Okutala: rest of my stay

Okutala: rest of my stay

I really can’t say enough good things about this place. You really do get treated like family and it is a lot of fun. Going to be hard to leave and really wish I could stay longer! 

One of the most relaxing nights was the sleep out on the deck of the lodge overlooking the water hole. Beautiful clear night listening to the eland -never did see them, looking at the stars . Did see a large flock of flamingos fly over on their way to Etosha. Was joined by Garfield the cat. PJ ( guide) telling us stories of his past guiding jobs while sitting around the fire.   

The other sleep out was up at the top of the mountain where we watch the sun sets. Amazing view down the valley, stunning sunsets enjoyed with some champagne. 

Another lovely night just didn’t really end up getting much sleep for some reason. 

Okutala really tries to have a wide range of activities to chose from. It was really nice having everything as an option. Odd in a way that I didn’t have to do anything if I didn’t want to. Did pick the pool over feeding the big cats a time or two. 

I mentioned earlier that we tracked a radio collard goat the one afternoon. No the goat isn’t normally radio collard though after spending 45 mins trying to find the goat herd I think it would be a good idea! A couple of the other guests had never used the tracking equipement so PJ caught one of the goats and let it loose for us to track. We did alright until we ended up in the scrub which was not pleasant since it is all thick accai trees with massive thorns. We were trying to get clues from PJ and we did end up figuring it out that the goat wasn’t loose but down at the Rhino house. And Latoya had brought out afternoon cool drinks and cake down there for us.  

And I know I already mentioned the full day of driving around the property checking the 23 water holes. That was one of the best days. One air jeep with Nel driving. Saw lots of different wildlife : kudu, heartbeests, springbox, wildebeest and best of all 8 giraffes.

Also spread out lots of monkey oranges that most animals enjoy eating. 

Spent lunch hour at one of the bigger waterholes that is more like an above ground pool complete with fish at the bottom. And went for a nice refreshing swim there. The lodge cooks are awesome and had packed up each a super cute little lunch box. 

We finished by stopping by both of the “ghost” lodges. The “ghost “ lodges are 2 different lodges that were completely finished but were abandoned before they were ever actually opened ( accountant ran off with all the money). The baboons have destroyed a lot of the roof but Okutala have plans to re-do them and open them again. Both are in gorgeous areas with water holes in front of the lodges and are part way up the hills so have excellent views.

I did get a bit sun brunt today but so worth it!