Namibia 2014

Thursday16October

Waking up in Okaukuejo campsite.
Before hitting the road again, we return to the campsite's waterhole where only a few springboks are quenching their thirst alongside a pensive jackal...

He's probably thinking about his buddies who are at our pitch rummaging through the bins!!! The canids have found ways to get into the campsite and thus reach the few barbecue bones carelessly left available... Fortunately, they are not shy and with a slightly threatening gesture, they scurry away without asking for their leftovers...  

Here we are again on the tracks of Etosha, hoping for new encounters...

And we are not disappointed! Oh no! In the fresh morning light, the majestic silhouette of the King of animals reveals itself in the tall grasses of the savannah! A magical moment because he is really not far, unlike yesterday, and the beauty of the feline is striking! More than that, he is simply charismatic!  

In the shadow of a great King, a faithful advisor always hides...

And His Serene Highness moves without fearing anything or anyone...

And to cross to the other side of the path...

And to pose, in front of 4 astonished photographers in their 4x4...

"It is possible to identify lions by counting the black spots that speckle their skin above their upper lips, at the base of their whisker hairs." © Wikipedia

"The lion is inactive 20 to 21 hours a day, including 10 to 15 hours of napping. It consumes an average of 7 kg of meat per day. However, if the hunt has been good and it has missed a few meals, the lioness can swallow up to 30 kg of meat at once, while the male can swallow up to 40 kg." © Wikipedia

Then to get up and peacefully leave the scene...

It's the turn of the massive black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis). It is recognized by its upper lip which allows it to grasp leaves from shrubs.

It is among the "critically endangered" species. From 1970 to 2004, their number dropped from 65,000 to 3,600, mainly due to hunting!!!

A beautiful gradient... Natural selection has kept these stripes because, according to one theory, they are very effective against mosquitoes... Indeed, this alternation of black and white makes the zebra practically invisible to insects. The latter, having low-resolution vision, blend the black and white, erasing the animal from the landscape...  

Amidst so many species, the gemsbok oryx gazella now seems like a perfectly ordinary animal...

Red hartebeests and their calf (Alcelaphus buselaphus).

The greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), for its part, maintains its majesty in all circumstances.

The warthog, meanwhile, how to put it... majestically wallows in the mud...  

Their small tusks are their canines.

A black-faced impala (Aepyceros melampus petersi). They are also threatened with extinction. They found their salvation in Etosha Park; there are about 2000 individuals left on the planet...

And around this superb waterhole, we find numerous springboks (Antidorcas marsupialis).

Panorama of the dried lake from the viewpoint "la Sueda".

The Acacia erioloba vs Wild...

The adult springbok ultimately has few predators because it runs very fast and for a long time. Its series of small jumps can also destabilize its predator, not to mention its long leaps that can reach 15 meters in length!

Hartmann's zebras (Equus zebra hartmannae) display themselves on the horizon nearby...

The design is perfect.

The impeccable hairstyle.

And for heavy legs, nothing beats a little mud bath...

Landscape of Salvadora Point.

"Stay in your car". Stay in your car!

Black-tailed blue wildebeest.

7 cervical vertebrae of 40 cm each, which gives us a total of 2.8 meters of neck...

Egyptian geese (Alopochen aegyptiacus).

A path allows for a round trip to go further into the dried lake of the Etosha pan. The lake's surface area is 4,800 km². In the hot season, it becomes a salt desert.

Joe, William, Jack and Averell...  

And now, a demonstration of a giraffe's playful jump and how to drink easily when you're over 4 meters tall...

The deception is revealed! This unfinished zebra clearly demonstrates that they are just black horses made up with white paint!

This one even has raised black stripes!

And meanwhile, under a scorching sun, a herd of elephants slowly but surely crosses the savanna.

Van Gogh painted many grasses on his canvases. Here, these are canvases on grasses that depict superb paintings...

The tree-leaf-like ears of the red hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus).

We find the black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) and its so-called prehensile upper lip which it uses to grasp leaves. This particularity differentiates it from the white rhinoceros which has flat lips more adapted to grazing...

And here is a large elephant that runs a red light to join his friend on the other side of the road... These two African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) are males... Unlike females who lead the herd, adult males stay apart in a rather solitary life.

If their age is counted by the number of wrinkles, these are very very very old...  

We tell you it's a male!  

Giraffe's mane.

Like an aquatic reflection on the skin...

Giraffe antennae and hooves? Ossicones are two bony outgrowths of the skull. And the giraffe is one of the ungulates...

The Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris)! It seems to have come straight out of a claymation cartoon, especially when it runs at full speed in a straight line with its head held high!  

The day is drawing to a close and we are reaching the end of Etosha Park. It is at this moment that a superb Kirk's dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii) chooses to present itself facing the setting sun, trying to make us melt with its tiny doe eyes...  

Tomorrow, we hit the road again for our last stop before returning to the capital! But before reaching Namutoni campsite, a magnificent elephant's rear wishes us bon voyage!