Our second game viewing trip, this time from Port Elizabeth to Addo Elephant Park, which came highly recommended by Annie and Ann. And we weren’t disappointed. Unlike Tala, this is a government reserve, so they have strict rules about not importing any animals that aren’t native to this exact habitat, and they don’t allow even 4x4s to drive off road except on designated paths, so we were warned it might be difficult to get close to any wildlife. Plus it’s an area of 200,000 hectares, so plenty of room to hide!
But we were lucky and after about an hour driving around, we came across a solitary elephant, probably thrown out of the herd by the matriarch for bad behaviour, according to the ranger, flanked by a couple of ostriches. There are 500 elephants in the park, as well as various antelope, black rhino, red hartebeests and even 9 lions. We weren’t expecting to see those as they hide somewhere cool in the day, but we did go on to see a small herd of elephants, a mother and her calf, and 3 males, that came right up to the jeep and even blocked our way along the road for a while. So plenty of photo opportunities!
Addo elephants are a sub-species of African elephant, slightly smaller (tho still pretty huge!) and with a reddish brown hide. We felt very safe in our 4×4 but there were a few visitors in small cars who must have felt quite vulnerable when the big bull was passing close by. He looked ready for anything.
So we’ve now seen 3 of the Big Five – rhino, elephants, buffalo, but no lion or leopard. So we’ll have to make another trip!
Not much else to say about Port Elizabeth as we only saw it from the coach, but we did pass a township, the most recently constructed part of which looks ok – brick built by the government – but as you move further to the outskirts you see the ad hoc homes built out of whatever comes to hand – tin sheets, tyres, cardboard. And no facilities or sanitation. But it’s much worse outside bigger cities, especially Johannesburg, and no government building can keep pace with the migration into South Africa. What’s the answer??
Township
Article source: http://carolandsamgetaway.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/april-8th-addo-elephant-park/