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Wander the World: A visitor’s guide to Etosha National Park · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We're off to Namibia today to visit one of Africa's
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: most famous wildlife sanctuaries, the Ittasha National Park. First established
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: in nineteen o seven, it spans more than twenty two
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: thousand square kilometers of territory and it is home to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: a huge array of wildlife, from the large mammals, the carnivores, etc.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Down to the smallest reptiles, to incredibly diverse BirdLife and
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of course the famous desert adapted elephants for which they
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: are so well known worldwide. Now, our guest joining us
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: via Zoom Villi Olifa, has recently published a new visitor's
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: guide to the park. Villa is a seasoned traveler in
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Southern Africa by foot and by road, and has previously
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: authored a number of hiking and travel guides for this region,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and this particular book is created in tandem with Ute
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: von Ludviger, who is the photographer and wildlife guide who
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: has also played a role in its creation. Villi, thank
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you so much for joining us this afternoon. Wonderful to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: have you with.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Us, Bird afternoon, It's wonderful for you inviting us on
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: your talk. And also then to the listeners of Cape Talk,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: we hope that the little chapters afternoon will give people
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: a little bit more of an idea of what Atasha is.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: It's very popular with Cape Tonian's by the way, really,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: but there's always something new to find out.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: So I'm interested to hear that. Because it's an awfully
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: long drive from Cape Town, of course, but it sounds
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: like it's worth the drive from what I've heard from
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: those who've been there. Really, I have to start by
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: saying I've never set foot in the Mabia, so I
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: haven't been to Itatasha myself, but having gone through your
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Visitor's guide, of course, I feel like I know it
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: inside out this afternoon, so I'm looking forward to chatting
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: to you about it and to listeners. If you want
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to ask a question about visiting Atasha, this is a
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: great opportunity to tap into Villy's knowledge. You can send
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: a what'sapp to seven two five six seven one five
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  Speaker 1: six seven and if you have already been and would
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: like to chat to us about what you experienced there,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: perhaps some of your most remarkable sighting, something that you
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: think is valuable to know before you go as a
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: first time visitor, we would welcome that advice as well
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: seven to five six seven one five six seven if
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: you'd like to send a text or voice note. Really,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: let's start with a bit of an overview of the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: park itself. Can you start by telling us precisely where
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: it is? My understanding it's very far in northern Namibia.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: But where it is and what sort of terrain it covers?
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Okay, you are quite right. Just getting to win took
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  Speaker 2: from Cape Town is quite a journey. It's about one
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: thousand and five hundred kilometers. About a month ago I
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: traveled down to Cape Town, so yes, it is. It's
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: a two day journey. And then from Vntok. Depending on
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: which gate you you entrance gate you are using, it's
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: roughly let's call it four hundred and fifty kilometers, so
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: you're looking at two thousand kilometers one way, and then
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: you know, once you've done that kind of distance, it's
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: no good just spending two or three days in the park.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I think what most people do these days is they
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: make Na Moybia holiday destination. So if Atasha is the
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: main attraction, there's a lot to see and do all
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: along the way, other places of interest. I'm not going
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: to go into too much detail, but yes, we have
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: the largest meti right in the world, which you can
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: see on the way to Atasha. We've got the Waterberg
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Plateau Park, which is very exceptional, and so there's a
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: lot of things that you can do on the way.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: And I think what most people do these days, considering
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: then that it's let us say three days traveling there
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: one day, two days to Untook, and then another day.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: We're talking about three days and three days back at
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: six days, I think what most people do these days
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: is they do it in a two week holiday, spending
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: most of the time in Atasha. But yeah, it's not
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: one of these things that you can do in a hurry,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: especially given the price of fuel at the masks.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: So you took the words out of my mouth. You
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: need to get bang for your buck on every drop
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: of diesel to get there at back. That's right, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I mean really, but once you get there, what awaits
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  Speaker 1: you sounds absolutely extraordinary, not just the diversity of the
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: animal and bird life, et cetera that you're going to see,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: but those beautiful, stark, environmental sort of vistas that that
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: people associate with Atasha. From the pan itself, the salt
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: pan in the eastern part to I mean, it's quite
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: a variety. I think people have a sense in their
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: head of one look that they associate with Atasha, but
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: really my understanding is they're actually quite distinct. There's some grassland,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: there's some almost semi desert area, there's some dolomite hills
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: in the eastern regions. Are you going to experience sort
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: of different landscapes as you move through the park?
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Yes. Generally park is pretty flat in terms of elevation,
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  Speaker 2: except in the west where you have the dolomite Yost
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  Speaker 2: dolar Mittberga, which is totally different from the rest of
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: the park. But yes, even though it's flat, it is
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  Speaker 2: quite diverse. Obviously, the pan itself is a major attraction,
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  Speaker 2: and it covers about twenty five percent of the park's
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: total surface. Of that twenty two two hundred odd square kilometers,
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  Speaker 2: But yes, it is varied mupani in different forms, whether
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: it's woodlands or shrublands that constitute about eighty percent of
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  Speaker 2: the park's vegetation. But it is diverse. You've got these
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: very important sweet grasslands on lime, which is where a
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: lot of the herbivores get sustenance, especially during the dry season,
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  Speaker 2: and then you've got, as you've mentioned, you've got the
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: dollarmite insult bergs, especially in the area of Alali. So yes,
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  Speaker 2: it is diverse. It's an ever changing landscape, so it's
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: pretty flat.
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  Speaker 1: And a lot of the change comes with the changes
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  Speaker 1: in water supply. I mean, this is a very arid
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: part of the world generally speaking. The pan itself, if
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: anybody has seen visuals of it in the dry season,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: will have that picture of the sort of crackled surface
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: of absolutely dried art mud. Will you talk to us
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  Speaker 1: a little about the role of water availability in the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: park and how that impacts what you see at different
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: times of year.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, water availability, as you quite mentioned, quite rightly mentioned,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: does play a role in the in the vegetation. It
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: plays a role in the distribution of the animals. But
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: the primarily the most important springs are on the edge
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  Speaker 2: of the southern edge of the park. Those are springs
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  Speaker 2: that are fed from very far away and during periods
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: of drught they do tend to dry up. Then away
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: from the actual edge of the park, mainly the southern
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: edge of the park, we have other springs and then
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: also a lot of boreholes have been sunk over the
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: years to distribute the animals. But you know that in
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: itself men sometimes I shouldn't say man. We as humans,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: we intervene thinking that we're doing good. And then a
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: lot of these boreholes subsequently had to be closed down
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: simply because the animals didn't need to move away during
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: the dry season because there was water. So what happened
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: is they just extended their grazing range around the water holes.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: But it's very important, and a lot of these water holes,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: because of consumption over the years, are no longer natural springs.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: They have been supplemented with boreholes as well, so it's
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: a major challenge in terms of park management. But yes,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: you mentioned earlier the grass lens. I think that's what
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: makes Etosha so such a beautiful place for game viewing
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: because it's open and it's so easy to see game
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: on the edge of the plane, as opposed to something
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: like and I'm not going to knock Kruger. Kruger has
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: got a much bigger variety of diversity of mammals, Butosha,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: even though it's a less diverse number of mammals, it's
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: the ease with which it can be seen.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll talk about those mammals and some of the
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: other creatures in just a moment. I just want to
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: recap for anybody who's coming into this conversation midway that
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: our guest on the line from Namibia via Zoom is
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Villi Urafir, who, together with utevon Ludwiger, has just created
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: a visitor's guide Tousha National Park which has been published
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: by Straight Travel and Heritage and is available in stores now.
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  Speaker 1: And it really is a wonderful introduction to the park,
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  Speaker 1: not only the history of the space and the development
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: of the park itself, but then a really detailed look
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: the different sections of the park, the different accommodation are options,
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  Speaker 1: the water holes you want to visit at different times
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  Speaker 1: of year, et cetera. So a real sort of holistic
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  Speaker 1: guide to everything you need to know as a first
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: time visitor. Now, really, before we get to the animals themselves,
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  Speaker 1: a couple of people are asking questions about accessing the
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: park on a self drive basis. Firstly, do you need
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: a four x four, What sort of a vehicle is
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: needed and can you is it possible to fly in
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: and then rent a vehicle to drive into the park
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: is another question that Ryan asks, if you self driving
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: from Cape Town in your own car, is a four
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: by four essential?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Okay, good question, Matt. Unfortunately, Tasha has come into for
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: a lot of criticism last year about the condition of
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: the roads, partly because lack of maintenance, but also partly
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: because of the increased volume of the actual number of
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: people visiting the park, especially from Rogers on the outside
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: of the park. So you have a situation where the
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: roads are graded. Let us say this week, and it's fine,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: you can go with your little sedankar that's on the
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: main road that's linking Nematoni in the east and Ocoquillo,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: which is kind of more or less in the center
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  Speaker 2: of the park. But then three weeks later it's a
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: different story and it's pretty corrugated. A four x four
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: definitely not necessary, but a vehicle with a high ground clearance,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: I would say at this point, the good thing is,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: and that's a positive movie, is that they are busy
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  Speaker 2: tarring the road, the main arterial road that runs from
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Occoquillo through to Nomatonia then further north. It's about two
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: hundred and twenty kilometers. They in the process of tarring that,
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: but it's going to take a couple of years. They've
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: done the first twenty kilometers last year and there's another
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: twenty kilometers, so forty kilometers forty that's about twenty percent,
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  Speaker 2: So it's a long way to go. But definitely not
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: a four by four, but a vehicle with a high
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: ground clearance I would say would be recommended at the stage.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: As for flying in, yes, there it is possible to
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: have a charter flight into the lodges on the perimeter
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: of Atosha, both in the east as well as on
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: the south. And then these lodges inevitably also do guide
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: that game drives into the park, which is probably going
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: to be the guides know where what is happening. Yes,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: so that will probably be cheaper than actually still hiring
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: a car and doing your own thing. But yeah, certainly
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: east of Atasha and then south of Atasha Anderson Gate
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: which has been renamed on Bicker Gate, those lodges they
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: do have landing strips.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Okay, so those are lodges on the fringes the park.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: What about within the park itself, nim My understanding is
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: that one of the lovely things about it Tasha is
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: the variety of sort of pitch of accommodation that you
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: can have everything from a quite affordable camping experience to
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: a luxury lodge experience. Do you want to chat a
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: little bit about what is available inside the park?
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I will be quite honest and frank. The
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: accommodation established movements of park are run by a semi
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Diapara state owned enterprise called maybe A Wildlife Resorts. And
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: we know, I think even I don't think you'll take
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: unbridge if I say so. So Is in South Africa aren't
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: the best in terms of the functionality and operations nw
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: R unfortunately as a bit of a tainted reputation. There
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: are rest caams traditional rest cams at Nomatoni in the
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: east and then about seventy five kilometers to the west
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: is a Lali and another seventy seventy five kilometers we
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: have Ocoquio. Those are the traditional s camps. Then there's
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: also two so called luxury camps. But these camps have
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: come into criticism from a lot of people. They are
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: trying to rectify it. But you know, it's to be
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: very frank and not putting it off, putting visitors off,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: because the park itself is still magnificent and wonderful what
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: a lot of people actually do. And this is not
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: being against you know, seem to be against promoting namobile NWR.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: But there are so many lodges on the perimeter of
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: the camp at. What most people do is they stay
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: at one of these lodges. Whether you stay inside the
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: park or whether you stay outside the park, your daily
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: your daily permit fees, your conservation fee and your entry
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: fee is the same irrespective. So a lot of most
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: people do go for the option. And then they've also
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: got a very small campsite called Willifan's Rest, which is
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: rather remote. It only has about ten campsites and because
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: of that it's almost perennially fully booked months and months
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: in advance. But yes there are facilities, but I would
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: assitate to give people apprehensions. Let's put it this way.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: It's certainly not what it was twenty years ago.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Okay, interesting to hear though, how then the private operators
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: on the fringes pick up the slacker as it were,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: and make it possible to still have whatever pitch of
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: holiday you're looking for. Yeah, interested to hear from anybody
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: who stayed recently if they agree with Billy's assessment there.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: You're welcome to send us a WhatsApp. Marlane is writing
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: and to say this is a wonderful holiday. Her advice
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: is to take in the Fisher of a Canyon, the
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: fabulous hot water springs route, and then once you're at Atasha,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: the animal viewing is mind blowing. I have been so
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: blessed to come in from the Zimbabwe side all the
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: way to Cape Chanceys Malen. It is a must for
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: your bucket list. We've also received a voice note from
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: a listener and Wally who has been there before. Let's
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: take a listen to that.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Hi, Papa, I love Itasha Panes and used to go
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: there regularly.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: But both the.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: Roads are not in good condition and I've just heard
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: that your guest the reasons why, but I'm not sure
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: that they always for those reasons. I think the lack
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: of maintenance plays a big role. But the worst is
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: the accommodation. NAM Parks. Well, I think it's nam Parks
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: offer accommodation and it has really been run down over
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: the last couple of years, so I think those are
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: the negatives.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: But I love you Tasha Walie, thank you, I mean
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: very much. Echoing what Willy has just said to us,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: but appreciate that feedback from somebody who has been multiple
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: times before. Pierre says, we stay at them Cutti Lodge
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: on the fringe of the park, and I've always enjoyed that.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: So if you're looking for a recommendation, there's one, Yeah, WILLI.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's sad to hear, and one hopes that
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: you know, those in charge take note of the criticisms
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: and recognize the need to fix up what is failing
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: in order to maintain this as a real jewel in
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: the crown of the Namibian tourist experience. Perhaps let's leave
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: that issue there and just spend our last few minutes
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: talking about the sparkle of the jewels, which is the
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: animals you are coming to see. As you've mentioned a
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: variety of herbivores grazing on those grasslands, and where herbivores graze,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: then the big carnivores are not far behind looking to
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: graze on them. Really, what have been some of your
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: favorite sightings? For example, I know that this is a
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: park that if you are wanting to see black rhino
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: there is a particular population that can be experienced here.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: What would you say, are the game viewing highlights of Itasha.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Okay Atosha has got four of the big five, meaning lion, leopard, rhino,
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: both species of rhino, white and black rhino, and then
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: also elephant. You know, it's very difficult to singularize a
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: specific event, but rhino, of course, the park is the
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: biggest population of these western subspecies of the black rhino.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: I see it as by corners, by corners, that's always
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: a good sighting to have. And then at the moment,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: there's also quite a big lion population, so people that
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: are looking for you know, they bigger, they hairy, they
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: unlikely to be There's a pointed leopid also a very
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: good leopard population, elephant population, except if you go in
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: the rainy season. Sometimes when people go in the rainy season,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: they're very disappointed that they don't see elephants. But as
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: big as those things are, they actually move outside of
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: the normal tourist areas and either out of the park
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: or they move into the Mupani woodlands which is not
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: accessible to tourists. But you know, then you've got things
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: like for example, the park also in the east, especially
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: in a mattoni, the smallest antelope in Namibia, the Damara
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Ductak beautiful little dainty little antelope and normally so easy
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: to see, you can pass right past them. Then you've
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: also got blackfaced in Parlor, which is was brought into
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: the park. They were captured and translocated into the park
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: from the northwest. Park has got a big and that's
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: the best place where you can possibly see blackfaced in Parlor.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: But then there's a lot of other smaller things as well.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Do you know in the rainy season, You've got say,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: for example, what happens is in the rainy season, say
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: around February. These days, the rainy season is quite the
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: amer Car. We're still having rain and lots of rain
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: in them. Maybe at the moment roads in the south
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: are closed and it shouldn't happen. But normally in February,
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: what you have is a huge migration of the animals
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: from the Occoquio area to the northwest to an area
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: called skurt Flutta, and that's where they the antelope, that's
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: where they have their folds and things like that. There's
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: a large concentration there and then you've inevitably got you know,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: sometimes the smaller little thing among goose or a what
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Istosha is also very famous for is the African wildcat
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: that latches at the at the waterholes and then they
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: catch the pigeons or the doves, or the no maqua
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: sandgrasses they come in. The occasional badger that you can see.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Those are the things that's sometimes more exciting than seeing elephants.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: You know, after a few days, you've seen enough elephants,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: let's look for something a little bit different and a
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: bit more exciting.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: And so often it's when you stop to take the
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: time to admire a mongoose or something like that, that's
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: something else large and very exciting tends to emerge from
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: the background as well. So don't underestimate the joy of
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: the small sightings. Really, before we run out of time,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: a couple of people asking the same question as to
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: whether this is a park where malaria is a concern?
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Do you need to take prophile axis?
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is in a malaria endemic area so throughout
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: the year, but it is advisable to take precaution most
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: of the time, and it's most likely to occur during
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: the summer, rainy season winters. It gets pretty cold in Natosha,
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: up to zero degrees on the rare occasion, but it
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: does get but yeah, it's advisable to take properlexis and
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: then to just use for example in the evening where
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: long trousers use empty mosquito spray and just take general precautions.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: We have to leave it there. But Villi, it's been
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: a real pleasure chatting to you. Thank you for such
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: a frank assessment of the Atasa National Park, and thank
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: you for the beautiful book that you have created with
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: utevan Ldviga, which to listeners if you are wanting to
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: ask more questions, you're very welcome to go and look
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: for a copy of the book which has hit the
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: bookstores now. It is called a Visitor's Guide to Etasa
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: National Park. Willi Olphia, thank you so much for your
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: time this afternoon.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having me, Papa, and thank
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: you also to the listeners and for those that ask questions. Yes,
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: it was a bit difficult to be very frank and
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: hon us, but I think that was I had that duty.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Natasha Stully is a great place.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you for that. It does sound like and definitely
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: want to add to the bucket list. Appreciate your time.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: The co author of the book villi Olafair,