While Kruger is known for its wide variety of species, Etosha is famous for its sheer number of animals. In 1876 an American traveller named McKiernan remarked, "All the menageries in the world turned loose would not match what I saw that day." Nevertheless, to protect the animals, only about two-thirds of the park is closed to tourism. Most of the landscape that is accessible is pretty wide open so the animals are often easy to see. As was the case with Kruger, at times one drives for 10-15 kilometres without seeing much at all, then all of a sudden large groups of multiple species suddenly appear. By far the most common species in Etosha was the springbok antelope.
The sightings are best during the winter months (July/August) when the land is at its driest. During this time the animals are inevitably drawn to where ever they can drink. Etosha's main waterhole, Okaukuejo, is regarded as perhaps the best in the world for seeing animals, especially the black rhino. Highly endangered and difficult to see because they are ill-tempered and reclusive, black rhinos are rarely seen elsewhere in the park but regularly wander in from the dark at Okaukeujo. 
The black rhino, also called the hook-lipped rhino, is smaller than the square-lipped or white rhino. This is really a misnomer as the "white" rhino (not found in Etosha) actually means "wyde" (wide) in Africaans. Unfortunately, poaching is a significant problem in Etosha, eliminating about five percent of the rhino population per year. Namibia piloted the idea of lopping off part of the horn to protect the animal by diminishing its commercial value. However, this makes the mother unable to protect the young, rendering them more vulnerable to attacks by predators such as the lion.Poachers are extremely dangerous people. Five years ago in Kenya German tourists on a safari were warned to ignore any poaching activities they observed. When four people in the group started shouting at armed men they saw shooting animals the poachers drove over to the safari vehicle and shot them on the spot. End of trip for everyone else as the bodies had to be taken to a morgue. Apparently, in order to protect themselves, rangers are told to shoot on the spot anyone they even suspect of poaching.
I can't say that we ever got completely shut out while game viewing. One morning I was at the waterhole by 5 A.M. but saw little. Just as I was preparing to leave, a beautiful little bird called a crimson-breasted shrike, which was not very shy, made an appearance. It was the only time in Africa that I managed to see this species.
One night I stayed at the waterhole until about 22:10 before heading off to phone Nancy. Weary from being up late then again early the previous day, I decided to head off to bed at 22:45. Imagine my chagrin the next morning to find out that at 23:00 four male lions showed up at the hole and remained there for an hour. A black rhino, annoyed by their presence, made a series of mini-charges at them. It would seem that although the lion is the king of the jungle, the rhino rules at the waterhole.Leaving camp, those of us who missed the amazing sighting the night before were feeling a little down in the mouth. As if to rescue our spirits, within five minutes of passing through the rest camp gate we arrived at a waterhole to find a pride of eight lions, three adults and five juvenile cubs! What unfolded next was a very memorable experience. After about twenty minutes most of the lions moved off about seventy-five metres to sit in some grass but one of the lionesses remained. Watched spellbound as a giraffe then a jackal arrived at the hole for a drink. Ultra-wary of the lion in its attack posture, both animals would edge closer then back off. The jackal eventually got very close before giving up and leaving. The giraffe was more persistent, walking away until its courage returned, inching closer, then backing off. After nearly a full and very interesting hour it gave up and quit the area.
Black-backed jackal sightings were as common in Etosha as they had been further south in the Namib Desert. This proved to be advantageous to us one evening as we were eating dinner. Bruno, one of the French members of our entourage, noticed a jackal parked at the bottom of a tree for a lengthy time, staring up into the branches. Upon inspection we noticed a lesser spotted genet! About the size of a large domestic cat, the genet is a member of the mongoose family. With our help, the jackal and genet proceeded to perform a bit of a Tom and Jerry routine. As we got closer, the jackal would back off. This allowed the genet to leap to the ground and run to another tree, hotly pursued by the jackal, followed by the tourists!
Nancy and I had seen many termite mounds earlier in our trip, but nowhere were they as prevalent or as picturesque as in Etosha. The nests vary in colour depending on the soil and reminded us of those that we saw at Kakadu National Park in northern Australia. The nests are sometimes a nuisance for farmers. Eliminating them must take place at an early stage of their development when the termites are constructing their underground base. Otherwise, the termites simply replace what gets knocked down.
One afternoon, we encountered a rather large snake slithering its way across the landscape. The guides thought it was a kind of mamba, someone else has said suggested a cobra, I call it simply bad news. Aware of our presence the snake quickly disappeared into a hole. The life of a rodent can't be very easy. Imagine being comfortably settled into your home for the day when all of a sudden a pair of large glowing eyes appears in the darkness of your hallway!
A very interesting species that we saw in the park on a number of occasions was the secretary bird. Standing as high as 140 cm, the secretary bird is a mostly terrestrial bird of prey, eating rodents and sometimes even an infant antelope! It enjoys a certain amount of notoriety in Africa since it is on the national coat of arms of both Sudan and South Africa. It is built somewhat like an eagle but resembles a crane in flight. The plumage on the nape of its neck, as well as two elongated central tail feathers (unfortunately, cut off in my photo) make it an interesting spectacle as it struts across the terrain.
One of the interesting elements of our game viewing has been witnessing the interaction between the adults and offspring of the various species. I have a great photo of a mother and child black rhino at the waterhole, and a few images of suckling behaviour as shown below.
The number and variety of antelope on the plains of Africa is at times bewildering. one would think that they might run out of food but nature, in its highly organized, way has ensured that most antelope species actually consume different kinds of plants, or, at least, different parts of a plant. One of my best memories of Etosha will be a scene that evolved with a small group of red hartebeest antelope. One big buck was stationed quite close to the road providing a wonderful opportunity for photography. Responding to a noise in the distance, it turned away from us. We all noticed two other hartebeest racing across the distant landscape in what appeared to be a game of tag. A few seconds after this photo was taken, the nearby beast joined in the charge as the animals dogged, darted and sprinted in the vicinity for the next few minutes! 
Perhaps the most adorable of all of the antelope species are the tiny dik-diks, which stand a mere forty centimetres tall. They are named after the sound that they make when alarmed. Dik-diks are highly monogamous. Once one of the pair of life partners dies the remaining dik-dik will have a homosexual relationship with another widowed dik-dik. How's that for loyalty?
All three of Etosha's rest camps are currently under extensive renovations to bring them up to world-class standards prior to 2010. This is the year that South Africa will be hosting the World Cup of Soccer. Destinations throughout southern Africa are hoping that that they will benefit from the increase in tourist traffic. All of the work didn't really affect us since all of our nights on the tour except for two were spent camping.
As we were preparing to leave for our final game drive before exiting the park, a colony of banded mongoose put in an appearance to scavenge for scraps. Most of them didn't seem too bothered by our presence. Nancy and I had seen a smaller kind of mongoose a number of times in Kruger as well as in Kwa-Zulu Natal but this was the first time that I had encountered this larger species. 
Thanks for sharing my time at Etosha. Hope you've enjoyed some of the information and pictures. Next stop: Victoria Falls!
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