Game drives at Mushara Outpost run twice a day. 6am (park opening) - 11pm and 2pm - 5:30pm (park closing). There are about five nine-seater cars driven by guides who take guests around Etosha National Park to see the animals. Each morning, just as the sun began to peek above the hills, we would drive 20 minutes from the Outpost to enter the Von Lindequest Gate on the east side of Etosha Park. Our guide, best guide ever, Peitrus, would say good morning, ask where we were from and what we wanted to see. If there were no new guests he would skip this part.
The open-air truck and the morning air made for a ride colder than boarding down a mountain of snow. We quickly learned the best thing to do was to layer up for these AM drives.
The first game drive set a high bar for the rest of our trip. 30 seconds into the park and a white rhino was crossing the dirt road not 5 feet from the truck.
This white rhino is a park favorite.
We continued to drive to the main water holes of Etosha National Park. Namutoni, Chudop, Koinachas, and the Okevis. Peitrus would drive us to a waterhole, turn off the engine and entertain us with stories of all the safari tours he's been on. Ten minutes into the storytelling session, hooved animals would begin to venture out of the bushes. First one, then another, then herds all at once. It was like clockwork.
We soon learned that patience was crucial to a successful gamedrive. Antelope, Zebra, Kudu, Oryx
Second secret was a good guide. Mushara's gamedrive guides were more than exceptional. Once in the gates they would check in with each other to see where all the animals were cruising around. At Etosha, animals are as free as they are in the wild. They are not tagged so there is no way to track them with electronics. Etosha guides must rely on communication between vehicles, knowledge of each animals daily routines, extremely sharp vision and luck.
Once in a while, Peitrus would suddenly kill the engine and let the truck gradually roll a few more feet. This was a tell tale sign that he had spotted something special and that we should not make any sudden movements or loud noises. When this happend, even though we had no idea quite what it was would be looking at, we would bite our tongues, get out our cameras and lean over the side of the car to try to be the first to spot the wildlife.
Take this view for example. Can you spot what our guide spotted while he had been driving blinded by dust and deafened by the wind??
It was a leopard. The cat saw us and sat up. She didn't retreat into the bushes right away. Peitrus said it was becuase she know his car and his engine was off. A few seconds later another car pulled up and failed to shut off their engine. The leopard backed off into the bushes. I can't deny the stink eye we shot that car was REAL. So we drove a bit further, let the other car to pass us and turned around to once again practice our patience as we waited for the spotted ninja to come back out of the brush.
Peitrus mentioned that seeing a leopord at Etosha was like seeing a leprechaun in real life. Ok, small exaggeration. But it was really rare. We agreed to wait as long as we had to. About 10 minutes later, she came back out and plopped herself in the shade of a small tree right next to the road, a perfect spot for her to ambush antelope heading back from the waterhole.
Leopards are ambushers. They wait for the perfect moment to leap out of hiding and snatch a small to medium sized hooved animal who has been weighed down due to having just drank a ton of water. Once the kill has been made, the leopard will carry it's prize up into the safety of a tree, away from jackals, hyenas, and vultures. Leopards are solitary cats.
The rest of the morning game drive was filled with elephants and giraffes. Elephants have extremely good long term memory and can hear with their feet. Giraffes favorite food is the accacia tree, their spots get darker as they age and have trouble drinking water because their necks are so long.
