Day 10 - Addo Elephant Park

Today is safari day. We had breakfast at our lodge. Vera came over and there were actually elephants walking by. Not up close, but some distance away, but you could have breakfast with a view of the elephants, so to speak. And of course, there were not just elephants, but also kudus and warthogs. As the day went on, we realized that if Addo Park has 700 elephants, then it has at least 5,000 warthogs. No matter where you were in the bush, there was a warthog. Anyway, we quickly had a Spartan breakfast with toast, cheese, and chicory coffee (yuck) and then even decaffeinated. I switched to hot milk.

At around 10 o'clock we entered the park. At first, we drove and drove and actually saw nothing. No elephant in sight. Sometimes a kudu, sometimes a warthog. The park is just enormous, as you can imagine with 700 elephants. Despite the large number, there was nothing happening at the waterholes. It's winter after all, and most animals get their daily ration of water from the dew on the grass and leaves. So, we continued. But then we were rewarded three times over. We saw many elephants that day, and many crossed our path or walked in front of us. The giants are relatively relaxed because they are used to cars. Still, we were cautious, of course. No one wanted to have an elephant sitting on their car. My highlight was when I drove past a huge bull at walking pace. That was amazing. But actually, the whole trip was exciting. Thick bush on the left and right, often not a paved road, so we had to drive very slowly to avoid the potholes as much as possible. During the day, we also saw one of the very rare lynxes, monkeys, zebras, more antelope species, and of course WARTHOGS. And actually, we also saw lions in the distance. A rarity, as the park only has 15 lions and is as large as the Ruhr area. Happy, satisfied, and with 1,000 photos, we left the park around 4 o'clock to go on a night safari with a ranger at 6 o'clock. Yes, it gets dark here at 6 o'clock. We bundled up because it gets really cold and the vehicle is open. For two more hours, we drove through the night park, and it was a completely different feeling, of course. The sounds were especially different. We heard jackals and hyenas, but unfortunately, we didn't see them. However, we learned a lot about the park and its history and animals. In the end, we were rewarded with fluffy springhares, which don't have any resemblance to hares, and we managed to catch a glimpse of a rhino, which immediately disappeared into the dense thicket. Also, a very rare sight.

Totally frozen but happy, we went from there to have dinner, and once again, there was a heavenly steak. By the way... A 200g fillet steak with sides costs less than 10 € in a restaurant here. Why would I even bother eating anything else?!?!

After dinner, we immediately went to bed because the next morning, before our departure, we had booked the sunrise safari.