Monthly Archives: September 2016

Day 13 – Etosha

24 Sep

It’s the times when things don’t go to plan that you end up with the best stories.

Like the story of how I spent the last 5 hours in the company of this Namibian police woman…

I’m sure you remember, dear reader, that the police at the western gate impounded my drone and promised to send it to the eastern gate. I didn’t believe them, and I was right.

I arrived at the east gate this afternoon, and they knew nothing about a drone.

Not sure what to do, but determined to try something, I happened upon the offices of the park rangers, and a lovely man called Moses.

Moses rang the west gate and confirmed that they did still have my drone and had no way to send it.

Moses then became another in the list of heroes who have assisted in my adventures. Moses made some more calls, and next thing I know I’m driving 150km across rough gravel trails all the way to the west gate to collect my drone, and 150km back again, all at speeds more than 50% above the park limit, with this lovely young policewoman in my passenger seat, armed with a pistol and a rifle, to ensure that no drone flying occurred!

They must take unauthorised drone flying very seriously in Etosha!

Amazing.

And then….

On the way back…

I saw something out of the corner of my eye…

Something in the distance across the grass…

It was a long way away, and with 80 miles still to go to get my policewoman back to her home, I didn’t have time to wait for better photos…

But I think you’ll have to agree…

That’s a lion!

There were two of them. All the other animals on the plain, 2 elephants, a zebra, and countless antelope, all stood motionless and watched very closely as the lions just strolled about as if they owned the place.

What a day!

Oh, and I made it to my luxury safari camp. It’s absolutely mind-blowingly amazing. More on that later. For now, let’s just say that from the main deck where the restaurant, lounge, and pool overlooking the waterhole are, I’m not allowed to walk back to my tented cabin without staff escorts, because of the cheetahs and the leopards….