Ongava Lodge is 2 1/2 hours north of our last stop. It is just outside of Etosha Game Park, which comprises 22,000 square kilometers filled with lots of animals. It is a salt pan. Ongava Lodge has 14 huts that are up high for viewing the watering hole where many of the animals come to drink.
Ongava means Rhino. Going out on a game drive on the Ongava private park as soon as we arrived turned out great. We immediately saw 3 male lions. Our guide scraped the paint off his Land Rover driving through the thick bush and thorny Acacia trees in order to get close to the lions. There are three male lions lounging in the long white grass with legs and paws flopping onto each other. It looks like a pile of lions.
Ten minutes after leaving the lions we see white rhinos. It's the same drill. The guide plows right through the bush scraping paint off the Land Rover in order to get as close as possible to the rhinos without endangering the rhinos or us. It is a big mama rhino and her baby. The baby is very intent on keeping very close to his mama. When mama starts to turn or walk the baby moves also and trots right below and close to mama. When mama stops the baby stops. These are beautiful animals and we wonder how their skin looks so good since they crash through the bush with reckless abandon smashing thorn bushes and small trees as they go.
In the private Ongava reserve we also see a female waterbuck, a black faced impala (only found in Namibia), a goshawk, two black rhinos (endangered), oryx, zebra, wildebeest, and springbok. Our guide told us that It is rare to have black and white rhinos in the same area. White rhinos have a wide mouth. Black rhinos are smaller and a little darker and have rounded mouth.
Dinner and breakfast was overlooking the waterhole where all the animals come to drink.
With a 6 am wake-up (a knock on your rock and thatched roof hut, as there are no phones or Internet), we are out to Etosha National Park. This morning we are going with a guide. Our guide drove 20 minutes to the park entrance and through the gate and immediately turned off the main road onto dirt roads. We noticed most vehicles were going a different direction. For the first hour there seems to be fewer animals than were outside our Ongava hut. But soon we saw 4 lazy lionesses. Then we saw springbok, oryx, and a solitary spotted hyena. It is very unusual to see a solitary hyena. They travel and hunt in packs. Then we saw springbok, male ostrich (their brains are smaller than one of their eyes) and herds of zebra, giraffe, wildebeest (a.k.a. gnu), kory bustard (a very large bird), a black faced impala (endemic to Namibia), kudu, hartebeest, warthog, and elephant. There are thousands of animals in Etosha. There are water holes in Etosha and animals migrate to the water.
As we are approaching a water hole a huge bull elephant is walking away. The water hole is now crowded with animals. As we watched the animals some movement on the horizon caught our attention. In our binoculars we are just able to make out a few elephants. We then realize it is a big herd of elephants getting bigger and bigger in our view. Even the guide is getting excited. The elephants are kicking up dust and moving like a freight train to the water hole. The big bull had come first and moved on. Now the herd with mothers and babies of various sizes are about to arrive. As they are about to arrive their pace quickens and the tension at the water hole mounts. Babies were mixed in with and surrounded by the herd. The other animals begin jumping out of the water hole and moving out of the path of the advancing elephant herd. The herd moved directly into the water hole. Elephants would shake their heads and smaller animals would scatter. The elephants were now frolicking, drinking, and throwing mud on themselves. Elephants would charge any kudu or oryx who ventured too close to them. This was an elephant water hole now and the other animals circled or stood a safe distance away. After the elephants got out of the water they threw dirt and dust on themselves so they came in looking like dark elephants but left looking like white elephants.
Video of Elephant Freight Train
In the afternoon we drove back into Etosha in our Jeep without a guide. It is fun to go where we want and discover on our own. The top roof panels of our Jeep come off and we are able to stand on our seats and view animals and take photos. What fun! All roads are dirt, rock and rough. We found two more large herds of elephants in different areas of the park with 20 to 30 members each. We saw elephant mating behavior that was hysterical. The female seemed to be in charge and the male fell off her back and into the mud.
We saw herds of animals trekking across bleached savannah grasslands. It was a beautiful and calm sight.
On the way out of the park we came upon four female lions eating a zebra. We did not see the kill but it must have just happened because the zebra was still kicking out at the lions so we know we just missed the take down. The lions faces were now becoming smeared red as they were exulting in their prey. After we watched the lions eat for a while we had to race to get back to the park gate by sundown to avoid being locked in the park. As we entered we were warned that we had to be out by sundown - no later than 6:48 pm. We just made it. Outside the park and on the way back to Ongava Lodge we parked our Jeep, got out on a dusty dirt road and watched the sun disappear behind the horizon while toasting "to warthogs!" with our water bottles. We are exhausted and happy.
If Scott was paying each of our Grand-kids $5.00 for every species of large animals they saw, and $100.00 for Lions, (like he does in Jackson, only Bears are $100.00) they could make a lot of money!
Okay, how is this for a good Omen? The next morning we are driving back in to Etosha Park in our Jeep, top off across the front seats, "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King playing through the speakers from my IPod, and I said to Scott, "All we need are some Giraffe's walking to our music". We look to the right in the golden savannah grass, and there are 2 Giraffes walking with necks bobbing in time as they walk with the music!! It was awesome!
Our idea was to return to the Lion kill we saw at dusk the night before. Sure enough, 2 Lions were still ripping it apart, although it was down to the vertebrae with a little black and white Zebra skin to chew on. The Lions' bellies looked very full. (It was cool to stand on the car seat, head through the roof and take pictures-but I'm glad their bellies were full).
Another watering hole closer to the pan was our next "National Geographic" moment. We found 5 Lions-2 young males and 3 females. We went down the road for 5 minutes, and as we came back, we witnessed an amazing procession of animals, maybe a mile long, close to 1000 in number, coming over the rise. Wildebeest, Zebra, Antelope, and Oryx. They were all marching straight toward the Lions. We were sure we were going to see another Lion kill. The Lions hid in the grasses and behind mounds, waiting for prey, and soon the Wildebeest stopped in their tracks, and communicated with each other by snorting. The whole processional came to a stop. We waited for a while for the action, but the Lions are more patient than we are. We have to drive to our next Lodge 4 hours away. No doubt that the Lions did not go hungry.
Video of the procession of the animals into the lions lying in wait.
What an amazing place! We loved the Etosha Game Park.
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| From the deck overlooking the waterhole |
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| Our individual home at Ongava |
Ongava means Rhino. Going out on a game drive on the Ongava private park as soon as we arrived turned out great. We immediately saw 3 male lions. Our guide scraped the paint off his Land Rover driving through the thick bush and thorny Acacia trees in order to get close to the lions. There are three male lions lounging in the long white grass with legs and paws flopping onto each other. It looks like a pile of lions.
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| One from the pile of Lions |
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| Scott, with the Rhino 50 feet away |
Ten minutes after leaving the lions we see white rhinos. It's the same drill. The guide plows right through the bush scraping paint off the Land Rover in order to get as close as possible to the rhinos without endangering the rhinos or us. It is a big mama rhino and her baby. The baby is very intent on keeping very close to his mama. When mama starts to turn or walk the baby moves also and trots right below and close to mama. When mama stops the baby stops. These are beautiful animals and we wonder how their skin looks so good since they crash through the bush with reckless abandon smashing thorn bushes and small trees as they go.
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| Mama and Baby (White Rhinos) |
In the private Ongava reserve we also see a female waterbuck, a black faced impala (only found in Namibia), a goshawk, two black rhinos (endangered), oryx, zebra, wildebeest, and springbok. Our guide told us that It is rare to have black and white rhinos in the same area. White rhinos have a wide mouth. Black rhinos are smaller and a little darker and have rounded mouth.
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| Waterbuck |
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| Black faced Impala |
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| Yellow Hornbill or Flying Banana |
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| Oryx |
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| Kudu |
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| Tsessebe |
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| Zebra |
Dinner and breakfast was overlooking the waterhole where all the animals come to drink.
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| Looking down at the Waterhole |
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| Momma and baby getting a drink at the waterhole (Giraffes sleep on the ground with their necks up) |
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| Good food everywhere we went |
With a 6 am wake-up (a knock on your rock and thatched roof hut, as there are no phones or Internet), we are out to Etosha National Park. This morning we are going with a guide. Our guide drove 20 minutes to the park entrance and through the gate and immediately turned off the main road onto dirt roads. We noticed most vehicles were going a different direction. For the first hour there seems to be fewer animals than were outside our Ongava hut. But soon we saw 4 lazy lionesses. Then we saw springbok, oryx, and a solitary spotted hyena. It is very unusual to see a solitary hyena. They travel and hunt in packs. Then we saw springbok, male ostrich (their brains are smaller than one of their eyes) and herds of zebra, giraffe, wildebeest (a.k.a. gnu), kory bustard (a very large bird), a black faced impala (endemic to Namibia), kudu, hartebeest, warthog, and elephant. There are thousands of animals in Etosha. There are water holes in Etosha and animals migrate to the water.
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| Spotted Hyena |
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| Male Ostrich (males are black, females brownish gray) |
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| Kory Bustard |
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| Wildebeest (Gnu) |
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| Giraffe |
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| Springbok |
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| Waterhole |
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| You have to love it. |
As we are approaching a water hole a huge bull elephant is walking away. The water hole is now crowded with animals. As we watched the animals some movement on the horizon caught our attention. In our binoculars we are just able to make out a few elephants. We then realize it is a big herd of elephants getting bigger and bigger in our view. Even the guide is getting excited. The elephants are kicking up dust and moving like a freight train to the water hole. The big bull had come first and moved on. Now the herd with mothers and babies of various sizes are about to arrive. As they are about to arrive their pace quickens and the tension at the water hole mounts. Babies were mixed in with and surrounded by the herd. The other animals begin jumping out of the water hole and moving out of the path of the advancing elephant herd. The herd moved directly into the water hole. Elephants would shake their heads and smaller animals would scatter. The elephants were now frolicking, drinking, and throwing mud on themselves. Elephants would charge any kudu or oryx who ventured too close to them. This was an elephant water hole now and the other animals circled or stood a safe distance away. After the elephants got out of the water they threw dirt and dust on themselves so they came in looking like dark elephants but left looking like white elephants.
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| A freight train of elephants heading to the waterhole |
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| All the other animals scattering as the elephants pushed them out for their own private baths |
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| From dirty gray to muddy white |
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| They throw mud on themselves as soon as they get out of the water because their skin is so sensitive |
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| Mama and baby (the whole brood herd protects all of the babies) |
In the afternoon we drove back into Etosha in our Jeep without a guide. It is fun to go where we want and discover on our own. The top roof panels of our Jeep come off and we are able to stand on our seats and view animals and take photos. What fun! All roads are dirt, rock and rough. We found two more large herds of elephants in different areas of the park with 20 to 30 members each. We saw elephant mating behavior that was hysterical. The female seemed to be in charge and the male fell off her back and into the mud.
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| What fun! |
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| Head out the roof |
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| This was hysterical |
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| Either he lost his balance, or she didn't want to have anything to do with him. What a crushing blow! |
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| We think there was some sort of elephant orgy going on at this waterhole |
We saw herds of animals trekking across bleached savannah grasslands. It was a beautiful and calm sight.
On the way out of the park we came upon four female lions eating a zebra. We did not see the kill but it must have just happened because the zebra was still kicking out at the lions so we know we just missed the take down. The lions faces were now becoming smeared red as they were exulting in their prey. After we watched the lions eat for a while we had to race to get back to the park gate by sundown to avoid being locked in the park. As we entered we were warned that we had to be out by sundown - no later than 6:48 pm. We just made it. Outside the park and on the way back to Ongava Lodge we parked our Jeep, got out on a dusty dirt road and watched the sun disappear behind the horizon while toasting "to warthogs!" with our water bottles. We are exhausted and happy.
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| The Zebra was still kicking when we got there |
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| A toast at a beautiful sunset "To Warthogs!" |
If Scott was paying each of our Grand-kids $5.00 for every species of large animals they saw, and $100.00 for Lions, (like he does in Jackson, only Bears are $100.00) they could make a lot of money!
Okay, how is this for a good Omen? The next morning we are driving back in to Etosha Park in our Jeep, top off across the front seats, "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King playing through the speakers from my IPod, and I said to Scott, "All we need are some Giraffe's walking to our music". We look to the right in the golden savannah grass, and there are 2 Giraffes walking with necks bobbing in time as they walk with the music!! It was awesome!
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| What a great sight to watch while listening to "The Circle of Life" |
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| Giraffes love the blossoms on the acacia trees |
Our idea was to return to the Lion kill we saw at dusk the night before. Sure enough, 2 Lions were still ripping it apart, although it was down to the vertebrae with a little black and white Zebra skin to chew on. The Lions' bellies looked very full. (It was cool to stand on the car seat, head through the roof and take pictures-but I'm glad their bellies were full).
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| 2 of the 4 lions were still eating 15 hours later, but not much is left of the zebra. A jackal is in the foreground trying to get some scraps. |
Another watering hole closer to the pan was our next "National Geographic" moment. We found 5 Lions-2 young males and 3 females. We went down the road for 5 minutes, and as we came back, we witnessed an amazing procession of animals, maybe a mile long, close to 1000 in number, coming over the rise. Wildebeest, Zebra, Antelope, and Oryx. They were all marching straight toward the Lions. We were sure we were going to see another Lion kill. The Lions hid in the grasses and behind mounds, waiting for prey, and soon the Wildebeest stopped in their tracks, and communicated with each other by snorting. The whole processional came to a stop. We waited for a while for the action, but the Lions are more patient than we are. We have to drive to our next Lodge 4 hours away. No doubt that the Lions did not go hungry.
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| Lions just waiting |
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| Hiding behind mound |
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| The animal processional |
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| Wildebeests, sprinbok, zebras, Kudus, ets. |
Video of the procession of the animals into the lions lying in wait.
What an amazing place! We loved the Etosha Game Park.
First of all, LOVE the elephant sex. Haha. Classic. What a large ntundu. Second, I love the photos of the hugging zebras (mommy and me) and the Lion bearing his canines.
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