Day 10 to 14 - 9th to 13th November - Etosha National Park

Point of departure : Swakopmund

Point of arrival : Etosha National Park

Accommodation: The rooftop tent - Okaukuejo, Halali & Namutoni Camps (www.nwr.com)

Km travelled today: 727 km Cum: 2 902 km (gravel 292km cum 1167km)

Countries so far: 2/16

Where to next? Rundu and the Caprivi Strip

Total number of photos taken: 161 (cum 570 )

Once we left Swakopmund it was really heads down and motor… not much of interest anyway and we just wanted to get to Etosha.We had coffee and Brigitte's rusks (thank you Brigitte - we have limited ourselves to 4 a day) whilst listening to Mantovani along the long stretches of road north. The positive side of these long stretches of road is no traffic lights and no aggressive city drivers. We arrived at about 14h00, checked in, set up camp, had lunch and then wandered across to the watering hole at Okaukuejo (our favourite camp) to enjoy the animals and the sunset.

Etosha was first proclaimed as a Nature Reserve in 1907 and is named after the huge pan meaning "Great dry place" or "Great White Place".The Park covers an area of approximately 22 270sq km.The Pan itself is approximately 130km long and 70km wide.There was water in the pan originally (it was a lake with water from the Kunene River which changed course due to geological forces) but this dried up millions of years ago.Periodically there is water in the pan but mainly its dry.

Hai/San legend refers to Etosha as the "lake of a mother's tears" - and they believe that the Pan was created by a woman who cried for the loss of her child.She cried so much that her tears formed the lake.When her tears stopped only the salt from her tears remained thus forming the salt pan.

In camp we saw lots of black backed jackals here (BBJ's), and none too shy.Whilst sitting at the water hole, one climbed through the animal fence, up the stone wall and disappeared amongst the chalets and campers - so much for "gameproof" camps.Later in the evening they were looking for any opportunity to grab a bit of food, and the one stretch past our camp we dubbed "Jackal Alley", as it was nonstop movement.We had to keep a very close watch on our braai.

Day 11 - Tuesday - started early (04h00) with the roar of lions close by - this lasted until 06h00.What a wonderful start to another beautiful day in Africa.

Staying in camp today and getting the benefit of all the animals coming down to the waterhole, including the inevitable BBJ, oryx, springbok, kudu, elephant, zebra, giraffe, black faced impala (endemic to Namibia) and crested guineafowl. We are currently sitting at the waterhole whilst writing this blog.The doves are cooing in the background, the pied crows are screeching and the blacksmith plovers chirping - the African philomonic orchestra.

Day 12 - Wednesday - Another morning wake up call with lions roaring and BBJ's competing with them.We moved on to the next camp.Halali (the camp in the centre of the park) was established in 1967.The name refers to the sound of the German hunting horn (see photograph) which was played at the end of each hunt.The word "Halali" was chosen to mark the last time such a horn was heard in Etosha.The camp is based at the base of a dolomite hill amongst shady mopane trees.

This time the stretch next to our camp was dubbed "honeybadger alley" - this little guy was determined to get to our rubbish bin - he tried on two attempts, whilst we were eating and we had to shoo him away.John then turned the lid over and put a bag of wood on top - the honeybadger tried again and couldn't topple the bin.But this little b***** was persistent - at 01h30 he managed to turn the bin over and started going through the rubbish - what a racket - needless to say he woke us up, but not too much damage done with the bin - there wasn't much for him.

Day 13 & 14 - Thursday & Friday - Namutoni on the eastern side of the park (our last camp) centres on a beautiful old German fort.The fort dates back to a German police post built before the turn of the 20th century and later used as an army base. The fort now offers restaurant and curio shops etc.

The drive from Halali through to Namutoni was fruitful.We saw 4 lionesses with 4cubs - we are sure these Etosha lions are on steroids - they are huge - a great sighting.We then stopped at the Etosha Lookout point where you can drive onto the pan and look out at the infinity of it all.

Not sure what it is with the Beast and the fair feathered friends - these birds seem to be attracted to him.We were on a quiet gravel road, travelling at 40km when this vulture just took off from the side of the road right in front of the vehicle - its wing span was the entire width of the Beast.Only evasive action by John did we manage to avoid hitting the vulture.First it was an ostrich, then almost a vulture, what next?...

In the late afternoon we drove out to Klein Namutoni waterhole, which was a hive of activity, especially with giraffe.There must have been at least 16 at one point all except two, determined to slake their thirst before evening.The other two were on quite a different mission with a courting session in progress - her playing hard to get, then him, and eventually he trying to mount her.This was attempted procreation in progress, the birthing we saw in Sossusvlei would have been the end result.

At Namutoni we have had the banded mongeese invasion - these little critters arrived en masse and not at all frightened of humans.Two of them literally flattened themselves behind the front wheel of the Beast, in the shade, and were out for the count.

Friday 13th was spent staying out of trouble and doing as little as possible, sorting things out in the campsiteand on the car, swimming and visiting the local waterhole, not much to report there.Final evening braai before we set out for Rundu tomorrow.

We met two really nice couples - Wendy & Jordy Rosenberg from Rivonia, South Africa - thanks for the photographic advice and Suzane and Jory from Holland - their first visit to Africa and were travelling across Namibia.We would love to hear from you both along the way.