Wild animals in Addo Elephant Park

Thursday, 14.1.2016

After breakfast, we leave the i-lollo-Lodge, quickly get some money and G. buys a ostrich leather bag. By 9:15 am, we are in the car heading North – from now on, it's all about the wild animals of South Africa!

In Jeffrey's Bay - a surfer's paradise - we stop briefly at the beach, but there's not much going on here.

The place looks funny, with lots of pubs and young people. For about 130 kilometers, we now follow the N2 to the East. The fear that in Port Elizabeth the road with traffic lights leads through the city is unfounded. As a highway with a speed limit of 120, it goes on stilts from West to East and by 1:00 pm we reach the South entrance of the Addo Elephant Park.

We get a Day Pass for 232 Rand and now drive slowly with all cameras ready on the unpaved road to the North. Since you can drive here on your own, you can also stop wherever you want. You just can't get out of the car. Only an enclosed parking lot with the only toilets in the park offers some space for the tourists. So you should quickly use the "facilities" at the Visitor Center when you enter, because then there might be nothing for hours...

The speed limit is 40 km/h, but most of the time you drive much slower, often stop to look for animals. The Dung Beetles (beetles that roll elephant dung into balls) always have the right of way here. You can see elephant dung everywhere on the road, but unfortunately no beetles.

Because the beetles also "work" in the elephant piles, you must not drive over these dung/cannonballs and end up driving in zigzags. The South entrance and the Main Entrance are about 40 km apart and there are several side roads that you can drive off the main route and that somehow return to the main road in loops.

It's surprisingly not very busy. We were afraid that we would have to drive bumper to bumper, but no. It's cloudy, which we initially perceived as a disadvantage, but in this weather the animals come out of the bushes more often than when it's relentlessly burning.

The first thing we see are zebras and we are immediately amazed! In the wild, practically just an arm's length away from the car, that's different from the zoo or the video or something. What beautiful animals! With very different patterns. And not black and white, rather brown-black-white. So the zebra crossing is a lie! At a kind of water hole, there are many cows antelopes and the beautiful kudus! We are in paradise - or?

As we come over a hill, we see a group of elephants standing in a circle in the distance! This sight - it's just indescribable. We roll down the hill and shortly after, we stop just 50 meters away from this group of elephants. The camera is on fire and the size of these animals impresses us very much, we whisper and marvel.

Shortly afterwards, a car pulls up next to us and points out a water buffalo to us, which is somewhere in the bushes to the left of us. So we sneak into the side road in the car and discover it. Water buffaloes are part of the Big Five and are also quite rare in Addo.

Water buffaloes

Well, that's great. We've only been here for 2 hours and have already seen two of the Big Five. The water buffalo is rummaging through the bushes while feeding and then disappears from our field of view. While we are just looking at our pictures on the displays, it quietly and unfriendly appears just 2 meters in front of our car, unnoticed, and stands right in front of our car with its giant stature. I panic a little as the driver. What do you do? Stay put, drive backwards? In any case, close all windows first! But the big guy just looks briefly and unfriendly, trudges across the road, and walks behind our car and soon disappears. Phew! A little scare in the evening. Those comrades don't look very cozy and are also very dangerous. If he had targeted our car, it wouldn't have been funny for us.

We drive to all the water holes marked on the small map of the park. We see a jackal and almost everywhere the funny warthogs, which we are already fans of. They are quite shy and like to run away when you approach them. Then their tails are held upright and they gallop away through the middle.

Warthog

These animals are so cute, especially the young ones. The tusks (by the way, both males and females have them) are not necessarily something you want to experience and give the animals a grim expression.

At Kapour Dam, a water hole, an elephant is approaching a larger herd of water buffaloes, which unfortunately retreat completely and relatively quickly, and we can only see them from a distance and from behind. We wait for a while, observe the elephant until it also trudges away - right in front of our car. It feels like being an ant...

Water buffaloes

Elephant and jackal

Around the water hole, there are many bright red little birds - red bishops (in German: Oryx weavers). They have a black belly and a black face. They can only be found in southern Africa and are usually found near water.

The gates close at 6:30 pm, so we have to start our way back. After almost 6 hours here, the "harvest" is really good: zebras, elephants, cows antelopes, warthogs, kudus, jackal, water buffaloes, various herons.

And then on the drive back, we see a huge lizard - which is called rock monitor lizard, but is considered a monitor lizard. In my understanding, a lizard is a lizard. This animal is by far the largest lizard I have ever seen in the wild. It is about 1.30-1.50m long including its tail and probably 25-30cm tall.

About 11 km from the Main Gate, where you can find a restaurant, 3 gas pumps, a souvenir shop, and toilets, and where safaris can also be booked, is The Aardvark Guesthouse. We follow the main road and at some point we have to turn left off it. The road to the hotel is a single minefield of potholes, and the last 200m from the main road to the hotel are winding/holey and not suitable for people with back problems. The facility is secured with an electrified fence and a gate. The French operator seems aloof and not very friendly. The facility consists of a small communal area, a backpacker room with bunk beds, and 5 round houses, of which we have booked 2.

If you want to camp, you can also set up your domicile in a section of the garden or roll out your mat in a large tent. The garden looks a bit messy and I don't really warm up to this facility. However, the round houses are clean - as far as you can see in the poor lighting. There is a stand-alone air conditioner and a ceiling fan. To avoid being tormented by mosquitoes at night, I now turn the air conditioner on at the highest setting to cool down the room a bit. Behind the wide bed, there is a separate toilet/washbasin area on one side and a dark shower on the other side. Overall, the rooms are very nice and uniquely furnished. And we have the cheapest accommodation here at around 25 EUR/night/round house - you really can't complain about that.

The selection of dining options is small. The nearest restaurants are several kilometers away and since it's now pitch dark outside and this pothole-laden road is in front of the door and there is no street lighting at all, we go next door to Hazel's Organic Restaurant.

The access is possible through an iron door from the hotel grounds, so we don't have to stumble around outside first. The interior with self-made wooden chairs outside and a canteen atmosphere with some nice African decorations indoors helps to overlook what you get here. The menu is really good and the owner has kudu, warthog, impala, and ostrich on the menu. After seeing the beautiful kudus today, I abandon my plan to try them and eat ostrich instead. The vegetables come from the garden and everything tastes fantastic. The selection of wines is also good and well chilled. I can really recommend this place.

With a flashlight from another hotel guest, we find our way back to our hotel. Off to bed, download pictures, check email (not everything that comes in today is good), and sleep - as much as possible after reading my emails.

The air conditioner has cooled down the room somewhat, but as soon as you turn it off, it gets stuffy. In view of the mosquitoes outside, I let the thing run overnight and hope that I won't catch a cold tomorrow.