Sunday 8 October 2023

At last, the rain has stopped – for today anyway. More rain is predicted for the rest of the week. But today was our last day and although there was no rain, I felt that the rainy day sightings were more exciting. Hereunder are the links to two videos from yesterday.

As we were leaving Sundowner’s this morning we spotted a little mongoose. Perhaps he found the park too crowded so came to seek quieter accommodation.

Another surprise was on a neighbouring game farm – a couple of giraffes one of which is pictured below. Addo does not have these elegant creatures as historically they have never occurred in the area and Sanparks prefers to only have creatures indigenous to their reserves. Still, it was lovely to see one of my favourite animals. We also spotted some black wildebeest nearby.

Monkeys and baboons belong in the wild but they can become quite opportunistic and are a real nuisance in campsites. It’s best, then, to chase them away. But when we spot them in the wild they are fun to watch.

There was no rain today and already the roads were dryer and some that had been closed were open again. But in some places, there were still a few rather large puddles.

Warthogs were everywhere. You could easily rename the park The Warthog National Park! The two below enjoyed grazing on the fresh grass.

The only bird of prey that we saw besides a pale chanting goshawk flying overhead was the black-winged kite. He is rather a striking fellow.

We were also delighted to find two Wattled Starlings

At the Domkrag Dam lookout, we found a number of grey herons in the reeds but they did not pose nicely. However, some other birds were more obliging.

The animals were certainly enjoying the sunshine today and we saw the usual zebra, kudu and red hartebeest.

The birds were also very active and there were dozens of Cape Sparrows making the most of the good weather.

Other creatures also welcomed the good weather.

It was good to end our visit with at least one day free of rain. But really there is no such thing as ‘bad’ weather. The animals adapt to whatever the conditions are and it is interesting to see nature in all its different phases.

Saturday 7 October 2023

We lay in late this morning as it was still raining and the forecast did not look good.
“It will stop at 2 p.m.,” I told my grumpy husband, who wanted to pack up and go home. “We can’t go home. It’s raining there too and the road is closed!”

“Then we’ll go back to Plett.”

“No,” I said. “Let’s rather be grumpy here!” So he agreed.

We only left Sundowner’s at 10 and had breakfast at Taste of Africa. It was very good. The rain continued steadily throughout the morning. Sometimes it was light, at others, it came down quite hard making visibility poor. Just before 2 o’clock, it was still raining but at 2 p.m., on the dot, it stopped! But the roads were awful. There were periods of no rain and the sun even tried to shine but then the sky would darken again and another brief shower would fall before clearing again. But we were in our comfortable, warm Ford Everest and she handled the slippery roads like the champion that she is. If safari is part of your lifestyle you have to drive a four-by-four!

Once again in spite of the weather, we had some very interesting sightings. Addo is not the park to visit if you want to see lots of cats but you can be sure elephants will be there! Today, though, they were for most of the day conspicuous by their absence and we thought this might be the only day ever on a visit to the park that we would not find them!

Zebra were everywhere and so were warthogs. There were also a number of red hartebeests and a few kudu. We could hear the birds but few made an appearance. But those who did, posed beautifully.

I shall let the photos tell the story.

A very wet mother bokmakierie violently bashed a hapless worm while her chick looked on. I think she was trying to tenderise it for him.

I took some other videos too but they’re taking forever to upload to YouTube so I will post them in another blog later.

Sunday 12 June 2022 – A word about the park

Addo Elephant Park was established in 1931 but did not include all the sections that we are now privileged to be able to visit. It is now the third-largest national park in South Africa after Kruger and Kgalagadi. Originally Addo was established to protect the last 11 remaining elephants in the area. It is now home to over 600 elephants. Most female African elephants have tusks but many of the Addo females do not. This is because of inbreeding but since the introduction of new herds, some of the female babies are now sprouting tusks. Addo Elephant National Park includes a marine reserve and so one in fact can see The Big 7 if one visits all of it. The Big 7 are Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, Great White Shark and Southern Right Whale.

Addo is really a lovely park. When we arrived, the road from Colchester Gate was in need of grading and we were delighted to see that the next day the grader was hard at work – not easy as there hasn’t been much rain for ages. The caravan park is well-maintained and the ablutions are kept beautifully clean and neat.

We had dinner at the Cattle Baron on Friday night and the service was friendly and efficient. The chateaubriand which Earl and I had was to die for! Jim enjoyed his Pepper Steak and Maureen had no complaints about her hake and calamari platter. All dishes are served with complementary butternut and creamed spinach for the table and a choice of baby potatoes, rice, chips or salad.

Friday 10 June 2022 – Two Lovely Drives

We only left camp at 9:30 this morning and did the roads in the northern part of the park stopping at Carol’s Rest for our breakfast break. We returned to camp around midday and then went toward the southern part of the park in the afternoon.

Saturday 11 June 2022 – Farewell to Addo

We were packed up and ready to leave by 8:15 and exited through the Colchester Gate at around 9:30. This whole week we had not seen large herds of buffalo nor had we spotted a jackal. Today made up for it.

It was once again a stunning day. We stopped at The Windfarm for breakfast and arrived in Plettenberg Bay at 13:15. We are now spending the weekend with the kids and will make our way back to Struisbaai on Monday.

Thank you for following along and thanks to all the Gecko Group members who commented on Whatsapp. I love sharing our adventures with you all.

Usually, when we travel with our grandchildren the Earl and I are the first up. It’s then several calls before the kids get themselves into gear. This trip, however, we have had no problem getting Simon up early and this morning when I opened the caravan door at quarter past six, he had already packed up his tent and was waiting for us at the picnic table! Grandpa hadn’t even opened his eyes yet. But with little else to be done but hitch up the caravan we managed to leave camp by half-past seven.

The weather was slightly cloudy but pleasantly warm. We drove slowly through the park and left via the Colchester Gate.

The first creature to capture our attention was a grey heron on top of a tree.

We did not expect to see elephants at the waterholes this early on a cool morning but were rewarded at Marion Baree. Some of the elephants were already heading into the bush but some remained to play and chat.

We were just about to move on when the Earl saw a few buffalo coming down the road. They were making their way to the water hole.

After watching the buffs and ellies we continued on and enjoyed seeing large herds of zebra and red hartebeest.

We reached to exit gate at around quarter to ten and then went to Taste of Africa in Colchester for breakfast.

They were very busy and so service was a little slow but the breakfasts were excellent and the coffee good.

It was around quarter past two when we got back to Plettenberg Bay. They had had rain while we were away and it was very misty when we arrived. But it was good to be back with the family. We will spend two more nights here before returning to Struisbaai.