We left the Ruacana Falls (or Rock Face!) and went south to enter the Etosha National Park from the West side but on the way down I wanted to stop in and have a look at a massive Boabab tree. It was huge as can be seen in the photos, hundreds of years old and used by the look of it as a drinking spot by the locals!
We had been unable to book any campsites in the Etosha National Park due to it being the high season and most people book their sites up to 12 months in advance. Now if you have a four week holiday booked for 12 months time it is easy to make that booking but for us we had no idea when we would arrive so couldn’t book in advance. Anyway just before we arrived at the park gate we came across a Vet Control point which is in place to stop the transport of beef and poultry out of the north and into the south. It is there to stop the spread of Foot and Mouth disease and a poultry disease. Well our contribution of beef, chicken and eggs would have kept them in tucker for at least a week! So on to the gate we went and with the most pitiful look on our faces we asked if we could get a campsite at the first camp inside the park. “Do you have a booking” we were asked, “well no because we are overlanding through Africa and could not do that” we said all the while being oh so sweet and happy! So the lovely attendant rang the camp and the first answer was “no, we are fully booked” but then the attendant said something in her own language and the second answer was “oh just send them through”. So we only had just enough time to get to the camp before sunset when no vehicles are allowed to be on the roads within the camp. On arrival at the Olifantsrus camp we were given two nights and put into what was called the overflow area but in actual fact was really the Day visitor area but they don’t get day visitors! We were not the only ones in there but around another eight other vehicles in the area and we all got on well together. The next morning we had a bit of a late start because we were all getting a bit exhausted but then went out around 11am and straight away realised that we were in for some great sightings.
Over the next three days we saw lion, elephant, back and white rhino, leopard, zebra, giraffe, kudu, gemsbok blue wildebeest, red hartebeest, mongoose, springbok, black faced impala, warthog, did die, steenbok and loads of different birds.
One negative is that the Namibian Wildlife services are really not looking after the park very well with the roads being very badly corrugated, the rest areas within the park had toilets that were filthy and in the main unusable and just the general upkeep of the rest campos was very poor. One wonders where all the money from the daily park fees and accommodation fees are going because it certainly wasn’t going into maintenance and we hardly ever saw any game wardens.
Anyway we still loved our time in the park because the sheer numbers of wild animals was quite outstanding. We then moved on down through the park to the middle rest camp Okaukuejo but were not successful in getting a camp spot so we were just about to keep going out of the park which would have taken another four and a half hours and just would have got us out by sunset when I thought it a good idea to familiarise myself with the map. I saw that there was another exit gate only 20 minutes to the south so I had a quick look on the iOverlander app and discovered that there were some private campgrounds outside the park. So we went south and sure enough managed to get a campsite at the second place we went into. So we based ourselves there for three nights and drove into the park each day to do some more game viewing.
This area was spectacular with waterholes surrounded by 100’s if not thousands of animals and at one waterhole we saw a family of around 40 elephants and at two others there were more than 20 elephants. We then moved on and out of the park at the east gate just past Namutoni and camped at another private campground just outside the gate.
At this stage Veronica due to many reasons decided to no longer stay with us on our journey north and was to return to Windhoek where her husband Chris would meet up with her and spend some time traveling through Botswana before heading back to Port Elizebeth in South Africa to ship the truck home. It was sad to see her go after having been on the road now for 3 months but we have enjoyed our time together even if we did have a few challenges along the way. Pauline and I continued north to the Caprivi Strip.
Crickey.......we're in Africa! 
Wow. Extraordinary encounters. Thanks for bringing it all to us Marcus & Pauline.
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Thanks👍
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The Ellies in Etosh are huge aren’t they. You guys saw a lot of wildlife
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They are huge! Etosha was full of wildlife especially around the waterholes.
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Loving your photos you’re seeing and taking beautiful memories you make me want to come and see the myself. I have really enjoyed your blog can’t wait for the next instalment.
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Thanks Adrienne, you two should come over you would love it.
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🙌
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Amazing guys! Keep posting xxx
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Thanks 👍
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You’ve really just pinched Attenborough footage haven’t you? Very game! 🙂 Stay safe.
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Very hard not to get good photos here! Stay safe? There’s no adventure in that!😂
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True!
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Hi Guys
Amazing photos again,very very special memories for you both to look back on ( that’s if you ever return home )
My favourite is the giraffe drinking its hilarious.
Love to you both xx
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Yes it’s quite funny to watch them get into position and then get back up again!
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I know we will be home 8th Dec 🙌 cannot wait to catch up 😘😘
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Hi Marcus
We had exactly the same experience … lost all our meat eggs etc at the control post and arrived at Etosha wondering what we would do. As it happens two couples from Botswana and SA took pity on us and fed us several nights with fabulous BBQ! Oh what a brilliant place to view the animals and yes somewhat run down. The new friends told us how magnificent the camps were years ago. Sad really because it is a unique place.
Sent from my iPhone
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G’day Marcus and Pauline, been following most of your posts, quite amazing photos of animals, and you have their names , we are in N Y at moment much different animal s , but still a jungle albeit a concrete 1 , I hope their is not to much poaching there , when it sounds like Park is not attended well, enjoy rest of your journey. Jeff and Clare
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Hi Jeff, it is really hard to say how they are combatting poachers but we have come across the Anti Poaching units on a few occasions now. With the weapons that they carry my hands go straight up!
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😬 … hi Jeff 👋 wow New York ✅ have fun xx see you at Chrissy 😘
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Hi Marcus and Pauline enjoying your posts, great photos of the animals, and you got their names as well, pretty park isn’t kept well, bit of a worry about poachers??? We are in N Y at moment different animals but still a jungle, albeit a couple concrete 1 . Jeff n Clare
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Loved Etosha ❣️ The animals were amazing, lots of waterholes and lots of different wildlife co-existing… as you said the camp and office areas were shit…. but our camp at Etosha Safari Lodge couldn’t have been any better.
…Sorry to see you go Veronica 😔 but we have had some wild times 🙌 xx love ya
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not sure if you are receiving my replies ..i live in hope.. thanks for the blogs ..awesome africa . brucey
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We are receiving your comments thanks Brucey. I am now in possession of the plow disc fire place you made and will make good use of it!😜
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Thanks Brucey. We are off up into the Okavango Delta tomorrow without the Kimberley Karavan (sand anchor!) so will be roughing it in the tent.😳. Veronica and Chris will be up there somewhere too but in some posh lodges!😂
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Very wise move to leave the kk behind in the sand of the okavango marcus especially with out another recovery vehicle with you as a couple of big soft sand hills to struggle up – nothing wrong with a posh lodge or two guys to have break from the rigors of camping and we enjoyed Muchenje Safari Lodge near Chobe – also have a look at Hyena Pan tented camp basic but good if your close to it in the okavango and we enjoyed it also but if you must rough it Khawai Magotho camp site with an elephant or two wandering thru camp for breakfast (but with absolutely no facilities) is worth a stop over for a night or two in the okavango as is the Savuti camp – also if you get a chance go in and have a look at Makgadikgadi Salt Pan and Nxai Pan National Parks near Maun which are close to each other although an incredibly bad potholed (sealed) road to get ther – a quick independent self drive thru Nxai was one highlight on our recent trip – cheers greg
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Great photos
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Thanks mate.😜
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Great adventure Mr Mick, just loving it all 😘 xx
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