Addo Elephant Park

This past Saturday, we had the lovely opportunity of traveling to The Addo "National" Elephant Park. Our guide, Mike arrived at the Algoa Bay B & B bright and early to pick us up. Instantly, Mike started telling us information regarding the rich history of Port Elizabeth, his exceptional commentary would continue throughout the trip. Mike was very knowledgeable and it made sense when he told us he had been a history teacher. After about 30 minutes of driving, we pulled up to the entrance of the sprawling 400,000 acre Addo Elephant park. Excitement took control of our group and it was clearly evident that everyone was eager to see some animals. Within the first 20 minutes of our safari, we spotted two bull (male) elephants emerging from the brush. I was shocked to see these massive, gray creatures, move with such grace and elegance despite their size. After driving down the road for sometime, we spotted several male lions emerge from the brush! This was an AWESOME and rare experience, and Mike said that it had been months since he last spotted a lion.

Throughout the rest of the safari, we saw a variety of different animals such as rhinocerous, lions, water buffalo and hundreds of more elephants. We were extremely lucky to see these animals as they are considered by hunters to be 4 of the "Big 5" (the only animal we didn't see was the leopard). These animals have been long been revered as some of the most dangerous animals to hunt. Each year thousands of hunters and travel to Africa in hopes of hunting these large beasts. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see the elusive leopard, an animal that mainly hunts at night and is known for its ferocity.   

Along with seeing 4 of the "Big 5", we also saw many other interesting animals such as dung beetles, warthogs, zebra, ostrich and a variety of multicolored birds. We had a check list of over 35 different animals and we were able to check off over 20 different species. However, we would not have had such a successful trip had it not been for our knowledgeable tour guide Mike. Our hats go off to you!

                                                                     
                                                                      4 of the Big 5





 Rhinocerous.

  


Male Lion.



Water Buffalo.





A mother elephant and her baby.