Etosha National Park and tour – Namibia

June 2014 

Namibia: Etosha wildlife park, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay tour 

In addition to the wildlife sanctuary, I decided to go on a four day tour withChameleon Safaris.  This included two days in Etosha wildlife park (safari) as well as visiting Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.

http://www.chameleonsafaris.com/namibia_safari_04_day_etosha_swakopmund.asp

This was actually the highlight of my holiday, and that’s saying a lot given I was already doing something amazing on the sanctuary.

I joined with a couple of volunteers I met at the sanctuary and shared a room with one of the girls.  Naankuse dropped us off at the office for Chameleon Safari.  We had breakfast and tea/coffee before a little introduction and someone talked us through the tour and showed us the route on the map.  We met our tour guides who seemed really nice, and we loaded our stuff onto the vehicle – like a cross between a people carrier and a safari truck.  I think there were only 8 of us in total, we all got our own window seat so that worked out really nicely.

We were on the road a lot – it’s a big country and we covered a lot of ground.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with the ‘accommodated’ safari, particularly as I knew a tent was on the cards and I’d never stayed in a tent before.  The tour guides were really friendly, chatty and informative.  They prepared all of our meals and kept the journey interesting.

We arrived at Etosha on the first day and started straight away with a safari trip.  I wouldn’t dare try doing this safari without someone knowledgeable – I would have no idea where to go, where to look for animals or what they were.  In fact, I imagine myself ending up lost and stranded in the park while it’s locked up at night… definitely do a tour with guides if you haven’t done it before!!

It was so amazing to see wild animals in their natural habitat.  Over two days of safari, I was fortunate enough to see elephants, leopards and rhinos.  Apparently leopards are quite hard to spot, so I was lucky to see one right by the roadside after a kill.

The accommodation felt like a god send after the basic accommodation at the sanctuary.  HOT water and comfortable beds!  Amazing!  The first night’s accommodation was in a terraced bungalow, very nice and comfortable with a nice bathroom.  The second night was in a tent.  I was a bit apprehensive about this as I’d never stayed in a tent before… but this tent was awesome.  It had a double bed, separate toilet, shower and kitchen area, even a barbecue area!!  I’m pretty sure I was ‘glamping’.  I’d like to think camping is always like this, but I’m pretty sure it’s not!