to us and as the day cooled and he moved we saw his lioness and four spotted cubs become active too... and there we nearly drove off in search of something more interesting than birds!
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