Namibia Explored – Elephants of Etosha

Streets of Nuremberg

7 years ago

One of the very highlights of our three-week journey through Namibia came at the very end, with the visit to Etosha National Park. Doing Safari in the African bush is always an exhilarating experience, seeing the wildlife up close and in their natural habitat. We’ve travelled to many national parks in Southern Africa over the years, and they all have their own beauty. What makes Etosha special is the abundance of elephants, appearing in big groups, which we never saw before. For some elephant impressions continue after the jump….

Sitting in our car at the Oliphantsfontein waterhole we could observe a group of about 80 elephants, some directly at the water, some distributed in smaller groups in the bush around. It was really a majestic sight, as they took turns drinking, babies playing between the legs of their big mothers, juveniles locking their trunks and trying to find out who is the bravest or strongest.

Etosha elephants are little attractive to ivory poachers, as due to the lack of calcium in their nutrition in this very dry area around the Etosha salt pan their tusks don’t grow to a very large size as with their peers in other parks in South Africa or Kenya.

Being close to Elephants is no problem, as long as you stay in your car. And as long as the car is not in the way of the grey giants. But you need to be watchful, if they approach you flapping their ears and trumpeting, you better quickly get out of their way.