Addo Elephant National Park

Addo Elephant National Park

Vanessa, our host here at the lodge, gave us a tutorial on all the kinds of antelope that they have mounted on the walls so that we could do a better job of identifying them once we were in the park. We took more corrugated dirt roads to the park where most of the roads are also dirt. Things started slowly but by the end of the morning we had seen a Black Rhino (different from the White Rhinos at Kruger), Warthogs, Kudus, Buffalo, Zebra (again a different variety than those at Kruger), Guineafowl, Egrets and a couple of lone elephants.

In the afternoon we headed further south and came across a herd of at least 40 elephants fairly close to the road. Most were grazing but the young males were challenging each other to see who would be dominant (typical male behavior). They raise their trunks and sometimes you can hear their tusks knock together. After only a couple minutes "the winner" raises his trunk, the loser lowers his trunk and backs away. We also had a single elephant come up the road to within 10 feet of the car, not minding us but intent on some of the tree tops by the side of the road.

Cars were stopped by the side of the road where there were 3 lions sleeping in the grass. Occasionally one would raise its head (see picture), yawn and go back to sleep. The female in the front was sprawled out on her back as though she wanted to sun her front side.