Day 200 – 201, February 17 – 18, 2013
After checking out of the Antlers Lodge, we continued heading east on the Garden Route, periodically stopping for pictures along the way. Our destination was the Aardvark Guest House, located 73 km north of Port Elizabeth. We were excited about this upcoming stay as we were meeting up with friends of ours from Jacksonville. Don, Beth, Alex, and Taylor had just moved to South Africa a few weeks ago. Feeling called to serve as volunteers in this part of the world, they gave up their lives in Jacksonville for a radically different one in East London, South Africa, working with the people of the Mzamomhle township. We plan to stay with the Chins for a few days in East London, but we’ve decided to meet up here at Addo and explore the reserve together. They drove in from East London and arrived shortly after us. We had a lot of fun sitting in the back yard of the guesthouse catching up. In the morning we headed to our scheduled game drive in the park. Although it is called Addo Elephant Park, they actually have many species of animals here, including the Big 5 (rhino, elephant, lion, leopard, and buffalo).
We saw a great number of animals while on the drive, but the most impressive were, indeed, the elephants. Parked near a water hole, we watched dozens of elephants come in for a drink, bath, or playful swim. Many of the elephants had babies and the herd was quite protective of the little ones. Our guide pointed out a jackal near the herd who seemed to be eating the afterbirth of a recently born elephant. The guide then spotted the newborn and drove us around off the road and behind the tree where we were able to watch this baby, probably no more than an hour old, nursing from his mother for the first time. It was a truly awesome experience.
After the guided tour, we decided to drive our own cars through the park before hitting the road for East London. We asked a guide if there had been any lion sightings, and he told us a location where some had been spotted early in the day. We drove around and spotted several animals. When we reached the location that the guide had mentioned, sure enough, there were some lions lying under a tree, very close to the road – a proud, strong lioness and a male with a glorious mane. What a sight!