Continuing on from Part 1:  It’s lunch time and we have now arrived at Halali Rest Camp for a break to eat our packed sandwiches and have a look around, also use clean facilities!

It’s located 9kms down a side road.

We had a drive around first to suss it out and find the best picnic spot.

Plenty of tables here and you can drive right up to them!

Always nice to have a peek at the Tourist Shop!

Opening and closing times are always posted at each gate so we made note that we had to exit the park before 5:30pm.

Not much going on at this time.  This is a typical gravel road in the park.

Springbok

Spotted Thick-knee

African Grey Hornbill

Starling

Lilac-breasted Roller

We finally made it to Namutoni Rest Camp and decided to have a look and take advantage of the last facilities before the hotel.

The grounds are very nice here and since it was getting cooler by the time we got there some birds were out and active.

There’s a cool fort here but the shop was closed.

The museum was open, free to enter and had some interesting exhibits about the park.

Even the Go-Away Birds here are friendly and didn’t tell us to go away!  They get along with starlings too!

I missed the shot but interesting colour combination on this bird!

Getting close to 5pm and not wanting to miss the curfew, we drove on to the exit gate.

While I normally don’t approve of road-side bird sellers (meaning real birds), these ones are perfectly fine.  I even bought a few birds from one of these guys!

Headed down the road to Ondangwa where we would spend the night before continuing on to Kunene River Lodge.  Gorgeous sunset!

Etosha National Park is one of the highlights of any trip to Namibia, whether you are birders or not.  It’s very easy to explore the park on your own as the gravel roads are well-maintained, can be done in a sedan car and there are signposts at all intersections.

In the map below, I have highlighted our route for a day trip in yellow.  We entered at Anderson Gate, drove through via Okaukuejo, stopped at Halali for lunch, then continued on to Namutoni Gate to exit just before the park closed.

We were up at the crack of dawn to be the first ones inside the gate, an easy 10 minute drive from Eldorado Guest House & Camping.

First in line at Anderson Gate!

Once they opened, we were given a form to fill out and told to pay at the office in Okaukuejo.

Sunrise brought the birds out!

Okaukuejo Rest Camp is in a large complex with an office, restaurant, shops and all kinds of accommodation from tent spaces to cabins. 

Get this map & bird book at the gift shop. I’ll be using it to identify the birds below since we didn’t have a guide with us.

Get down to the watering hole as quickly as possible to catch the early birds and animals.

We saw a lot of these beautiful little birds – Shaft-tailed Whydahs.

These cabins are near the watering hole and there were quite a few tourists hanging out here.  We couldn’t get a room here as it was full and here was the evidence.

Cape Turtle Dove

Shaft-tailed Whydahs in flight.

Red-headed Finch

Sociable Weaver

Crimson-breasted Shrike

African Red-eyed Bulbul

Starling

Red-headed Finch

Crowned Lapwing

Oryx

Black-crowned Tchagra

Northern Black Korhaan

Blue Wildebeest

Fork-tailed Drongo

Purple Roller.

There actually isn’t a real toilet here, just pull up a bush!

Ostrich

Blue Crane

Kudu

Oryx Pied Crow

All this before lunch!  We turned off towards Halali Rest Camp to find a picnic area.

“Follow me to Halali!”