This day was primarily a drive day to get near the edge of the Etosha National Park. On the way out of the sanctuary, we were escorted by a series of animals. One rocky slope beside the road was covered with cute little rock hyraxes. Of course we had many of the other animals that we had seen throughout the trip but here we also got to watch a troop of baboons including a mother carrying her little baby on her back.

We had a stop in the town of Otjiwarongo which is known both for agriculture and, surprising to me, an active gold mine (Otjimoto Mine) which is primarily an open pit type but is now developing an underground capability.

For us, the primary interest in town was the Crocodile Farm. While crocodiles are found in Namibia naturally, this is only in the narrow sliver of land in the far north-east of the country. In Otjiwarongo, the crocodiles are commercially raised for both the meat and the skin. The farm had a large collection of the reptiles ranging from tiny babies to huge monster crocks. Our tour guide really knew his stuff. While I actually find such a place kind of depressing (always preferred animals in their natural habitat), this farm seemed to know what they were doing. Plus crocodiles are not the most active creatures so it was hard to tell if they were happy or not. Reading more on the operation after the visit was very enlightening.

We finished off the farm tour in their restaurant. Guess what - crocodile meat has the texture and flavor of chicken as far as I could tell (I am not known for being a connoisseur so one should take this observation with a grain of salt). I did have a very nice salad with crocodile meat. They had some type of delicious sauce for the meat which really made it so tasty.

After lunch we finished driving north to the Etosha Safari Lodge which is near the southern entry of Etosha National Park. The lodge was another delightful stay. I did try one of their pools but as usual for this trip, the water was quite cold so it was just a quick dip.

After that we met for drinks on a platform that extended out from the main building overlooking a waterhole and enjoying the sunset (something of a tradition by now). As usual we had some nice animal visitors at the water, in addition to a couple of sweet cats who joined us for our dinner. After dinner a few of us stayed up for drinks and we got to watch in the distance a range fire. These fires are actually common and are important to avoid over-growing the land.

The dinner once again was really, really good. By now my expectations were really high and I was just never disappointed!