Onguma Private Game Reserve, Namibia

January 30^th, 2025

We were up and ready for breakfast at 5:30. It had indeed been a very noisy night, but alas no lions roaring. However, any night in the bush is a good night, and I was eager to leave on our game drive at 6:00.

This morning we were heading to Etosha National Park, about a 20 minute drive from our camp.

We were still in Onguma when lo and behold there was a cheetah in the middle of the road.

Despite all of our searching, we haven’t seen a cheetah since 2013, so this was extremely exciting. They are such amazing animals. The cheetah is the fastest land animal in the world, capable of reaching speeds of up to 70 miles per hour. That’s faster than my car would go on the motorway.

We followed the cheetah to a gravel pit, just as the sun was rising.

After exploring the gravel pit for water, he climbed up onto the gravel and posed for us. It was an amazing sight. A wonderful way to start the day.

We left Onguma and entered Etosha National Park.

I had done a lot of research about Etosha. We were there in the rainy season, which is not the best time to visit. During the dry season there is very little water and the animals have to congregate at the permanent waterholes, so all you have to do is go to the waterhole, and you will see as many animals as you would want to see.

However, it is now the rainy season and there is abundant water, the animals may all be spread out, and more difficult to see. Also, there is much more vegetation, so it is easier for the animals to hide. I was not expecting great game viewing, I just wanted to be back in the bush again.

Well, we were in luck. There were impalas everywhere

And we even saw a little steenbok

The zebras graced us with their presence,

As did the giraffes

And solitary wildebeests

As well as larger herds.

Brian had a great time bird watching, he especially loved to take photos of lilac breasted rollers.

But there was a lot more to see

and we were lucky to see an owl in a tree

As well as another owl who seemed to be taking a nap.

However, the stars of the morning drive were the elephants. I had heard that there were very few elephants in Etosha, but we were certainly able to find enough elephants to keep me happy

We sat in the vehicle for our morning coffee instead of being able to walk around and stretch our legs – you are not allowed to leave your vehicle in Etosha.

I was so pleased that our morning in Etosha had exceeded my expectations, we were off to a really good start.

After lunch we swam and sat by the pool, all very relaxing.

We returned to our tent to get ready for our afternoon game drive in Onguma when suddenly out of nowhere it started to rain. I was worried that this would cancel our drive, but as suddenly as it had started, it stopped, and all was well for us to climb back into the safari vehicle and head off on our afternoon drive.

There certainly seemed to be rain in the distance, but we were dry where we were so all was good.

Victor had heard that there were lions near the fence between Onguma and Etosha so off we set to try to find them.

We didn’t have to look too far. We followed foot prints

And there was a solitary male near the fence.

He got up, and started to walk along the road.

We followed him for a while, but then he disappeared into the vegetation.

Victor said that he was probably planning to join the rest of the pride, who were in an open area not far from where we are, but due to road conditions it would take us a while to get there.

On our way we passed a safari vehicle that had indeed got stuck in the sand. I was glad we had not tried to go that way.

Finally we found the lions, but they were on the other side of an open area that was inaccessible by vehicle unfortunately. They were difficult to see with the naked eye, but I could spot them through the binoculars.

Then we saw the male that we had seen previously approaching the other lions. He started roaring and one of the other lions roared back. It was wonderful to listen to the communication between the 2 lions. Unfortunately they stayed separate, so we never got to see the rest of the pride up close and personal.

However, our next sighting more than made up for the lack of lions. Victor took us to see a young male leopard. The leopard had been hiding in the bush,

But he came out of the undergrowth so we did get a good look at him.

The sky was getting darker, and we had to accept that rain was in our future.

It started to rain, and in no time we were in the middle of a downpour. Luckily they had great ponchos in the vehicle, so we quickly put on the ponchos and remained dry during the rest of the drive.

By the time we were ready for our sundowners, the rain had stopped and we were treated to a beautiful sunset

We then headed back to the camp for dinner. We were again invaded by moths, making it quite a challenge to eat a moth free meal. So again, instead of sitting by the fire we retreated to our tent.

It looked so beautiful!