A whole day in Addo

Friday January 15, 2016

The alarm clock rings at 6.00am. The shower in my roundhouse takes some getting used to. First of all, you can hardly see anything and it is built with dark brown painted stones like cobblestones. Standing on it is quite uncomfortable.

At 6.45am we roll out of our Fort Knox to Addo, get a new day ticket and go on safari. Unfortunately, the weather today is really nasty. It's raining, the clouds are hanging low and it's cold. Actually, overcast weather is good for wildlife sightings, but in the rain the animals prefer to stay dry.

But we see some great birds and now also several Dung Beetles running eagerly in elephant dung or on the road. Perhaps this is the time and weather for the small animals that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

A few Cow Antelope later, we are back at the Main Gate in the restaurant for breakfast at around 9.00am. Service and breakfast are really great and we decide to eat here again tonight. After breakfast, we drive back and forth on various routes through Addo. Unfortunately, we don't see any lions, although people tell us about them and we drive through the described area several times. But we see so much else and the rain has also cleared up in the morning.

At noon, we stop at the only car park "Jack's Picnic Site". You can only enter there by pressing a button, which opens an electric iron gate. This prevents animals from coming in. Only here are there toilets (except at the access points to the park) and you can eat your own food here and only here are you allowed to leave your car.

Nevertheless, suddenly an Ungulate enters the small area and frolics on the lawn in the middle. It clearly enjoys the green grass, and while a tourist lies in the grass and sleeps, the ungulate creeps up to him. When he awakens, he startles about as much as the ungulate, which sprints away a few meters and the little one follows. How the two of them will ever get out of here again, only the gods know. Because they probably ran in with a car when the gate was still closing.

The last stop is again Harpour Dam, where we can observe two elephants drinking one after the other. One of them walks directly in front of our car back into the forest.

It's a pity that the gate closes again at 6.30pm. On the roads - which are now empty - many zebras, antelopes and kudus gather. As if they know that you don't have to worry about cars on the roads now. At the next water hole, a water buffalo wallows in the mud. The drying sludge cools and prevents parasites and thus probably relieves itching.

At 6.30pm, we are at the restaurant at the Main Gate and drive to our hotel in the dark after dinner. Write diary, backup pictures and set the alarm clock to a gracious 8.00am!