We had an early start as it is a long drive to Etosha and we wanted to call into the petrified forest on the way. We had our final breakfast at Twyfelfontein Lodge. There were 7 different types of hot meat on offer as well as about 3 different cold meats for the Germans. (Bacon, 3 types of sausage, beef mince, beef casserole, chicken livers). That is taking a love of meat to new extremes. 
On the way out we passed a number of ostriches. Wilfred said that in the old days people used to kill ostriches because they believed they swallowed diamonds to have in their gullets to help grind up food. They taste ok too. 

The petrified forest is only about 30 minutes away and was additional to our tour so we had to pay the $200N entry fee ($10NZ each). The area is part of a National Park and has all these petrified conifers that have been uncovered with erosion over time. They were alive around 200 million years ago and were deposited below a glacier during an ice age. They are unlike any trees that grow in Namibia today and look very like pine trees. Evidently the first local people to discover them early last century thought they’d found some great firewood. There are whole tree trunks lying around and piles of what look like chopped firewood but are solid stone.   The  park people don’t excavate anything. What is there has been naturally uncovered and it is an archeologist’s and geologist’s dream. 

The local guide was very knowledgeable and also pointed out lots of interesting plants, including another poisonous Euphorbia and Namibia’s national plant, the Welwiscia, which is an amazing desert adapted plant that has 2 leaves either side of the central bit and grows super slowly. One of the specimens in the area is 900 years old. 

On our journey we got our first close up look at the Oryx which is the national animal of Namibia. It is a large antelope with long, sharp horns and an amazing coat. It has adapted to the desert and only needs to drink every few days. Its nostrils can recover moisture from its respired breath and it uses that moisture to cool blood to its brain as the rest of the body temperature can increase to over 40C. 

We travelled over some pretty horrendous roads until we got to Khorixas which is the town that Wilfred’s wife comes from and is where they got married. It has a good hospital and some shops and so forth. From there to Etosha is sealed road which was bliss. 

Periodically Wilfred would slow to point out an animal or bird. He loves Banded Mongooses as they kill snakes and scorpions. I love them too. 

We stopped at a town called Outjo where we got some food for lunch. A ciabatta bun and a coke for me and a ham, cheese, and tomato roll for Mike and Wilfred.

We eventually found a decent tree to park under and ate our lunch. All the roadside picnic stops had signs showing a table under a tree but a table with rubbish bins and no tree would be more accurate. 

We got to Etosha Safari Camp just before 2pm and were informed we had been upgraded to Etosha Safari Lodge which is next door. The lodge is set on a hill about 2 km from the road and was entirely acceptable. Great views, nice rooms and a lovely dining area.
We had a mother and baby giraffe walk across the access road in front of us. 

 After check in, we set off for the park to register for entry and to pay. The park gates close at 5.30pm and if you are not out by then you stay inside for the night. The park has a sealed road for about 10km into the park lodge (which is owned and run by the government). After that it’s gravel roads. There is a map of the park (which is enormous – about twice the area of Fiordland National Park and 8000km2 bigger than the Serengeti) and all the various waterholes are marked. At and near the waterholes is where you get most animals. It is annoying that the park closes at 5.30 as it isn’t dark til after 6.30 and the animals don’t really start feeding and moving until it cools down around 4.30pm. Nevertheless on that first afternoon we saw lions, elephants, springboks (thousands of them), zebras (you can’t see too many zebras), giraffes and wildebeest. Wilfred knew we wanted a close look at black rhinos so for him it was all about finding rhinos. No rhinos day one. 

We had a lovely buffet meal out on the terrace overlooking the valley. The Lodge has huge grounds and its own waterhole so there are all sorts of animals to see.

Sufficient meat on the menu so Wilfred was happy.

 

All through Namibia you eat with the guide which is nice. After a very long day driving he was keen for an early dinner so that he could get to bed early. That was fine with us and we have found ourselves happy to be in bed by 8.45pm and then up at 5am. Even Mike seems to have adapted to the routine.