The animals of Etosha (Namibia)

[dan marchant]

During my recent trip to Namibia I travelled around 4,700 km from the capital, down to the south and then up to the skeleton coast and Etosha National Park. While in Sossusvlie in the south I snapped a few photos of Springbok and thought how amazing they were.... until I got to Etosha National Park. The sheer number of animals we saw was stunning....

In a two hour period at one waterhole we saw over 50 Zebra, 40 Wildebeest, 5 giraffe, an Oryx, several Kudo, 10 Elan and a bunch of smaller antelope including Springbok and others









many of the animals, like this Zebra, were standing right next to, or even in the road




And yes, it's true. I do have a small dik dik...


The next day (after nearly being trampled by a very angry bull elephant) we saw over a dozen giraffe, numerous antelope, a Rhino and the amazing sight of over 40 elephants walking across the wide open grassland.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Dan,

Great series, obviously worth the dangers, heat and other discomforts of the trip.

Looks like you had a guest for breakfast too
Love how the eyes match the decor.

... and you Dik-dik is very cute
(I shouldn't be encouraging this, should I?)

I'm sure the curly horned antelope is checking out your camera though

[dan marchant]

Looks like you had a guest for breakfast too
Love how the eyes match the decor.

Now that you mention it I guess it is entirely possible that the colour was a deliberate choice by the designers - it was one of the official park rest camps and those birds are everywhere.

[IvorJRoberts]

Beautiful images. The only two I am not sure about is the bird, the background does not work for me, and I am wondering if there could be slight crop on the picture of the zebra, from the righthand side there is a small dot in line with the nostril, I would try, just to see the result. Still beautiful pictures, and a joy to see.

[FrankMi]

A great set of images! It looks like you have been able to enjoy a photography trip of a lifetime!

The local museum has a diorama of animals from Africa and among them is a pair of male Phillip's Dikdik antelopes from the east/mid Ethiopia and northern Somalia region. From the images, I'm having a hard time being able to tell the Damara Dik-dik from the Phillip's. Perhaps there is a size difference? The Phillip's adults weigh about 3kg.

[Manfred M]

(after nearly being trampled by a very angry bull elephant)

Nice images!

You got chased by an elephant too? We had the same thing happen at Palmwag, and I have the video to prove it!

At the Palmwag Concession, we were able to get out of the truck, which made photographing and shooting video a lot easier than being restricted to staying your vehicle in Etosha.. We ran into a herd of around 25 or 30desert elepahants and eventually the alpha male decided to chase us off. Grabbing the video camera, throwing it in the truck and trying to drive in reverse down a narrow dirt track with the elephant getting closer was more adreneline rush that we needed!

[ggt]

I like the facial expression on the wolf/dingo/critter.

They are all very cool!

[dan marchant]

You got chased by an elephant too? We had the same thing happen at Palmwag, and I have the video to prove it!

Yep it walked into the road in front of us and I took a photo before realising that it was angry. Next thing I am reversing up the road with one hand on the wheel and the other holding the camera. Had to hand it off to the G/F so I could concentrate on driving. At it's closest the elephant was about 5 yards from the car at which point it swung its trunk and threw dirt all over the windshield, before stopping, shaking its head and walking off.

[Bobobird]

Must have been an exciting experience.

Lovely set of shots. I like them all.

[Kdfrank]

Great series of images, would love to see more!

[dan marchant]

I don't normally bother with video but I just had to capture this short clip of a Giraffe drinking while we were in Etosha. They are lovely animals but hard to take seriously