Ongava Lodge, Etosha National Park

Days 14 & 15    30th September & 1st October

Morning Game Drive to Etosha National Park.  We had visions of a huge salt pan with water holes surrounded by elephants and antelopes, etc., but found that there was a lot of fairly barren, dry park with only a short visit to the edge of the salt pan.  Had we gone on a full day trip with a private guide then we may have been able to get to the area we imagined.  However, the highlight of the drive was watching a Honey Badger appear over a small dune and come towards us to a tiny patch of water for a drink, and also a beautiful Pale Chanting Goshawk, and of course the picturesque Oryx, Springbok and Red Hartebeest, etc.

Naively, we had not expected so much traffic - we queued for half an hour at the gate to get into the park, and then were often in a group of vehicles, buses and trucks.  The roads were dusty and very corrugated, and after 5 hours we (esp Sherry's back!) were quite glad to get back to the lodge for a nice cool swim!

That night there was an incredible storm on  the horizon and we stayed up until midnight watching the amazing lightning show.

We decided to stay at the lodge the following morning and spent a wonderful few hours simply enjoying the incredible procession of animals and birds to the waterhole - especially a Kori Bustard that decided to see off a female Kudu!

We enjoyed a swim in the afternoon and then went on the evening game drive, which was a lot more fruitful than the previous one.  We saw some ellys (which had escaped from the Park into Ongava Conservancy) and some nice white rhinos, but the highlight had to be a group of 5 lion siblings - 4 females and 1 male, right beside the road, yawning and stretching, then getting up and wandering off to the water hole.  We followed and had a delightful sundowner whilst watching them against the sunset - magical!