Is this the moon?

I was really looking forward to Etosha! We planned to stay in the park for 4 nights at 3 different sites. All of them had swimming pools, shops, restaurants and a waterhole where you can sit and watch the wildlife.

The drive there was straight forward meaning we arrived at the first camp and were set up by midday. Time for a quick drive to see what we could find! As it turned out… Not a lot! It was the heat of the day and everything sensible was hiding in the shade! All the paperwork and signs made it very clear that we should only stop and leave our car in designated areas. We pulled into the first one we came across to have our lunch. Once upon a time it may have provided some safety from lions and other animals but not anymore. The gate was off its hinges so couldn’t be shut and a good proportion of the wire fence had been flattened by something large. But there was shade and a table so we ate our dinner quickly, hoping that we wouldn’t become something else’s dinner! Luckily we saw nothing but ants and a lizard.

Deciding it was time for a swim, we headed back. On the way we did see an elephant, a giraffe and a couple of antelope.

The boys were there usual excited selves in the swimming pool. Soon a game started with Husband throwing my boys as high as he could into the water. However this game came to an abrupt end when middle man landed in a massive belly flop. Soon cheered up by ice cream 🙂

We knew the first camps waterhole was not as well visited as the next two but decided to use it as a practice for keeping the boys quite. They weren’t and there wasn’t anything to see other than a lone jackal. We made a plan to take the boys tablets the next evening. (I’m a big believer in limiting screen time and I want to encourage my boys to enjoy nature but expecting then to sit in silence for a couple of hours with just a waterhole to look at is not going to work.)

In the morning with the tent down we drive on to the next camp seeing the boys first Rhino on way.

Tent up we went to see the salt pan. It was an impressive expanse of a dried up salt Lake. I think Middle Mans question ‘Is this the moon?’ highlights the other worldly feel of the landscape.

With anticipation that evening we headed down to the camp’s waterhole, it was meant to be the best viewing in the park. The boys were quite this time with their tablets but Baby Blue didn’t want to play ball. I trudged back to the tent to settle him leaving the boys with Husband.
They came back about an hour later ecstatic they had seen a mummy and baby Rhino, an elephant, zebra, turtles and warthog. Despite the tablets they were interested in seeing the animals coming and going 🙂

With baby blue asleep after his milk I practically ran back to the waterhole leaving my boys with the husband. My rush was worth it, as I settled down to watch the mummy and baby Rhino finish drinking and trundled back into the bush.
Sat watching the waterhole in the evening light was so peaceful, I relaxed and waited to see what would show. What I saw next I will always remember. The zebras that where drinking looked up towards the bush and started to move away. Exactly where they looked appeared a massive elephant. As it started to drink another one followed, then another, then another… They kept coming! In total the 21 elephants of all sizes drinking in the moon light it was an awesome sight. My mouth dropped and I could feel the hushed excitement of those around me. I don’t know how long I sat there but I returned to a tent of sleeping boys happy and grateful for being on this crazy adventure.