Etosha National Park, Namibia's Greatest Wildlife Reserve

EM has checked into … Etosha National Park, Namibia’s greatest wildlife reserve

This is a very exciting new chapter as we entered into a new country, Namibia after spending quite some time in our previous destination Botswana (click here to view my blog post about Botswana and what we did as well as what we saw there). First stop we had a game drive at Etosha National Park with an overnight stay followed by a second game drive the next day for more adventures!

This natural reserve was MASSIVE! Covering 20,000 km2, it houses a large variety of animal and birdlife. But the most unique factor about this reserve is its watering hole supported by the government, which I never have seen in previous game drives in Botswana and Kenya.

Water hole is crucial especially in a country that predominantly covered in desert and dry soil. Water hole means higher chance of witnessing wildlife so all we need to do was to go to these water holes and wait.

Want to know what we saw? Read on to find out and I promise that there were a few crazy moments!

Went for a late afternoon game drive

We started our game drive at Etosha National Park in the late afternoon and we were very fortunate to spot a herd of elephants in the distance having their vegetarian meal. Among the herd, we saw a few baby elephants which were so adorable!

Soon after, we were blessed to also spot a mother rhino with its baby rhino having a drink at a mini water hole. Even though I saw a rhino in Maasai Mara, Kenya (click here to read about my experience in Maasai Mara), it was at quite a far distance and seeing a baby rhino with its mother here at Etosha National Park was totally breathtaking, almost couldn’t imagine what I managed to see in front of my own eyes!

Visited a water hole at night

Fortunately for us, there was a major water hole situated near our camp site which was a close walking distance and it was also equipped with some spot lights for visibility.

So after dinner, we went towards the water hole with no uncertainty and no expectations on what we could see there.

And voila, we saw three rhinos having a drink and one of the rhino was quite curious as well. That particular one was quite brave and walked towards us with a closer distance as if prompting us to take good pictures of it, like it was fabulously posing for us!

Went for morning game drive

Another new day, another new adventure. What would we see? Who knows! Surprise me!

But we were greeted with a fantastic sunrise scene, as expected when one explores Africa.

Well sit tight, and scroll down to read on about what we saw in our 2nd game drive, I’m telling you, it was CRAZY!

Met an elder elephant that was NOT embarrassed AT ALL

According to our guide, he said that this elephant was approximately 60 years old. We were amazed at the fact that we managed to get up close with an elder elephant chilling by himself.

Most memorable about him was that he dangled his manhood out and started peeing as well as poo-ing. Omg it looked like he was hosing the ground and left a flood at the location.

I didn’t managed to take a picture as my camera was on video mode capturing everything in action, so stay tuned for a short video later on in my Instagram!

Wow we really LOL’ed.

Spotted a honey badger for REAL

Honey badger is well known in the wildlife dictionary due to its insane reputation, literally it is insane. Why? Well it is has the most notorious and vicious personality in a tiny little body. Even lions are scared of it. Honey badger is named as such because it will attack a bee hive for honey and it doesn’t even care with millions of bees stinging it. To the animal, it doesn’t hurt at all.

But it is very rare to spot a real one during the day as the animal generally come out at night. We were extremely fortunate thanks to a fellow traveller to be able to spot one in the morning!

Now we can all say that we saw a real honey badger in Africa!

Saw an endless variety of other wildlife

Here at Etosha National Park, there is a guaranteed opportunity for all visitors to see the classic wildlife in person, such as the antelopes, wilderbeasts, zebras and more. And again, this is all thanks to the water holes situated across the reserve.

But if you are looking for more of like a Lion King scene, East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) will be a better choice for sure.

Witnessed a massive herd of elephants charging and playing at a water hole

Now this was an amazing sight to see! From the moment that the elephant herd was charging towards to the water hole and the way they rolled themselves in it, every second was breathtaking.

There were also a few baby elephants that were closely protected by their parents, which I managed to capture in my shots above.

There were also one or two adult elephants being greedy and selfish, trying to pick a fight with other elephants and not wanting to share the water hole, oh dear…

Nonetheless, I felt like I also shared a moment with the elephants as they spent quite some time at the water hole, it was like a sign of relief, hope and happiness, how I wish they can have a better life with more water and resources.

There is little need to search for animals. In Etosha National Park, they come to you.

An experience in Etosha National Park is like nothing else, definitely a destination that should not be missed.

Firstly, the reserve have set number of water holes that are man-made which allows people to just drive and wait at the water holes, hence the wildlife will come rather than driving around aimlessly and hope for the best.

Secondly, there are two (if I’m not mistaken) water holes situated within walking distance from the camp site therefore another benefit to also have a few opportunities during the day to visit those water holes with convenience. I went after dinner since there was a higher chance of seeing some sort of wildlife during the night, and voila three rhinos were our entertainment for the night.

Lastly, they say that no safaris are the same for everyone and every day. This is true, so whatever that I saw in this trip will not apply to anyone else outside of the same group. We were extremely blessed to be able to see a herd of elephants charging to the water hole, multiple rhinos (even our guide was surprised) in every game drives, honey badger and an elder elephant with his erm long thing out…hahaha sorry! Gotta keep it PG but if you scroll up, you will know what I’m talking about in relations to the elder elephant.

Boy boy boy, what a great way to start the adventure in Namibia!

Next up, the Namibian desert! So stay tuned for the next blog post!

Till next time, take care and stay inspired.

xoxo EM