New Year's Eve in Africa... we had no idea what to expect. The staff of the resort and campsite told us nothing special was being organized. However, the staff would celebrate in their own village until the early morning hours they predicted.
Raija went to bed at her normal time and we promised her we would wake her up before midnight. We went to the waterhole where it was fairly quiet. This gentle giant walked past, which was exciting. Then nothing happened for a while at the waterhole...
Three rhinos arrived and enjoyed a good drink...
Myron met an Angolan boy his age and they hit it off. They spent the whole night quietly talking and they were excited about the animals we saw.
A small group of people stayed beyond 10pm, waiting to see if anything exciting would happen...
This is when the first three giraffes arrived... they were cautious, we did not know why.
Until we saw a lioness... Binoculars! Not ideal at night but still helpful...
Was that a second lioness?! Wait, three of them?!
Myron and his friend Noa ran up and down, checking out the scene from all angles. They thought they counted more lionesses!
The evening progressed and we were soon drawn into the tale of the six giraffes, the six lionesses, and the three rhinos! The lionesses were hunting the giraffes, but the rhinos protected the giraffes! Who knew rhinos would side with the giraffes?!
It is hard to describe what the evening turned into. Everyone who was still there, sat on the edge of their bench, captured by the 'cat and mouse' game the lionesses, giraffes, and rhinos played. No one wanted to leave, predicting a kill of a giraffe was near.
Eleven o'clock came and went... we wanted a drink, but did not want to leave the scene...
It was 11:45pm... Raija had to be woken up... rock-paper-scissors who would run up and down to get her... it was me. I ran as fast as I could, woke her up, ran back with her...
Nothing had happened in these last minutes...
Midnight - Happy New Year! A quick selfie, not even a clear one, and back to the action.
Raija wanted to go back to bed... John ran back with her, tucked her in, he quickly grabbed three small bottles of juice and back he came... We quickly toasted to the new year. Back to the action!
National Geographic would have been thrilled with this scene. Every time a lioness tried to get close to a giraffe, a rhino would step in between and scare of the lioness! The lionesses tried from every angle, the giraffes spread out, throwing them off. Then they came together again to appear more strong... the rhinos just hung around and helped where possible!
I hate to tell you, but we will never know the end of the story...
At 1:30am we decided it was bedtime. Myron said goodbye to his friend and we walked back to our tents. What a night it had been!
The next day we left Etosha National Park. When we drove through the camping gate, seven (!) giraffes were waiting to see us off... who knows?!
May 2023 be as exciting as the night that led us to it!
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