I Want a Rhinoceros for Christmas...Throw in a Leopard While You're At It - Etosha National Park, Namibia.

The plains of Etosha were vast and at times appeared to be void of animals (large mammals in particular).

Our patience and persistence on the safari beat eventually paid off in finding the animals we wanted to see.

After a long, hot, dusty day of pounding Etosha gravel roads, me and Ahmed were driving back to Halali Camp. The sun was setting below the endless horizon, bathing the landscape of the expansive veld in golden light.

Ahmed brought the car to a screeching halt.

Three cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) lounged under a distant acacia tree to our left. Yes! Pay dirt! Our first cheetahs!

Pressed for time, we drove on.

Again, Ahmed stopped the vehicle in its tracks.

Three white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum simum) to the left!

Damn the Camp!! We rushed onward.

Driving around a big bend in the road, we saw what we thought was an injured animal lying on the edge of the vegetation. It was rather large for being roadkill. Ahmed slowed the car down. As we approached, the animal's head swung up.

The spotted mass was a sleepy leopard (Panthera pardus pardus)!

Holy crap! Bingo!

Pandemonium ensued, as we grabbed our cameras.

A little too much pandemonium in the car. Fast leopard, slow lens meant fuzzy leopard. Interesting abstract I guess.

In the span of 25 minutes we made three amazing observations...

My advice, don't stop looking. Never give up...

The cheetahs were really far from the road, but I managed to film the white rhinos and the leopard. Here's a taste of the chase:

Director's commentary:

00:12. Ahmed gets out of the car to observe the rhinos. Please do not try this at home unless you look both ways for large carnivores like cheetahs, lions, or leopards.

00:14. The darker rhino lets loose a violent power pee; easily mistaken for a jet plane taking off.

01:00. Ahmed tries to gain the attention of the leopard. By the way, using the psst...psst command is a legitimate photographic technique.

01:12. I think I was delirious from the heat in the car when I announced the distance to the cat was 700 metres. Clearly, it was about 30 metres. My bad.

Ed. note:

We missed the closing time of Halali Camp and were locked out.

African Elephant Sighting - Fire in the Hole! Fire in the Hole! - Etosha National Park, Namibia

Another example how close my friend Ahmed can get us to some of these animals. We spotted this mud covered elephant bull about 200 m off the road. We stopped to watch. The elephant was walking towards the road. Ahmed gauged the situation. He moved the car about 50 m ahead. The elephant crossed the road about 10 to 15 m behind us. Not bad tracking, eh? Made for a good set of photos...

One of the biggest elephants I've ever seen. I'd guess 4-5 m in height and really massive... Notice the tiny car on the other side of the elephant...yikes.
The African Elephant, despite it's apparent calm, cool, and collected outward appearance, ranks up there with the most dangerous African animals. Good advice is to stay in the car or risk being crushed or being gored/tossed/tapped with one of them tusks.

Nice portrait. If you're caught out of the car and the elephant starts flapping its ears while engaged in a staring contest with you (followed by a ear piercing trumpet of a call), make yourself scarce. Find a very thick tree nearby and hide behind it. Forget about running...or climbing.

Elephant Factoid of the Day...

Healthy adult African Bush Elephants (Loxodonta africana) have no natural predators...some young adult bulls have been known to attack and kill rhinoceroses.

Who let the birds out? Part One... The Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris), Etosha National Park, Namibia

Recite "ker-bek-ker-bek-ker-bek-krrrrr..." repeatedly and you'll likely attract flocks of the Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris).

The above is one of my all time favourite wildlife pix.

Described as "very common" in sub-Saharan Africa by Newman's Birds of Southern Africa, I love these birds. Their plummage is so psychodelic. Just gaze at their bodies. It's mesmerizing. Their heads are crazy, futuristic looking.

And, unlike most birds that are tiny, I can get a decent image of them with my measly Nikon 75-300 mm (1.5X crop factor) zoom lens.

Helmeted Guineafowl Factoids of the Day...

Tastes like chicken... just kidding...

Bigger than a bucket of KFC, but smaller than a turkey...

Extremely gregarious when not breeding. Flocks are composed of up to 25 birds...

Who's scared of the big bad lion (Panthera leo)? Me!! - Etosha National Park, Namibia

My, Mr. Lion, what big eyes you have...and that sweet, sweet breath... Look for the reflection of a little iddy biddy, trembling Chinese dude in his eyes.

My safari mate and good friend Ahmed has this knack of getting us really close to wildlife. On this occasion, he drove right up close to a small group (3 or 4) of bachelor lions.

How close? I, in the passenger front seat, was less than 2 metres from the closest lion, with the window wide open. I could see the reflection of the car in the big cat's eyes.

For the first time, I actually had to zoom out with the camera lens to take photos in Etosha.

Suffice to say, I suggested to Ahmed to keep the car running and his foot on top of the throttle just in case.

Crazy thing about the situation is that the second you stick an appendage out the car door or window, you are toast my friends, lion snack, tender vittles, etc.

Mantra of the moment, "stay in the car, stay in the car..."

My, Mr. Lion, what great big teeth you have...

My life as a lion (Panthera leo leo)... C'mon lion, go out and kill something for the tourists. Maybe let out a bit of a roar...or, at least yawn.

Factoid of the day...

According to my Road Map of the Etosha National Park (1994), the lion population was estimated at 300.

Gnu Kid On The Savannah (GKOTS) - Etosha National Park, Namibia

Connochaetes taurinus aka the Gnu (pronounced "G-new" or just "new"), aka the Blue Wildebeest (for the bluish/grey sheen of it's hide), aka the Brindled Gnu. Thank God for scientific names.

Often described as an "ungainly" ungulate, wildebeests grow to 1.7m at the shoulder, and weigh up to 380kg.

The front-heavy wildebeest reminds me of the Orcs in the Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. They look rather clumsy but are in fact quite agile on their hooves. Healthy adults are renown for taking on and beating the crap out of predators such as lions. On the other hand, in terms of observation and photography, these were amongst the most skittish creatures around.

Definitely Not An Adidas Running Shoe - Springbok (Gazelle), Etosha, Namibia...

There's one in every crowd... At least someone's paying attention to the nutty photogs...

Daytime temperatures while we were in Etosha rose into the upper thirties. Crazy tourists sat in their hot furnace-like vehicles while the wiser Springboks (Antidorcas marsupialis) took refuge from the blazing sun under the shade of leafy green trees.

Springbok (Afrikaans) = Spring (jump) + bok (antelope)

Springboks can jump to a height of 3.5 m.

To communicate the presence of predators, springboks will pronk or serially jump into the air while running.

The South African National Rugby Team is nicknamed the Springboks.

Source: Wikipedia.

Definitely not a Chevrolet - The Black Faced Impala, Etosha National Park, Namibia...

This no bambi. It's Aepyceros melampus petersi (common names: Black-Faced Impala (English) or Rooibok (Afrikaans))!

This sub-species seems to be endemic to Namibia. The Black-faced Impala is listed as vulnerable to extinction. According to the ICUN listing, there are approximately 1000 animals left in Namibia.

Gotta keep up fighting skills for rutting season... Described as the quintessential African antelope, males grow to 55-75 kg while female weigh in at 35-53 kg.

Being gregarious animals, impalas tend to group together in large herds. When resources like food are plentiful, male impalas become territorial, taking possession of females that wander into their respective territories and kicking out bachelor males. A male impala may have a "harem" of up to 100 females in some cases.

Little known impala factoids:

Impala appear as appetizers in the menus of cheetah and leopards.

Adults can leap 12 m and 3 m in height in a single bound!

Sunday Driving - Etosha National Park, Namibia

Be prepared to share the road while driving in Etosha.

Very wide load... (Loxodonta africana)

Very narrow load...(Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa).

Etosha Factoids of the day.

Etosha National Park was established by German occupiers in 1907. Originally the size of the park was 100,000 sq. km. Due to "political pressure", the park was reduced to its current size of 22,270 sq. km.

"The Park is home to 114 mammal species, 340 bird species, 110 reptile species, 16 amphibian species and, surprisingly, one species of fish".

I must report no sightings of fish in the park.

Early morn chillaxin' on the Etosha Highveld...

It's an early morning start for safari-goers in Etosha. Once the rest camp gates swing open at 6 AM, you have 12 hours of light to track down as many critters as you can. Trust me. There won't be a shortage of animals to see and miles of dirt track to drive.

Look what the cat dragged in... Early bird on the trail catches this pride of groggy lions (Panthera leo) chillaxin' on the grasslands of Etosha.

I love this time of the day. Calm, cool air precedes hot, dusty conditions later in the day. The morning light is perfect for photographing animals.

Etosha Bound - Northern Namibia...

I loved Namibia. So far, we've traveled amongst the monstrous red dunes of the Namib Desert, been perplexed by the surreal trees of Dead vlei, watched the birds of Walvis Bay, and surveyed the seal covered coast of Cape Cross. Next on the itinerary, we drove to the crown jewel of Namibia, Etosha National Park, perhaps the best wildlife preserve in all of Africa.

Here is an excerpt from my journal (November 27, 2006):

We bid farewell to Swakopmund today to embark on the next phase of the journey of bleakness.

Back to the blast furnace called the interior of Namibia. Gone were the cool sea breezes of the Atlantic.

6 hours later, first driving through bleakness then climbing the winding roads of the Erongo mountains we arrived Okaukuejo Camp, located in the extreme western end of the Etosha pan, the first of three such clusters of chalets and camping spaces in the Etosha.

To our chagrine, as we approached the Park gates, we could see dark ominous clouds forming overhead. Before we knew it, the heavens above opened up and pounded us with rain.

To our dismay, the girl at the Park gates informed us that it had been raining for the better part of a week prior to our arrival.

In biological terms, rain in parks like Etosha (dry savannah biome) means animal dispersal. Normally, in dry season, wildlife cluster around the numerous natural and manmade waterholes scattered around the savannah.

As we checked into our campsite, suffice to say, we were anxious whether we would see many animals during our safaris because of the rain.

However, despite the weather, it was good to be back.

[Ed. note: I visited Etosha Park ten years ago.]


View Larger Map
Map marks the location of Okaukuejo Rest Camp, Etosha National Park. Directly to the north (and east) the massive dry lake bed called Etosha Pan.