Cal & Rachel Litwiller's Adventures: Saturday, October 31, 2015: Driving to Etosha National Park

It is Saturday morning and the traffic was light as we left Windhoek around 8:30. We had a lovely apartment in Windhoek - hated to leave it, but off we go, driving almost straight north, since we wanted to enter Etosha National Park at the east entrance. We basically drove in scrub land for many, many miles. At times there were low mountains on one side or the other, and some places were flat as a board. After driving 6 hours we came to the Emanya @ Etosha Lodge just outside the Park, where we had reservations for tonight.

Namibian Countryside

Straight Highway driving on the Left

Grazing Cattle along the Highway

What a lovely lodge/resort, but it is in the middle of know where!! The ranch/farm is 10,000 hectares in size. It is all cattle ranching and game ranching. Several years ago they built a very modern looking resort. When we arrived at the lodge we had to get out of the vehicle to open the gates! -To keep the animals in and out! Reminded Cal of the days on the farm as a youth!!

When we checked-in at 2:30, we were told tea would be served between 3:30-4:00, as well as they gave foot massages to guest between 4:00 and 5:00 pm. This perked Rachel’s attention, as she loves massages!! Felt wonderful!!

While we were checking-in another senior couple arrived who were obviously American. They were from Illinois, but both were born and raised in Iowa. We said we would talk later over afternoon tea.

At 3:30 we took our tea items to the top of the observation platform to view the wildlife at the watering hole and we continued our visit with the couple from Illinois. He is a retired math professor from Bradley University. When they heard were looking at our Rotary projects, she told us her bother in Des Moines is a Rotarian. We inquired of his name, and yes indeed we know her brother. It is a small world!!!

This resort has very nice thatched chalets, a very modern kitchen/dining room area with a large pool and bar attached. Beyond the pool they built a two story observation platform near an artificial waterhole. This waterhole has a constant stream of fresh water flowing into it and at dusk flood lights turn on – they cover the area allowing you to watch the wildlife. We saw several different species of animals come to the watering hole during the evening. It was interesting to watch the pecking order among the animals, especially the males.

For dinner they set tables by the pool, so everyone could see the lighted waterhole. It was beautiful, until a windy storm popped up, and it began to rain too much for comfort. All the tables were quickly moved inside where we finished dinner. The sudden storm passed, so after dinner we watched wildlife until 9:00 when we returned to our chalet for the night.

Rachel is definitely feeling better, and she ate a bit of the lighter items of Cal’s dinner along with toast and hot tea. The thing that has been puzzeling is that the antibiotic Cipro has seemed to be ineffective. According to the pharmacist yesterday, the malaria meds we are taking does cause the antibiotic to be ineffective if taken in close proximity. So I am taking the two meds 6 hours apart. And immediately I have seen a difference. Wow! Something so simple!