April 13, Addo Elephant National Park

Monday, April 13 - Day 70 - Addo Elephant National Park

Sometime after 7AM it is time to acknowledge the world and our plan for an early morning game drive is in jeopardy. We make some tea, oh how Dick would like a good cup of his own coffee, and head out for an hour or two before breakfast.

We head back to the fence line to check on the elephant herd....not a soul, not even the zebra! This morning doesn’t start particularly successfully, but we carry on and go deeper into the park where we do see two jackal, a few small groups of elephants, the ubiquitous zebra and lots of warthog families. They are such ugly little animals, they are cute and they are curious sometimes. Mainly this morning we see how stunningly beautiful this park is! By 9:30AM we are both hungry so we head back and discover that the steps down to our cabin from the parking area have been torn up by a repair crew who have done the same thing to several entrances along the way. We are not sure why this has been done as the steps looked like they were newly installed when we got here. This state of affairs makes ingress and egress for Carolyn a little tricky but we will manage.

After a nice breakfast of cheesy eggs, muffins and juice, we work on downloading and backing up the pictures and writing the blog for the last several days. We are so far behind but with no internet we can concentrate on catching up. Dick goes to the store for gas and a souvenir ball cap and a gag gift item that he decided he wanted and reports that the African sun is blistering hot even though it is pleasant in the shade of our patio. We have a light lunch of sandwiches and spend much of the day on the patio just enjoying nature...there are many birds and they all seem to be singing today. Plus, there are several groups of animals grazing near the water hole we can see.

About 3:30PM we get our act together and head out. On a lark we decide to check the fence line for the elephants again. As we approach we see the fence line is still empty, but cars are stopped in various spots all along the road so something is happening.  Here come the elephants in groups of two to maybe six or seven they are coming from all directions and are all heading to the fence. It is quite a show and puts a stop to our idea of going farther south. We inch along, dodging the huge beasts and laughing at the antics of the three or four very little babies; one in particular who can still fit under his mom. In another scene a mom is showing her baby which of the grasses are the choice tidbit and how to grab it.

We do finally move on to check out several of the water holes we found in earlier drives and do see a number of animals including a cape buffalo who has just finished with his daily mud bath and is slick and shinny in the setting sun!

Again, 6PM is fast approaching so we head back to the gate and actually cut it close enough that we have to wait in line with several cars while the guard checks everyone’s permit.

Dick fixes cocktails and we relax on the patio and watch the animals still gathered at the water hole as the sun disappears. Carolyn had made a double serving last night so she doesn’t have much to do to get dinner ready. As we sit down to eat we hear some dog like sounds, maybe a jackal. Then, just as we finish eating we hear a lion...Jack says, "OK, it is time to go inside!" The weather seems to be changing...clouds gathered late this afternoon and now there seems to be a mist settling in the bowl off the patio and it is getting much cooler. Time to call it a night. We have really enjoyed this park. It is small and there is not as large a variety of animals, but we have been able to really get up close to the ones that are here. Plus it is just a really beautiful place! We could have enjoyed another night at least. Next time!