Etosha Opakuje Camp 8th July 2012

After a fabulously comfortable and warm nights sleep, we were at breakfast by 6:45 for a huge cooked breakfast. First to be ready to be on the road, we weren't very happy when our car refused to start. After a number of attempts a mechanic who happened to be on site came down for a tinker whilst I tried to call our hire company to organize a new car. After 1/2 hour they had more luck than I and the car was going again. Back in the car we went 5m and lost all the electrics again. Back out, playing around with fuses and after a number of shorts power was restored. The locals weren't very comfortable with our mechanical situation and promised to keep calling, advising we stayed on the main road. The first few waterholes were abundant with Zebra, Springbok, ostrich, Warthog and Wildebeest were thrown into the mix. Whilst watching some men fixing a pump at another waterhole we noticed a solo male lion also watching. It was at this point Liam decided to get out of the car to fix the electrics which had gone off again, only to be told off by the local men for getting out of the car. It didnt matter they blew again a few meters down the road. Leaving us with no AC and all windows up and inoperable. Travelling was becoming quite warm. We passed giraffes and stopped in at a number of other holes with the same animals. It's amazing how quickly you become blaze about seeing the various wildlife. We passed a numbef of kms of burnt land which we were not sure was intentional or not. Not surprisingly there was no wildlife but some huge birds, buzards we think. We stopped for lunch at a fenced off enclosure with huge sparrow nests above us. A bit further on, we moved away from bush scrub to huge grass plains and came across 6 lionesses that appeared to be hunting an Oryx in the distance. Very little happened as watched them, they obviously weren't in any rush so we continued on to the next waterhole where 6 giraffe including 2 babies were cautiously heading for a drink. We had to wait for about 50 wildebeest to cross the road in front of us before reaching the hole. This was on the edge of the vast white pan that reaches as far as the eye can see. Liam managed to get the power going long enough to get a couple of windows down but we were now out of fuses. At least the car was starting! The Ostriches obviously like the pan as there were plenty of them at the waterhole with springbok and zebra. The giraffes were taking their time so we headed back to the lions. They hadn't really moved and the oryx was no longer in sight They moved around a bit but didn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere. As it was getting late in the day we decided to head to camp where one of the best waterholes is. Just as we rounded the corner a couple of hundred meters from the lions our back tyre blew. Just as well Liam had tried the hydraulic jack a couple of days prior and bought some oil for it as it had not been working. So out of the car Liam and I were first fixing the jack and hoping it would work, which thankfully it did and then changing the tyre. People stopped to ask if we needed help and were we aware there were lions just nearby which we assured them we were. After some mucking about the wheel was changed and we were off again. It was beautiful afternoon light with lots of animals around as we came closer to the lodge. The gear box started beeping to say both batteries were exhausted just as a honey badger crossed the road in front of us. We did make it into the lodge and walked to the waterhole right next to the lodge to see a huge herd of elephants come in, with Zebra, Oryx and some jackals. The boys and I walked to reception to check in where there is a huge tower as the camp is an old fort. The boys climbed it to get fabulous views of the surrounding countryside. I managed to get hold of the car hire company who now agreed we would need a new car (I think the last set of merchanics has spoken to them) but wouldn't be able to get us one for 2 days which meant we had to limp on to our next destination where we would be for 2 nights. Back at the waterhole a baby Rhino had come into drink with some Oryx. We then headed to our room, another night of luxurious beds and showers before heading to dinner. We were lucky that a local school choir was singing and dancing whilst people helped themselves to a buffet dinner. Most of the tourists are Namibian, South African or Western European. We haven't come across any Aussies yet. The singing to African drums was really beautiful and even the boys were impressed by the girls dancing. We went back to the waterhole after dinner, the mother and father Rhino were now there with the baby, along with some elephants and giraffes. The mother and father Rhino seemed to be doing some sort of mating ritual. It was very cold at night now so we didn't hang around long. We were very thankful for the extremely comfortable beds and warm rooms!