No idea of the day - have been told it is 24 August - Sunday
Yesterday we left camp beside the Kavango River at 6.25 am. It was a long days drive of 700 km. passing lots of little villages for the first part of the journey. I guess nothing much has changed in terms of how the locals live for 20,000 years. Mud huts and wooden and grass palisades to keep out the wild animals. Lots of goats being raised. The view was more of the same, hot and dry with scrub the whole way. Some of the White Namibian farmers have fenced their land and run big ranches.

We entered Etosha National Park and camped for the evening in a fenced enclosure, Numatoni. We went and visited a waterhole after dinner, but nothing was doing. Today, the 24th we drove across the national park and are now camped on the eastern side. We stopped at a middle camp for lunch and a swim - there is no getting out of vehicles in the park! It was a very warm, around 30 degrees. And we are advise that in Wellington there was snow on the Rimutakas recently! We left just after six am and didn't arrive until five thirty. Usual scurry to get tents up before it gets dark, unpack, shower, then have a drink while waiting for dinner, sitting in the balmy evening with a fence beside us keeping out the wild animals! The evening temperature drops doing to low single digits, a huge temperature fluctuation every day.  After dinner, dishes if on duty (Liz), then we went to the waterhole. It is a securely fenced, floodlit area at the back of the camp. We had a black rhino come within 20 metres of us - amazing. There were also giraffes spreading their legs wide to get down to drink, and elephants, as well as a couple of jackals which were slinking around, blending in to the rocky area very well.
We have seen elephants, a black rhino, giraffes, zebras, a warthog, oryx, black-faced impala and springbox to mention a few animals today.

Monday 25th
We were woken a few times in the night by the lions roaring - a very powerful sound. It is very comfortable in our tent, however the nights get quite cool. Woke up at 5.15 and got dressed then, although the alarm was set for 5.30. Bedrolls deflated, sleeping bags packed, tent down, time for breakfast. Cereal, toast and tea. Then we had time to go back to the waterhole and were very excited to see a male lion there drinking. So we got a few good shots of him on the camera.
Back on the truck, and we exited the park at the western gate. Another tour truck was at the exit gate and had had all their 15kgs of vacuum packed meat confiscated by the guard - you are not allowed to take raw meat across checkpoints - however usually vacuum packed meat is able to be taken through. So the tour leader was burning the meat - otherwise the guard would have no doubt kept it to eat.

Just stopped in a town with wifi Outjo!