8 November

I was up by five thirty this morning.  I made coffee and woke everyone at quarter to six.  By 6:15 we were all at the waterhole and spent an hour or so there.  It was awesome watching the birds and then the animals come down in turns to drink.

First we watched black-faced impala and guinea fowl drinking in the early light

then a marabou stork flew in, landing like a Boeing  into the shallows.

A little later kudu arrived

Lots of little birds were flitting about too.

Golden-breasted Bunting

Black-crowned tjagra 

The Earl cooked breakfast and then we went for a drive just after 9.  

We were delighted to see herds and herds of plains animals  The zebra population is certainly in no danger of extinction in the Etosha National Park!

Plenty of zebra

This baby tried to hid behind Mommy

Double Banded Sand-grouse came down to drink too.

A springbok and kori bustard barely greeted each other as they passed by each other.

We came across a rhino without a horn  – removed to prevent poaching?  I don’t like that idea.

We saw these boys at a distance and then they came closer and closer.  They were on their way to a waterhole.

We made it a short day today and returned to camp at 14:30.   Pat and I did some laundry and we all had a swim in the pool.

For dinner we did chicken curry in the Remoska Pot.

After dinner we went to the waterhole. Earl decided not to come. Pat and I stayed from 8:30 to 10:30 but Tony left after he’d seen enough rhino standing perfectly still to last a lifetime!   Pat and I were determined to see elephant and two large males appeared as soon as Tony left!   The rhino made a hasty retreat at their approach and hung in the shadows until they left.

During our vigil hyenas came and went and  we counted 10 altogether.  There were also a total of 10 rhino coming and going during the evening.   Lovely to see that these endangered creatures have escaped the poachers’ guns.

We also saw a genet.