Amazing Addo

Warning now, this post is animals, animals, and more animals!  I mean what else would a safari post include?

Okay, maybe there's a little flora in here as well.  The lovely aloe plants with their bright orange flowers were all over the park.

Addo-Elephant National Park is the third largest national park in South Africa and covers an area of over over 360,000 hectares.  That number equates to almost 889,000 acres.  It also includes a marine protected area that goes out into the Indian Ocean.  We were only able to cover a small part of it in just a few hours. 

Our guide, Graeme, picked us up in this land cruiser at the port and drove us about

35 minutes to the park entrance.  After a bathroom break we were on our way!

Kind of had to make me smile that as we entered an elephant park the first thing we stop to take a look at is this giant Zebra Snail  that was crossing the road.  It was a beauty, the photo doesn't do justice to its vibrant blue-green body.

These insects are either termites or flying ants, they're a bit harder to see but I think you can get a glimpse of them flying about.  Hundreds of them were flying out of a hole in the ground.  They make great food for birds, we saw one meet its end in the beak of a bird flying past.  This is the way that termites will dispense to create new colonies.  We saw a lot of large termite mounds throughout the park.  Fun fact, despite the large size of the mound that you see above ground the biggest part of the colony is underground.

Our first elephant, and he was a BIG one!

We came upon a group of elephants at a watering hole and it was fun to watch them drinking and playing.  They don't actually drink through their trunks, just suck up the water into them to put into their mouths.  You can see that they don't get nearly all of it in there.

Loved watching the baby elephants play with one another.

Another baby elephant photo.

And eventually there were three of them there together.  We wondered if two of them might be twins since they stuck together and around the same female.  Graeme said it was unusual for elephants to have twins but that it did happen sometimes.

A big bull away from the rest of the herd.  They usually stay to themselves unless it's mating time.

There were a lot of birds throughout the park as well.  This one is a Black Headed Heron, it was probably out hunting snakes for lunch.

I quickly fell in love with the South African countryside.  Here you can see one of the many roads throughout the park.  It had rained quite a bit the day before so there were lots of puddles along the road and bits of it were quite muddy.

This is the shy Red Hartebeest (Graeme pronounced it something like hyahrtehbest with his Afrikaaner accent).  Most of these we only saw from a distance so it was lucky to get a photo at all because if they were close they were off like a shot.

Photo doesn't do justice here to the iridescent black/green of the feathers of this Cape Starling.  Lots of birds were enjoying the mud puddles.

The first set of Kudu horns that we saw were on the skull near the road.

A herd of hartebeest that we saw in the distance.

The Cape Buffalo is one of the most feared creatures in Africa.  They are also called Black Death, and Widow Maker.  They can weigh up to a ton and I think this one was pushing that.

Once angered and in attack mode a Cape Buffalo won't stop until either it or its opponent is dead.  You don't want to mess with them!

Just one of the beautiful spots in the park, this one where there had been some erosion over the years.

Due to the day's cloud cover we couldn't see it clearly but this view looks out towards the Indian Ocean.

And then there were zebras, or zehbras as they pronounce it in England, according to Jane.

One more Cape Buffalo grazing peacefully among the flowers, a deceptive photo for such a dangerous creature.

Not sure what this pretty yellow bird is but he made a nice photos amongst the thorns.  More on those bushes later.

We started seeing Kudu throughout the park as well.  These beasts are pretty shy and will run away quickly as well.

A herd of zebra grazing on a hillside.

No two zebras have the same stripe pattern, something everyone probably already knows, but I had never heard that on an individual zebra striping will be different on one side of their body from the other, just like all our fingerprints are different for each finger.

A group of Guinea Fowl ran in and out of the brush near us.  They make good eating according to Graeme and people will raise them just for that purpose.  You can't tell in these photos but they have colorful blue and red heads.

Zebras make great watchmen.  They are quick to sense danger and run.  Other animals know that when the zebras take off they need to follow.

Just riding around in the back of the land rover watching for animals!

A female Kudu, no long horns for her.

These two males on the other hand, had the long curved horns these animals are famous for.

Since they are horns, not antlers, if they are broken off they won't grow back.  A male without horns isn't long for this world.

One of the many different types of raptors found in Addo is the Jackal Vulture.  These birds of prey can have a wing span of up to 12 feet.

This is a sign you would only see in Africa! 

And here are some of the Dung Beetles themselves, the one on the right is atop a pile of elephant manure.  The beetles feed on manure and use it to provide housing and food for their young,  which is the reason you aren't supposed to run over the dung.  They are also an important part of the ecosystem, providing improved nutrient cycling, soil structure and forage growth.  Don't mess with the Dung Beetles! 

Another creature you have to be quick to spot is the Yellow Mongoose.  We were lucky enough to see a couple of them.  The birds hate these thieving little guys who eat their eggs and their young.

We watched this bull elephant rumble alongside us grabbing leaves from the bush to forage on.  

Adult elephants spend 80% of their day foraging for food.  They will eat between 330-375 pounds of food a day.

This Kudo doe is looking out towards the Sunday's River Valley where most of South Africa's citrus crop is grown.  The white patches are covering for the trees to protect them from the wind.  Apparently this would have been a fantastic view on a clearer day.

We stopped for a group photo from the safety of this viewing area.  

There was however, this sign warning us of lions, 

so I had my friend Shannon take a photo of me looking properly frightened.  Karl just though I was weird.

South African scenery is truly spectacular.

When Addo National Park was first opened in 1931 it was home to only about 10 African Elephants and covered a much smaller area than it does today.

Now there are around 650 elephants in the park and they are reaching their capacity for this giants.

Some of the elephants have been moved to other reserves, and they are working on ways to control the size of the herd in order not to have to begin culling them.

Addo is the second oldest national park in South Africa and is well maintained and managed. 

Here's a wise old eye and a mouth full of grass.

An African elephant's ear is shaped much like the shape of Africa itself.

I know this is a lot of elephant photos but it was just so incredible to see so many of them all at once in the wild.

It really was magical, especially to see them

interacting with one another.

A few sparrows here for a change of pace.

This Goshawk was enjoying a bath in this puddle as we pulled up.

It's really a lovely bird don't you think?

If I remember what kind of birds these are I'll update....

Yep, gotta have a flower photo or two.

Before we left the park we were treated to some monkeys jumping around in the trees.

Nothing fancy here, just a couple of geese.

A little fancier here, an Ibis, these guys like to pull worms or bugs out of the ground with those long beaks.

We saw tons of warthogs throughout the park, a lot of them with two or three baby warthogs traveling with them.  I wished I'd been able to get a family photo but those little guys are fast!

Check out the tusks on this warthog!

One last baby elephant photo.

It's hard to see all the thorns on this large bush but never fear, there are closer photos coming up next.  This plant is called a Sweet Thorn.

Surprisingly enough these thorns are full of protein.  They are also an indicator of ground water because the plants have a long tap root.  Elephants will crunch on these thorns, enjoying the protein they provide, as they eat.

Often when wildlife is spotted a guide will post a pin or picture on a social media page to enable other guides to find it.  See if you can see the lions in this photo that we searched for for 30 or 40 minutes after a tip from another guide.  The only animal they aren't allowed to post about on social media are the Black Rhinos in the park because of the danger they are under from poaching.

Just in case you couldn't see them in the first photo, there are three lionesses in that circle, the white blobs.  Graeme had a pair of binoculars that we were able to use to see them just a tab more clearly but they were so far from us it was impossible to get a good photo.

Another monkey, sitting on the topmost branch of the bush.

These pretty purple flowers that Graeme call Plumbago, were all over Addo.  They were on of several wildflowers that were in bloom thanks to recent rains.

Back at the entrance to the park they fly this flag with the South Africa National Parks logo on it.

A group photo before we left the park with Shannon, Karl, Graeme, Steve, me, Ian, Cecilia and Cathy.

Home sweet home, Serenade of the Seas, awaiting our return.

As we left Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth I was grateful for a most memorable introduction to this continent.  Just one more reason to be glad we're able to make this journey around Africa!