Journey to Addo Elephant Park

I slept reasonably well despite the noise outside and some light disturbances from hostel residents coming in and out of our dorm room. However, I woke up with a dull headache and queaziness which has defined the mild virus I had been suffering with. I gotba cold shower as the electricity was off again as part of thr 'load shedding' scheme. I had a light breakfast with my fellow travellers in the communal kitchen which included a treat of hot cross buns. We packed our things, boarded the truck, rolled up the sides and set off for Addo Elephant park. We travelled near the coast and over some impressive rocky ravines. After an hour or so of driving we reached the gates of Addo Park and I went up the the 'beach' at the front of the truck with an open top over the truck cab. This allows 360 degree views which is perfect for viewing wildlife. Low trees and bushes, interspersed with flowers of reds, pinks and whites, covered the ground as far as the eye could see. It made for a beautiful and lush African scene rising and falling over low hills. This was one of the prettiest parks seen on the journey. After some minutes of looking for, and not finding any animals, we saw a mother and infant elephant on the road ahead. As we approached they moved on but were then followed across the road by several more adult and young elephants. All thr elephants were a distinctive shade of brown which reflected the reddish brown mud of the park that they bathe in. Further on we entered more open ground and saw several zebra with their young near the road. Then we began to see more antelope including kudu, an eland and several stripey backed hartebeest. Two of the hartebeest locked horns in mock battle. We also saw some topi and red hartebeest in the green grasslands between the trees and bushes. We then saw a pristine example black backed jackal right by the truck. Next we came across a small waterhole with a small family of elephants in the red mud. There were two youngsters and one of them looked recently born. It was wonderful to watch the youngest elephant rolling in the wet mud and then struggle to get back up. We spent several minutes photographing and watching this lovely family scene. A warthog and two infants were also by the waterhole as well as a big buffalo sat right in the middle of the water. We travelled on through the thick bush and saw more zebra and antelope. I saw an ostrich in the distance and a small tan coloured mongoose run into a bush. We saw lots of elephants in the bush by the side of the road including two elephants and youngster pouring water over themselves with their trunks. I realised that Addo is called an 'elephant park' for a reason. We then came across a larger heard of elephants by a waterhole including females, young and a large male bull elephant. It was again very special to watch this family of elephants interacting with each other and roll around in the mud. One lovely example was watching a young elephant rest his trunk and small tusks on a younger elephant. We travelled through more beautiful bushland and could see back towards the sand dunes on the coast and the bright blue sea beyond. We then arrived at our next campsite within the bounds of thr park. The heat reached extraordinary levels of over 40 degrees centigrade and it felt like being in an oven. It was difficult to find the energy to move but I managed to make it to the campsite ship to buy cool soda water to replace my now hot truck water and my favourite mango and orange 'Paddle Pop' ice lolly which both helped me to cool down a bit. I visited the 'Interpretive Ventre' with lots of fascinating information about the life, history and geology of the Addo area and good information about the evolution of elephants and their anatomy. There was also a wall of 'horns' which showed many of the different skulls and horns of the Park's animals. I then walked down to the waterhole where there was a wooden lookout. I only saw a warthog by the waterhole and decided to walk back to our campground where I got a cold shower to try and mitigate the effects of thr extreme heat.
We then headed off for our second truck safari at 4.10pm. I again sat in the open top of the truck over the cab. This caused some annoyance with the park wardens who didn't like us sitting above the truck, bit we did it anyway because we were kneeling and perfectly safe. Soon after we entered the Park again, we were seeing animals. We saw two beautifully patterned Kidu right by the road. Further along the park roads we saw an elephant right by the road and spent some time with this gentle giant as he munched his way through the surrounding shrubs. We then saw a small leopard tortoise crossing the road, buy got stuck climbing the other side, fell on his back and had to be rescued by our driver, Often. These parks seem to be full of these mini-dramas of life paying out in the wilderness, and we happen across just a few of them on our safaris. Further along we saw a magnificent example of a male ostrich. We also saw lots of zebra, kudu and Bush buck for the first time in this park. We later swam saw a larger herd of elephants crossing the road right in front of is including a very small baby which looked very cute indeed. We saw a larger tortoise in the road. We saw a large herd of the magnificent ooking kudu as well as many more zebra and other antelope. We climbed to the highest point in the park and looked out over the bushland and could see several large elephants, zebra and antelope grazing in the distance. After some more travelling around thos beautiful park and seeing a large bird of prey and the wonderful flowers in the bush, it was time to return to the campsite. The park guards were still very exercised about our kneeling above the truck cab and threatened to fine the company.
We arrived back at our campground and I put up my tent while the cook group prepared dinner of bangers, mash and beans. I bought another Paddke Pop and soda water from the shop to cool down. We ate our meal in the darkening skies while lightning flashed in the distance and an increasing breeze threatened a big storm to come in the night. I went off to sleep with rumbles of thunder in the distance and crickets chirping their nightly call.

Morning;
Elephants, zebra, kudu, hartebeest, red hartebeest, eland, topi, warthog, mongoose, jackal, ostrich, tortoise, Reebok, buffalo, springbok, ibis,Read more