CA native: Etosha Prison

Even the nicest places seem to get inhospitable at night here in Namibia. Maybe it's cause of the country's history of wars starting up in the late hour, but no matter how you look at it, we were locked inside Etosha National Park with no way out.

It all started when my family decided to spend our holiday vacation in Swakopmund (a German town by the beach) which is about 10 hours from our home up in the north. For some reason we had gotten the idea that this ten hour excursion could be possible even though we decided to go through Etosha along the way. We started our journey at about 10 am, and made it to the entry gates of the park at 2 pm. In Etosha, the speed limit is 60 kl so you don't slam into an animal going 120 around a turn. Even if we hadn't cared about the speed limit, it still would have taken us hours to go through the place. During the rainy season there are usually no animals at all, but I saw leopard turtles, dung beetles, meerkats, and giraffes. Also, our car became surrounded in a herd of 200-300 Springbok! And we came upon at least a hundred Gemsbok soon afterwards, who gave us a great sparring match to watch as they took down one another using their horns.

By the time all of that was over, it was 6 pm, and we were still inside the park, sitting down to eat at Okaukuejo Lodge inside of Etosha. As we left to drive the last 20 kilometers to the gate, our car hit three birds that we hadn't even noticed. The road became even darker as the sun set over the horizon, and we illuminated the closed gates of the National Park. It was like the surprise birthday party you never wanted! Yay! Isn't that just awesome?

After realizing no one was there, my dad turned the car around and we stayed the night at Okaukuejo. The next day was filled with driving- again!