美麗的埃托沙

The last two days we saw many animals again! The most beautiful thing was a giraffe "parade" yesterday, with about 20 giraffes walking behind each other. We watched these beautiful animals for minutes. One giraffe could hardly keep up, it limped, but the others took turns looking back and waiting. Very sweet to observe.

Today we had a long drive from the east to the west entrance, about 185 km, partly the worst gravel road. It's a miracle that no tire has burst yet. For long stretches, there was nothing to see far and wide. The children entertain themselves by singing, playing, and fooling around, and in between, an ice cream helps against the long drive.

Just as we are talking about the bad roads and the few animals today, we see a lioness right next to us in the grass!!!!! We observe and follow her as she moves undecidedly back and forth, and we are thrilled! And then it gets really exciting: higher up we see another lioness with a cub, at a waterhole!!!! The other lion also saunters over, and they drink thirstily. Suddenly they respectfully back away. But what are the lions afraid of????!!! A rhinoceros is coming! And wants to go to the waterhole...!!!! The lions retreat and let the rhinoceros go first, it drinks calm. Then it walks away again, but only to make a few big piles and bury them with its hind legs like a dog. And walks back to the waterhole at a comfortable pace. The lions are waiting patiently. Zebras and antelopes are standing in the distance, and they occasionally dare to take a step forward, they seem very thirsty. But they don't dare yet. Two desert foxes are also sneaking around. That was really exciting to observe! A beautiful spectacle of nature.

In the meantime, not only we but also several cars, safari vehicles, and buses (from small to large) are parked next to, in front of, and behind us, wild snapping from the windows. Where did they all come from suddenly? We only encountered maybe 5 cars all day.

On the way back, we saw a beautiful hyena (Lio really wanted to see one in Africa). We drive to our accommodations for the next 2 nights, feeling filled with joy and happily exhausted. So far, we had the accommodations to ourselves, but here it feels like a lot is going on. Almost only German chatter at the tables, not really relaxed. But a delicious grill buffet and beautiful chalets. Pretty exhausted and shaken, we fall asleep.

What else was beautiful today? Lots of beautiful zebras, and our first elephant!!!!!!! It stood beautifully on a hill and flapped its huge ears.

This morning, after a delicious breakfast (eggs, pancakes with cinnamon and sugar, hot cocoa, and melon), we jumped into the huge pool for another refreshing swim. It was already 30 degrees in the morning (37 degrees at noon). The children had a lot of fun with Papa.

Maxima's diary entry: "What an exciting day!!!!"