Etosha, Namibia

Another day, another safari lodge. Today we drove through Etosha to our next lodge, Mushara Outpost, at the east end of the national park.

We packed up at Safarihoek and said our goodbyes to the staff. The staff here are great, one of our favourites.

We started on yet more bumpy gravel roads. After a couple hours, reached a gas stop just before the southern gate of Etosha NP at Okaukuejo. It was a nice stop, with very clean bathrooms and a decent curio shop. Got some more cash from an ATM, this time without the lineups or cultural exchange.

We arrived at the park border where there was a checkpoint. Marissa had her passport on her (ours were packed in our suitcases), so she completed our paperwork to enter the park. We’ve been changing lodges every 2nd day and it’s hard to remember where we’re coming from or going to - which unfortunately were some of questions Marissa had to answer. We had to look up on our phones. At least we knew we didn’t have any firearms or drones (or plastic bags).

A couple km later at the park gate, we showed our completed paperwork, paid our park fees (150 NAD per person, 50 NAD for the vehicle, about $40 CAD total) and drove in.

We have a couple game drives in Etosha tomorrow with a guide, so just drove straight through today. We did see quite a variety of animals, including zebras, ostriches, blue wildebeest, eland, springbok and oryx. Pretty good for us amateurs!

The roads were bumpy gravel, with a max speed of 60km in the park. It was slow going. We originally had plans to stop for lunch at a camp in the park, but that would have added about 45 minutes of driving time, so instead just headed for our lodge. We could see rain falling from storms all around us, but somehow our route avoided all of them.

Showed our paperwork again at the eastern gate at Namutoni. Our lodge, Mushara Outpost, was another 10km down the C38. We passed by a couple dazzle of black-faced impalas, a vulnerable species, for which we stopped to take some pics.

We arrived at our lodge, but weren’t sure if we were at the right spot, as there was no signage. We thought it was maybe a private house. So jumped back in the vehicle and followed the arrows. We then realized the arrows pointed to the exit; and so we looped around, parked, and emptied out of the car again, trying unsuccessfully to act cool like nothing happened.

Anyways we were in the right spot :) had our welcome drink (rooibos iced tea), and settled into our rooms. It’s another different setting - each chalet is nestled in the woods, like a fancy cottage. The main lodge reminded us of going to a friend-of-a-friend’s cottage, with leather couches, large antiques and artwork.

The food here at Mushara Outpost is excellent, the best we’ve had on the trip. We were swarmed again by the big moths that come out after it rains. (We had them at Safarihoek as well). Had a tense walk back to our cottage in the dark, hoping that lions didn’t get us. (Lions did in fact walk through the grounds later in the night).