My work visa for Namibia expires soon and I need to make my way to Home Affairs. It is a nice drive that leads me east through Etosha, and then south to Grootfontein and I decided to already start Saturday morning so have the weekend to explore this area of the Etosha Park as I usually spend more time in the central area around the Okaukuejo camp. I decided to stay one night inside Etosha, in Halali, and then another one in Tsumeb so I can be in Grootfontein early on Monday.
In the morning, I left as soon as the gate opened and planned to have my first coffee break at Nebrowni, a waterhole just about half an hour away. On the way this pretty Spotted hyena crossed my way. They are usually nocturnal but I guess they do not take it so detailed 😊
I watched some minutes but had the impression she (or he, who knows, it is not visible from the outside so I have no clue) was a bit confused and not sure what I wanted so I made my way further to the waterhole.
The next couple of hours towards Halali restcamp a bit boring with no animals, but when I arrived and put up my camp for the night, a familiar face showed up:
A Pearl-spotted owlet. This was the first exciting sighting we had in October when we moved into our first camp, Selati. These birds are tiny with a size of a maximum of 20 cm. Not shy at all it stayed on the tree next to me and carefully watched me doing my stuff.
After the long drive I was not in the mood to go out again so went straight to the Moringa waterhole at the Halali camp.
I expected Black-faced impalas, Kudus, or even Elephants there, but nope, Lions had made themselves comfortable in a shady spot and the antelopes were quite skittish to come closer. I had not expected the cats here but okay, if I do not have another choice, then I watch them 😉
The lions stayed for quite a while but were eventually “chased away” by some antelopes. How can that be? Once an antelope such a Kudu, Impala, or Springbok identifies a predator, they start snorting and stalk them and I assume that the lions felt a bit awkward at the end being surrounded by this noisy and staring crowd. Also, once the prey has detected them, they do not have the moment of surprise anymore and any attempt to attack is useless. So they went away into the thicket.
As a closure for the day, a Spotted hyena and a Black rhino showed up.
The day on the road and all the amazing sightings made me tired and I go to bed now where I fall asleep with the “whoop whoop” of my favourite hyenas and the cry of the Pearl-spotted owlet.
Good night,
Sininho
Sininho´s World 
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