Situated in the Eastern Cape, just a short distance from nearby coastal city Port Elizabeth, the Addo Elephant National Park is the third largest of South Africa’s wildlife conservation areas. Spanning 1640 square kilometers, Addo was originally founded in an effort to save the remaining 11 elephants in the region, and has garnered such success that the population now hovers around an overly healthy 450. In addition to these majestic giants, the park is also home to approximately 400 cape buffalo, 48 endangered black rhinos and more recently lion and spotted hyena. As the population of elephant and rhinoceros mega-vores increases, certain plant species become subject to over-grazing and trampling, with a real threat of extinction, and thus the re-introduction of top carnivores has emerged as a requirement for sustainability.
Typical rolling hill landscape at the Addo Elephant National Park
After crossing through the main entrance to Addo, our giant truck looped its way through two tourist tracks, and provided a short but pleasant welcome safari to the park. As anticipated, we met several kudu, a flock of wild ostrich, some Pumbaa’s and Timon’s, and to my great enjoyment, a spotted black-backed jackal. Perhaps the funniest creature we encountered was not a mammal at all, but instead a rather large, flightless insect. The flightless dung beetle (Circellium bacchus) is endemic to South Africa, and Addo is one of only two locations where it still survives. As a consequence of being flightless, it has low breeding capacity and low dispersability. Its survival is strictly dependent on the feces of large vertebrates (eg. elephant and buffalo) on which it feeds. YUM!
Flightless dung beetle rolling up a ball of delicious SHIT for this evening’s fine dining experience!
Do you see what I see? NOT the Kudu!
The spectacular horns of the male kudu can grow as long as 72 inches!
Never really thought I would see an ostrich in the wild, but low and behold, here she be!
Fossil records indicate the spotted black-backed jackal is the oldest extant member of the genus Canus. Although he is the smallest of the jackals, he is also the most aggressive and entirely capable of hunting animals many times his size.
I’m a sensitive soul, though I seem thick-skinned ~ Pumbaa
Once settled in to camp (which featured a swimming pool!), I was admittedly getting close to my wits end with annoying girl, and in an effort to chill out a bit, I took a much-needed break from the group to explore camp on my own. This was really quite nice, as it gave me the opportunity to morph back into Bird Lady, and get up close and personal with some of the local avian species….something not many others were interested in doing. Smiling at a group of colorful, chirping yellow weavers really did wonders for calming my mood and rejuvenating the depleted patience stores.
Nesting Egyptian Goose
Southern Red Bishop
Cape Weaver (front) and Southern Masked Weaver (back)
With my soothing bird break logged in the books, I was ready to rejoin the group and opted to take a night safari with three of my new tour mates. It was the perfect opportunity to get to know the newcomers on a more personal level, and I was very thankful that we were able to spend some time together….mostly because it finally enabled me to fully embrace the change in group dynamic and begin to wholly enjoy these three new personalities (who I now would not trade for the world!). Although the night safari was mostly marred by chilly, pouring rain, I can definitely report that one experience I will NEVER forget is the eons of seconds I spent staring into the face of a gigantic elephant who was just as shocked to run into our truck as we were to run into it!
My what sharp tusks you have!
Kudu are so abundant you can even find them in the rain in the dead of night!
Elephant sighting at a much safer distance!
Although our stay in the Addo Elephant National Park was a very short, single day, I was once again in awe of Mother Nature. This amazement would only strengthen as we departed Addo’s gates in the midst of a glorious sunrise, and was surely cemented in my mind as a true wonder upon our sunset arrival at the Tsitsikamma National Park. That is a bit of a teaser, but you’ll have to wait until next time for stories and photos of my journey along the astounding Otter Trail at Tsitsikamma, the greatest camping site on earth!
Sunrise over the Addo Elephant National Park bidding us farewell as we journey onward down the coast to Tsitsikamma
