Addo Elephant National Park & Port Elizabeth

The next highlight of our South Africa trip awaits us. As the name suggests, the Addo Elephant National Park is known for its many elephants. But there are also the rest of the Big 5 and many other animals to discover here. We are venturing into the park on our own again to explore and not taking a guide with us (you can even invite them into your own car here). We should be able to find elephants on our own, right?

On the way from Grahamstown to the northern entrance of the park, we spot several giraffes on the last few kilometers of a dirt road! However, there shouldn't be any giraffes in the park itself (they probably belong to one of the surrounding private game reserves)! We are even more excited because we have only seen giraffes from a distance before. This time they are very close. First we only see one. And then more and more. In the end, there are 6 giraffes in front of us, chewing on foliage.

We continue driving and suddenly see a wild ostrich family running across a field. But since they are the fastest animals on two legs, they quickly disappear (even the little ones).

Arriving at the Addo Interpretation Center, we first look at some facts about elephants. We find a model that simulates how elephants hear to be particularly impressive. Even though we stand 10 meters apart, we can hear each other as clearly as if we were right next to each other.

But now it's time to go. After all, we want to see many more animals today as we traverse the park from north to south. Along the park roads, we come across many zebras, antelopes, kudus, buffaloes, and even elands, which have become relatively rare. The landscape here is also beautiful with many hills, low bushes (the large ones are eaten by the elephants), and many flowers.

On a small road, we finally see them: a group of elephants! They leisurely feast while slowly passing right next to us in the relatively dense bushes. They also have two cute little elephants with them.

After they disappear behind us, we continue to a nearby viewpoint. From here, we have a wonderful view of the park. Carsten follows the path we came from with binoculars. Perhaps he will spot the elephants from earlier. Ah yes, there they are. They are walking to the waterhole. But wait! There are even more! 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 elephants. All gathered around the waterhole!

We have to go there! We quickly get into the car. Maybe there will still be a few left when we arrive. 15 minutes later, we made it. Unfortunately, there are now only 3 elephants at the waterhole. Most of them have already disappeared further uphill into the small forest. Maybe we can still catch them there. 200 meters further, there is another large open field, and we already see the first elephants coming out of the woods. There are more and more. Big ones, small ones, young ones, old ones. Now they are all walking towards us or past us. A short time later, we are surrounded by about 35 pachyderms leisurely walking across the field. A small family of Warthogs also joins in. What a spectacle! We are extremely happy!

When all of them finally disappear into the next forest, we turn around and drive back to the waterhole, where 3 elephants are still playing with each other and teasing each other.

We continue through the beautiful landscape of the park, which extends all the way to the coast. In fact, you can even see the Big 7 here, which also includes Great White Sharks and Southern Right Whales. But since it is not whale season and we don't support feeding Great White Sharks, we will skip these two species. However, we would still love to find a leopard... or at least a hyena? Unfortunately, neither of them will be fulfilled today.

At another waterhole, we meet another large elephant family, which has the smallest and youngest elephant baby we have ever seen in tow. The whole group shields it protectively from the curious tourists' gaze. Only when all the other cars have driven away, they let the baby run around the meadow on its own for a little while.

Suddenly, Carsten looks at the other side of the car, away from the spectacle of the elephants, and locks eyes with a meerkat. Is that really one?! We watch it for a while as it scurries back and forth, standing up and looking around. Really funny animals!

On our further way, we continue to discover elephants hiding among bushes and trees. We also see a truly peaceful coexistence à la "The Lion King" on a huge meadow, with numerous zebras, impalas, kudus, and ostriches. A few meters further, something small moves by the roadside, and we take a closer look: a whole family of meerkats has dug their underground burrow right next to the road, and we can observe them in peace! What wonderful scenes!

In such a national park, time sometimes really slips away, and we have to hurry to get out of the park before the gate closes... We have about an hour to go until Port Elizabeth, where we spontaneously book accommodation.

Our host Roy ("Amor da Vida") no longer expects any new guests when we arrive at his gate. He provides us with helpful information about the area and is really incredibly kind! The small apartment with its beautiful garden is uniquely designed, and we sleep under surfboards stored under our roof - now we know we have arrived in surfer paradise and at the beginning of the Garden Route!

The next morning starts incredibly relaxed with a coffee in hand in the hammock on our terrace and a nice long conversation with Roy, who even organizes our next accommodation with the help of his many contacts. Then we take a walk along Summerstrand and have breakfast overlooking the sea - and dolphins! Yes, we can actually watch a group of dolphins happily jumping through the water from the beach. Amazing! An absolutely perfect morning.

When we come back, we realize that our left front tire is almost flat. We go to the nearest gas station to have everything checked: we have a hole! Unfortunately, the gas station does not have the ability to repair or replace the tire, but we have a spare tire in the trunk that is the same as our other tires and is suitable for driving around. We hope that the gas station employees are right about that...

So off to the Garden Route!