Etosha National Park — Fat Chicken Meal

Honeymoon - Day 22 & 23

In Namibia, we continue to follow our honeymoon sleep-wake cycle ;p Getting up at 6:30am? No problem lol

When we planned our honeymoon trip, we did check on Google maps the distance and estimated driving time from one place to another. From Windhoek to Etosha national park, it's estimated that the drive would take around 4.5 hours. We know it usually takes longer because we won't always drive at the max speed and we would need to take some breaks on the way.

However, when Mr. B set the destination in his GPS during breakfast, it indicated that it would take roughly 9 hours to get there...?!?! We rushed to the front desk and we were told that Etosha was "very far away", and that the gate closes at 5:30pm...(The place we booked - NWR Halali - also closes at 5:30pm, and it's 1.5-2 hours drive from the von Linderquist gate)

We panicked and left immediately. In order to save time, we only had one break at Otavi (it has a mini mart, gas station and toilet).

As we drove on, it became clear to us that it wouldn't actually take 9 hours...

At 1:30pm we reached the gate of the National Park! In total it took 5.5 hours to get there including the 15mins break. So Google maps was quite accurate after all 😅 All the way it was paved highway, except the last 25km - it's tarred road, but was quite ok as well.

The entrance fee was 80 per adult and 10 for the vehicle. On the paper it says to pay at the office except that there's no directions to the "office". Eventually we found out payment had to made at the reception of a NWR resort nearby.

Roads in the park were gravel roads. Very dusty. Although the temperature outside was 26 degrees, it was getting quite hot in the car as the sun was strong and there's no shades in sight.

Since there's still time, we drove slowly towards the camp and enjoyed some self-drive safari. Our plan was to enter the park from the gate in the east, drive to the camp in the middle (kind of), and then leave from the gate in the southwest.

There were lots of giraffes in Etosha, and at times blocking the road (actually, us disturbing their lives). Also saw one rhino. At one point, while we were driving, we saw a group of zebras stampeded towards us as if they were scared of something. In my mind (thanks to the programs on national geographic and discovery channel that I'd watched), I thought going to safaris meant seeing masses of animals running and eating and fighting. Then, in reality, I realised that this rarely happens...Not that we could see anyway.

Finally we reached the NWR in Halali at around 5pm. Mr. B booked us in a Honeymoon Suite. Our suite is called Elephant (apparently a very romantic name for a Honeymoon suite) and it's a standalone house with a terrace and an outdoor jacuzzi. The jacuzzi was more like a decoration because it's winter...

Dropping off our stuff at the suite, we walked to the nearby water hole. A group of elephants were there drinking water, washing and playing. Around 50-60 people were there taking pictures and videos, but it's very quiet - the shutter sound was louder than the whispers.

During the whole time we were there at the water hole, I was so glad (relieved, really) that there's no Chinese group tours around...Otherwise...

We stayed for a while even after sunset. Mr. B (and his adorable nephew) is super attracted to elephants.

For dinner, we went to the only restaurant in the camp - the gate closed at 5:30pm and you're not allowed to go in or out. So your food options are: cook yourself, eat packaged food, or go to the restaurant.

The dinner buffet was 230 per person. It served salad, soup and bbq meat - chicken, beef and kudu. Kudu was the most popular option. I tried a little bit of kudu. Tasted a bit like a mix of beef and mutton (well I did hesitate when I typed this...I remember how my gastronomy professor disapproved of people describing one meat being tasted similar to another...At that time he hated it when he heard people saying that the rabbit we'd cooked tasted like chicken 😂).

Although most of the people focus on the meat, I found the soup very satisfying...and so I had 3 bowls 😆

The room has an air-conditioner that has heating function. The bathroom doesn't have any heater but it has hot water.

The next morning we had breakfast at the same restaurant at 7am (inclusive in the room rate). We left at 8am and slowly drove west, towards the Anderson gate. There wasn't a lot to see along the way, and we left the park at around 12:30pm. There's a guard to check the papers. Good thing we kept the payment slips from yesterday...

Not easy locating water source during dry season

It's then a 6 hour drive to our hotel at Burning Shore, which is between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. It was mostly paved road, but not highway. We missed the stop at Otijawa and then we were worried that there might not be enough gas to take us to the next gas station, which was 120km away...Although we had the same situation in the US, I wasn't so worried...

Fortunately, after around 70km, we saw a tanker stopped at Kalfeld...and then...aha! There's a small Shell. It's shabby for sure - looks like one of those abandoned village in movies, but as long as there's gas we didn't care. A little girl in the store kept looking at me...Obviously I'm more exotic than Mr. B in Namibia.

We reached Swakopmund at around 6pm and wanted to dine at the Kuckis seafood pub (I'm a seafood fan). But there were some people standing at the parking lots at staring at us...and so we changed or mind and decided to eat at the hotel instead.

It's along day and Mr. B was exhausted. Finally we can relax a little bit in the next two days. Just spending time in Swakopmund.

After having safaris in Masai Mara, Serengeti and Pilanesberg...hmmm...Etosha was not as exciting...The pan was massive and nice, and watching the elephants at the water hole was special, but nothing compared to the other 3. It's good to have been there though, so that we visited at least one national park in each country during our honeymoon trip ☺️