Etosha!

So this morning we headed to Etosha. We left early, around 7am (the gates opened at 6:30), so we'd have a better chance of seeing some lions. Once we got there one of the guides offered to drive around with us for free for some reason. He warned us that since there has been so much rain recently, causing the salt pans to be really full, that it would be more difficult to see animals. When the salt pans are dried up the animals have limited water sources, making it pretty easy to find them. Pretty much right away we were greeted by a teeny tiny dik-dik and shortly thereafter, a couple of giraffe. So beautiful, but also very odd looking...I wouldn't want to ride one. We also saw: a hyena, water buffalo, oryx, kudu, springbok, birds, lizards, elephants, jackals, zebras, vultures, wildebeasts, more giraffe and some others that I'm sure I'm forgetting right now. No lions were spotted, although we saw some lion tracks that we tried tracking for awhile...but to no avail. I wasn't too disappointed though since I know that I will definitely make it back to Etosha before the year is out. So here are some photos, in no particular order:

Vultures!
Lots of zebras roaming around
No clue what kind of lizard this is, only that it was very large
I love the clouds here, I never get tired of looking at them.
The northern entrance gate

My favorite giraffe picture

Here are some oryx by the salt pan, however, there was no dancing today
A kudu
Highlight of the day for me...hyena picking at a giraffe carcass!

The cutest little dik-dik greeted us as we drove in