Monday afternoon and evening, 25th February. After a siesta we went out for another drive, aiming for another waterhole. On the way:
Kori bustard – a very big bird which ‘flies reluctantly’These may resemble our collared doves, but they are African (aka Cape) turtle doves. I rather mind the name, given that our own turtle doves are now such a rarity.
Once at the waterhole we were royally entertained.
Springbok trying to keep cool. It was particular hot this afternoon.Adult and juvenile Bateleurs. ‘Bateleur’ is French for an acrobat, and the bird is so-named for its sideways rocking flight. like the rocking of the high-wire artist’s pole.Black-faced impalaJuvenile baleteurZebra with a springbokA scattering of giraffesI thought I was taking the juvenile Bateleur cooling itself. But, as I take photos on burst setting, I found I had also taken a sequence of a bee-eater coming in, hoping to catch a fish. Sadly the sequence did not include the entry to the pool, but here it is emerging – with no fish.? I’m tempted to suggest a juvenile African fish-eagle, but our records say we did not see one that day.A lioness appeared some way off, and joined another.Springbok
During our return to Halali Camp for our second night there:
A slender mongoosesome striped mongooses,and another black rhino! Most unexpected to see so many and so soon:
After an early dinner we returned to the morning’s waterhole, by now floodlit, in the vehicles this time even though it was only a short walk away.
As we arrived, a hippo was leaving, and there was the twittering of hundreds of sandgrouse (?) arriving and drinking their fill for quite a while until they left.A mother hippo and youngster arrived.Another (the first?) arrived. Mother was very protective, though the youngster seemed curious about the newcomer.
But sadly, having stayed an hour we had to leave before we could see the outcome of the confrontation.
Monday, morning, 25th February. Here is a map of Etosha National Park. “>http://a href=”https://www.etoshanationalpark.org”><img src=”https://www.etoshanationalpark.org/media/Etosha-Map2.jpg” alt=”Etosha National Park Map” title=”Etosha National Park Map”/></a>
It’s huge. Etosha Pan itself is 75 miles/120 kilometres long. This is a dried up lake, the salt from which affects the land to its south. We had entered the NP by Anderson Gate, in the middle of the Park, and Halali Camp is a little over a third of the way along the Pan to the northwest of the Gate. The map shows the many waterholes.
After a very early breakfast, we went out for a ‘game’ drive. It was not quite as light as my camera made out to begin with.
Black-backed jackal
Our first lion, a female with a nasty but healing wound. She seems to have the remains of a kill.
Springbok and Striped MongoosesSecretary bird, the last we were to seeOur first elephant, much further off than it appears from this maximum zoom photoThe Pan in the middle groundRock kestrel?. No, a lesser kestrel according to BL.And then we heard a lion was on its way. Our leaders positioned the vehicles near the pool it was thought to be heading for.What a handsome beast!He roared for his females. It was loud! Nothing like the gentle huffing in the following video taken from a new spot we had moved to
He stopped, examined us …… and then moved off. We did not see his females.We continued on our way, and I’m starting to recognise a blacksmith lapwing.What’s that venturing its head out of a (dried up of course) culvert?…… A spotted hyenaAnother black rhino – or rather two!
When we got back to Halali Camp, it was still relatively early, and we had a couple of hours off. The Camp had no free wifi, but our vehicles did, and I spent some time in one of them (as it was being driven to get fuel and then parked somewhere in the camp) catching up with vital home political news. (For those interested in such things, I learned that THAT vote, due already for the nth time on 27th February, was being put off again for two weeks.)
Before lunch, the group walked five minutes to the waterhole a few had visited the previous evening. En route we saw in the camp grounds, among other things, …
a Cape glossy starling (we were to see many varieties of beautiful starling in the two weeks),and an African Scops owl, trying to sleep, a bit fed up with the attention. To quote from my bird book, ‘ … its cryptic colouring makes detection difficult. This camouflage is further enhanced by its habit of depressing its fathers to appear long and thin, raising its ear tufts and half-closing its eyes, creating the illusion of a tree stump.’
Once at the waterhole, where we were comfortably seated, we saw plenty of life.
Kudu and Marabou storkRed-billed tealKuduLaughing dove and Long-tailed paradise whydahs (?)I think this is the male of a species of Paradise whydah in transition to breeding plumage, but I’m not sureImpalas practising. Elephant dung gets everywhere.Marabou storkLong-tailed Paradise-Whydahs, male and femaleThe pool was not empty for longRed hartebeestAnd this I how the pool was when we left for our lunch.
Sunday 24th February, afternoon. This trip was timed to be the end of the ‘green season’, i.e. after the rains. Everything should have been lush, in fact making ground-living creatures more difficult to see, thus the particular interest of birders in this trip. But as were told right at the outset, the region had now suffered from seven years of drought, and areas that should have been marshy, and even flooded, were not. This was not only having an adverse effect on wildlife, but farmers were losing cattle, and entering into penury. For us however, shrinking waterholes were ideal for observing wildlife, not just birds. So after leaving our lunch spot…
… we visited a couple of waterholes, though many of the following pictures were taken from the roadside on the way to our first lodge within Etosha National Park.
African Paradise flycatcher, a small bird with (in the male) a very long tail.Red-crested Korhaan (id. PM and BL)Sociable Weaver nest. It’s huge, being the nest, as its name suggests, of many birds.Pied crowCommon Wildebeest, aka Brindled GnuBlue cranes, in front of SpringbokSecretary bird, about the size of a (skinny) turkey – with long legs in breechesCrowned lapwingI was thrilled and surprised to see a black rhino (its name has nothing to do with its colour), given that I had only ever seen one before, and that at a great distance.Spotted thick-knee, right by the side of the road, hoping its camouflage would protect itRed (Leiwei) hartebeestSecretary birdNeil spotted this at the side of the road as we were driving along, and backed up for us to have a closer look. Another creature hoping its camouflage will protect it – a Scrub hare. It didn’t move for the five minutes we were beside it. Reminds me so much of Dürer’s 1502 painting.A troop of Springbok crossed the road in front of us.This Flap-neck Chamaeleon is green in the pictures you see in internet searches. But here it is crossing the road, so… It had a strange rocking movement, designed to put predators off. We were worried that it might be crushed on the road, but since vehicles were few and far between, this was unlikely.Springbok almost as far as the eye can see.Black-backed jackalOur first giraffe, the Southern sub-species
After a long and tiring couple of days, we were very pleased to reached the Halali Restcamp, dine, and go to bed. Except that a few of them didn’t immediately, but walked to the nearby waterhole and saw lots of elephants. And apparently missed a leopard drinking there an hour later.
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