sniktawk

Some of these comments get sillier and sillier by the day, no need to guess the source.

aj Any luck with a map yet?

PacoAhedo

OK Ajbalwyn,

this is a map of Etosha that may serve you.You have all the roads,the waterholes and the distances between them.

Also you have a small description of the most important waterholes and the animals that you may find in each???

In the rest camps you can by the inexpensive Etosha National Park Guidebook to the waterholes and Animals.
Just a small book with introduction and history of Etosha and pictures and description of the rest camps and waterholes and of course a detail map of each area.

Safarinama,i spend 3 days at Etosha and was amazing the amount of wildlife we found,just amazing.Animals are relax and habituates to vehicles.


http://www.map-of-namibia.com/Namibia-Map-Etosha.html



Paco

sniktawk

Thats a very good link Paco, I agree that a proper map should still be bought at Okaukuejo.

luangwablondes

ajbaldwin

Do you have Tracks4Africa on your pc installed with Mapsource? You should be using this in your planning stage. It you zoom in, it will have the waterholes, picnic areas, fountains that everyone is talking about.

The Botswana map has autorouting- onroad and offroad, giving time, distances, and road conditions, so there will be no need for guessing. With autorouting, your garmin should be updating your eta as you go along, so if you are driving a bit slower then normal or made some stops it will adjust for that.

luangwablondes

And the Namibia map has autorouting too.

sniktawk

I agree the Tracks4 Africa maps are excellent, but hardly necessary for a journey of this nature.

tockoloshe

I also find that some people see Etosha (& Kruger) as a poor relation in the game-viewing stakes, but it’s a different kind of game viewing; you can go where you want (albeit on the marked tracks) and stay as long as you want at any waterhole or interesting place. One thing we learned was to have patience at waterholes .... the first time we did a self-drive round Etosha we arrived at a waterhole and if we couldn’t see anything we moved on. The second time, after a bit more experience, we found that if you stayed in one place for a while 9 times out of 10 something would happen. Maybe a stately procession of elephants coming down to the waterhole (Olifantsbad), or a lion would suddenly stand up and stretch followed by another and another, all perfectly camouflaged in the grass (Okondeka). And don’t forget the Pan (Etosha Lookout) the sight of 7 giraffes appearing out of the heat haze from who-knows-where was amazing. The waterhole at Okaukuejo has been mentioned many times, but I agree it’s really worth sitting there in the evening watching the ‘show’, the rhinos came right up to the seats to peer at us, and wouldn’t shift when the lions came to drink.
The picnic sites mentioned before are worth noting, so you can have a break and a stretch – one is very near Olifantsbad so you can also keep an eye on what’s happening at the waterhole. One word of caution though, I went to use the toilet in one and found a rather large snake comfortably wrapped round the toilet seat – don’t ask me to identify it, we both made a hasty retreat and I didn’t make use of those facilities!
I’m sure you’ll have a great time!

luangwablondes

sniktawk

He has T4a maps already. So why not use it. Your maps aren't available to him yet.

sniktawk

Luangwa Blondes
Sorry I missed the reference to Tracks 4 Afrika in the initial post.
I wish I had not I spent some time looking for maps, but nevermind.

ajbaldwin

Thank you all for some excellent adiu
sniktawk

Thank you all for some excellent advice on Etosha



sniktawk

thanks for the help and yes I am using T4A on google earth to plan my routes,and will have T4A on my GPs for when I make the trip but as with most activities where the sights have legs and tend to move around a bit my questions about the maps was that I wanted a bit of upto date local info when I reach the park

Suggestions in this post of asking about where game has been sighted and what water holes are dry and not try I was hoping to get on a map when I get there, even If I just mark on the map when I get to the camp as I am guessing if there has been no rain conditions will change practically by the day

Thanks you all for the suggestion of which camps and water holes are best and I am very exited to visit. I watched a David Attenborough program when I was a kid called Lions of Etosha and have wanted to visit ever since

as I am going to etosha, Okavango, Chobe and Kruger on this trip I am sure I will get my fix of animal sighting if one destinations is a little dry

luangwablondes
I have been reading your web site with great interest as your trip is very similar to the one that I am planning for later this year

ajbaldwin

Paco thanks for the link its very helpful

sniktawk

ajbaldwin
I also watched the early films of Etosha, although I was not a kid.
Have a great trip and do not forget to post a report for us all .

tuckeg

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804210575.html

sniktawk

Tuckeg,

Thanks for that, very interesting. I had expected some news about camps in the western section. At least NWR seems to be retaining this not leasing it to "independant" operators.

Do you have any idea where it is going to be, presumably north of Nmutoni.

tuckeg

sniktawk,

Here is another article, it will be north of Namuntoni and visitors will park there and be transported to the new lodge by NWR:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804170640.html

Tuckeg

sniktawk

Tuckeg

I do not think this will be for us, as I am sure the animals we can see will be the same for a lot less, unless they are going to allow off-road. I would think the exterior camps are going to be a bit upset.

rockdassie

tuckeg,
a quick thanks for the allafrica link, good source of Africa stories, hadn't seen it before.