Addo Elephant National Park

Addo Elephant National Park was the first stop where we didn't get up and drive to another location. Believe me when I tell you this was a welcome change. None the less the next morning we got up for a 5:45 AM guided tour of the park. We boarded the same type of truck that we had been on at the private preserve and went out into the park. The hospitality area which contains the visitors center, campground lodges and the restaurant are located in a fenced off area. On this tour we saw wart hogs two adult female lions and a one year old adult males. The guide informed us that the male would shortly be chased from the pride by it's mother one of the females as his brother had been a few days before.

three lions

 

We also saw lots of Zebra, two water buffalo, a tortoise, several wart hogs, two jackals, Elephants along with Eland,and Kudo.

wounded Zebrawater Buffalo

wart hogscoodoo

jackels

The high light was of course the lions and the Elephants. By then we had adjusted to seeing lots of Zebras although even in the Bronx Zoo we have never seen this many in one place.

elephantlittle water hole

A heard of Elephants even crossed our path

elephantsherd of elephants

After the tour we returned to our camper vans had breakfast and went on a self drive through the preserve. While we saw several of the same animals that we had seen in the Morning tour it wasn't as exciting although we did drive around all day. At around four clock we returned to the camping area had some snack, Debby did a wash and we went to the Water Hole where we saw several Elephants, a few birds and one monkey. We then went for dinner at the restaurant. Upon returning to the campground we sat around talking with our new friends, the other members of our tour group.

Lions,Elephants,Water Buffalo,Rhinoceros and Leopards are know in South Africa as the big five. While we saw Rhinoceros and Lions in the private preserve and Water Buffalo, Lions and Elephants in Addo Elephant Park we only saw one leopard on the trip, in Kruger National Park and that went by so quick we barely saw it and never got a picture.

However for more pictures of the Lions and other animals we saw at Addo click on this link

For more pictures of the Elephants we saw including some spectacular pictures at the Water Hole click on this link.