We got back from Etosha late last night. What is Etosha? It is a HUGE wildlife preserve that we went on safari to. We drove quite a bit in the north west-ish area to get there. The first thing to greet us in to the park was a beautiful giraffe. We then headed around the park and saw herds of zebra, springbok, oryx and silly ostrich.
Our campground was in the middle of the preserve and it was surrounded by a gate. Which was good because about 100 yards from our tent were the lions. We could hear them all night long on Saturday. I wasn't too worried, I figure if they tried to attack us, all I really need to do is out run at least one person.
The facilities aren't bad, there are showers and stuff. At one section of the camp area you can see a waterhole. We sat there for hours watching elephants, zebras and all that come and drink. It was so awesome to see the dynamic between all the animals. Elephants seem to rule the roost there. I saw about 15 elephants there drinking up everything. Two jackals were playing a little bit and that was fun.
One night sixteen giraffes came and drank too. That was pretty cool to see, just because they are so tall and lurpy. What we wanted to see more than all of those animals were the lions. We could hear them want to come to the waterhole, which got the giraffes really spooked. But the lions were late night drinkers, coming in around midnight to 2am any given night. We sat their with blankets and bunkered down waiting for them.
I had my camera out on my monopod waiting for a glimpse of them. Sleep decided to set in and I never was able to see them. Just for the record though, I was up really early and slept lousy, so I was already running off of very little sleep! I know, I know, what would National Geographic say to that?
On Saturday we drove around the park some more and we came across this enormous elephant. He saw us and started to flap his ears and looked like he was going to possibly charge our car. Needless to say, we didn't stay long. Etosha was incredibly flat. At night you can look from horizon to horizon with endless stars. It blew me away at the vastness of this place.
In fact, I thought I've been staring at the southern cross for the last few weeks, then Sam showed me where it was and I really looked at the southern cross for the first time. I hummed the Crosby, Stills and Nash song. But that was yet another thing I can check off of my Emily's Life To Do List.
The ride back was something else. Twelve hours of it were spent on bumpy dirt roads. Too bumpy to read 'Arry Potter and to bumpy to sleep. If I showed anyone pictures of where we were the reaction would be, "You went to southern Utah not Africa!" Seriously though, it looks like southern Utah.
Well, there is much more to tell and it's just too hard to write about. I'll have to do it in interpretive dance, just to do justice to it. Kidding, I figure some Etosha footage will be fun. We have a press conference in about an hour, so I will have to finish more about Etosha later. Ooh, something to peak your interest from my video footage... giraffes fighting!
Much love.
E
P.S. I now believe that zebras are white with black stripes.
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