Etosha National Park

In Damaraland, we stayed 2 nights at the very simple, but unique Madisa Camp. There were comfortable beds in the large tents, but no electricity and an outdoor bathroom in the rocks (not every woman's cup of tea 😄).

During a bumpy 6-hour elephant trek, despite our guide's intensive search, we only saw one male elephant. At least we discovered the number 2 of the Big Five. Nevertheless, it was an exciting journey through bushes and dried river valleys. In the end, we all became experts in finding tracks in the sand and judging the freshness of elephant dung.

In Etosha National Park, certainly the highlight of our tour, we couldn't stop seeing animals. Since 2014, it is allowed to drive through the park with a private vehicle, but you must not get out of the car because there are several dangerous animals like lions, cheetahs, rhinos, and elephants walking around. However, there are several fenced rest camps distributed throughout the park for restroom breaks. On Thursday, we joined a guided safari tour through the park. And once again, we had the whole jeep to ourselves. With our experienced guide Otto, we made some great discoveries: a pack of lions feasting on a dead zebra, a lioness casually walking to and drinking from a waterhole, giraffes, elephants... On the way back to the gate (which closes at sunset and we were already running late), suddenly herds of elephants and giraffes appeared on both sides of the road. Completely overwhelmed by these impressions, we ventured into the park on our own the next day. We planned to drive 180 km across the park, passing numerous waterholes until we reached the eastern gate. Words cannot describe the experiences we had. We saw herds of zebras, wildebeests, elephants, and all other animals running to and from the waterholes. Once, a herd of at least 30 elephants drove away another herd with loud noise from the waterhole. At one waterhole, there were already 12 giraffes and more kep coming. Simply breathtaking. Just take a look at the photos...