Etosha

Just to interject in my Mariental story:

So I’m back from Etosha. We went “camping,” in that we lived in tents at a tourist resort. Our tents were near actual chalets and we had access to toilets, showers, sinks, a restaurant, a pool, and a bar. So I was living in a tent. But I was nowhere near roughing it. I was just a little uncomfortable at night. And during the day. It’s a six hour drive from Windhoek to Etosha, and we were on a big bus from the Poly. So Etosha is a big National Park and Game Reserve, kinda. You go there to see the animals. On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, we drove through the park on pre-determined dirt paths. We saw other people in their SUVs and safari vehicles, but all we had was a huge blue, white, and yellow bus with “POLYTECHNIC OF NAMIBIA” plastered on the side. It was the most conspicuous safari vehicle ever. Regardless, I saw zebra, springbok, steenbok, kudu, black-faced impala, another kind of impala, oryx, ostrich, warthogs, various birds including guinea hens, jackals, rhinos, an elephant, and two lions, one male and one female. We did a LOT of driving in that stupid bus to see all these animals, but it was worth it. There would be times where we’d drive and drive and we wouldn’t see anything for hours. Then I tried to nap or read. I got really tired of seeing springbok and zebra. They’re everywhere. The springbok is also served in the restaurant. We didn’t see the lions until the very end of the trip, too. So that was nice.

The best part was seeing the rhinos. We didn’t actually see them out in the park. You’re all going to think this is really touristy, which it is, but at the resort there was a man-made watering hole with a stone fence surrounding it along with spotlights and benches for all the tourists to sit and watch. So we went there on the last night because we had heard that there had been a rhino there before. We waited for a while and I was getting impatient and talking about how the rhino was never going to show up, and then there it was! It went to the watering hole, got some water, and then walked straight toward the fence. It got so close! Next to the stone fence separating the tourists from the animals, there are long wooden poles angled down so the animal can’t climb over them. Well, this rhino ran into that looking for grass and was very confused. Meanwhile, we and a whole bunch of Germans were crowded around silently taking pictures. I didn’t have my camera, but it was too dark anyway. Eventually it gave up and went back. A few minutes later, another rhino (I think the female) came to the watering hole to drink. Then a huge herd of zebra came by. Watching the two interact was very funny. The zebra would go into the watering hole staying on the other side of the rhino. But when the rhino would move, the zebra would all freak out and run out of the water. But then they would slowly come back until one of the zebra noticed the rhino again, and they would all rush out. This happened several times. The rhino was completely oblivious to all of this and kept on doing its thing. Very funny.

So those are the highlights of Etosha. I saw lots of cool animals. The end.