On Safari in Etosha National Park

Thursday, November 3, 2011

“Etosha” means “great white space” in Heikom, the language of the first inhabitants of what is now northern Namibia. And it is truly that – the Etosha Pan stretches for hundreds of square miles, and, except for a few months when it holds up to three feet of water, it is vast, dry, and white.

We journey along the southern edge of the pan, where watering holes host regular visits by the wild animals we’ve come to see. The first of these is Okaukuejo, where we climb off our bus to wait and watch. It’s a very short wait. Dozens of zebras are on their way, joining a few impalas and kudu already there. They march their way in, a wave of black and white stripes in a beautiful blue lake. We watch them silently as they drink for a while, and then move on.

Eventually, so do we. On our way to the next watering hole, we find the rarest view of our safari, a lioness guarding her kill. It’s a zebra she isolated from the herd last night. She’s resting, probably from the combination of the midday sun and the effort of bringing down her prey. Her right paw rests on top of the fallen zebra, reminding everyone whose meal it is.

Before lunch, we find a few elephants. They use their watering hole differently from the other animals -- they submerge themselves to keep cool in the heat of the day. Elephants also gather in family groups; it's easy to spot parents and their young, enjoying a cool dip in the pond, splashing themselves and each other with their trunks. When they're done, they get up and stroll along, passing close by us as they leave. We can imagine smiles on their faces if we want to.

Just as the elephants we've been watching get up and leave, one of us notices some movement off in the distance. It turns out to be a second herd of elephants, marching out of the trees, along one of the paths they've established for themselves here in Etosha. Slowly but surely, they get bigger and bigger, and ultimately wetter and wetter, as they reach their destination.

In the afternoon, we head to another watering hole, this one hosting a fair number of giraffes. They're wary animals, and they check on us frequently before they drink. Once they’re ready, it’s fun to watch them spread their forelegs wide and then lower their heads to the water. From the front, they look like giant brown-spotted tripods. But you have to be quiet; the slightest movement brings a quick reaction from all of them.

At the end of our first day on safari, we rejoin our German friends at the lodge and compare stories and pictures of all the animals we saw. Tomorrow morning, our jeeps will come for us early, and we’ll do it all over again.

Answer to Ms Patience’s Math Problem: The chicken house would need its second side to be 10 meters in length in order to have a perimeter of 36 meters. Its other side, for those of you keeping score at home, was 8 meters.