Looking For Lions, again

Sunday 21 april

After breakfast at 6, we were at the gates to Etosha for the 7:10 opening, out onto the sometimes corrugated roads, in search of big animals while they are likely to be active before it gets hot.

Short story: no luck with lions today, but we saw lots of other animals and birds during the drive, including these little dwarf mongooses.

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To Onguma

Monday 22 april

We left Okaukuejo at 7:30 to see more game, and drove ~east, on mostly corrugated roads. Patience, and having a sharp-eyed guide, pay off: we saw a female lion with three cubs, near the road but hidden by bushes. She and the cubs moved around for a while, then she came out and walked right across the road into the flat scrub. Time to go shopping hunting for the family.

We also saw elephants, giraffes, black-faced impalas, more of the ubiquitous springboks, a solitary red hartebeest, many groups of zebras, maybe in the hundreds, and lots more wildebeests than earlier.

We left the national park, nine minutes later than our 48-hour permit officially allowed. The large and luxurious Onguma property (and wildlife preserve, I think) is right next to Etosha, and much swankier than the NWR Okaukuejo complex. The bar and restaurant overlook the waterhole, where jackals, springbok, and other small antelopes were seen during dinner.