Summertide Diary: Exploring Addo (part one)

26 Replies

28 December 2020

This morning we’re just in time for the gates opening at of 05:30 and ready to search and explore everything Addo Elephant National Park has to offer. The signs along the way give a good indication of what we might expect to see…

Taking care of dung beetles at Addo Elephant National Park
Addo signs
Addo signs

We head for the Gorah Loop in the east, where the more open vistas make game-viewing much easier than in the thickets that predominate over other sections of the park.

Ant-eating Chat
Bat-eared Fox
Pied Crow strutting his stuff!
Black-backed Jackal
Scrub Hares
Plains Zebra
Addo Flightless Dung Beetle

Having left so early meant no breakfast before we headed out the door, so by now there was only one logical place to head to – Jack’s Picnic Spot – so that we could fill up on coffee and rusks. Jack’s is well frequented in the early morning, and not only by humans!

Plumbago flowers
Cape Bulbul
Southern Boubou
Brimstone Canary

Heading back to camp we have some wonderful encounters with elephants and buffaloes, the two members of the “Big 5” most commonly seen here at Addo.

Sleepy elephants
Big old buffalo
Red-billed Teals

Back at camp there’s ample opportunity to walk around, and there’s few better places to do that inside Addo Main Rest Camp than on the Discovery Trail, where interesting information is provided on the park’s fauna and flora as you amble along.

Southern Masked Weaver female
Southern Boubou
Cape Bulbul
Cape Glossy Starling
African Common White
Pig’s Ear flower
African Squill (Drimia altissima) flowers
African Squill (Drimia altissima) flowers being devoured by caterpillars of the (probably) Heliconiinae family of butterflies
Spekboom
Vygie
Probably Crassula perforata
Probably Crassula perforata
Mother-in-law’s tongue
I’m still trying to figure out which tree this belongs to!
Vygie
Cape Batis male
Karoo Num-num flowers
African Small White butterfly on Karoo Num-num flowers
Baboons
Red-winged Starling female
Red-winged Starling male
A big elephant bull almost disappears in the wide open spaces of the Addo Elephant National Park
Malachite Sunbird
Vervet Monkey drinking from an airconditioner outlet

 

For our afternoon drive we opt for another jaunt along Gorah Loop, and again it doesn’t disappoint!

Black-headed Heron
Karoo Boer-bean buds
Jackal Buzzard
Brimstone Canary
Red-capped Lark
Helmeted Guineafowl
Small group of Kudu ewes
Pale Chanting Goshawk
Herd of Eland

This young kudu bull was in quite a hurry – why and where it was headed to was less clear.

Kudu on the run
Kudu on the run
Kudu on the run

If you’d like to learn more about the Addo Elephant National Park’s history and all it has to offer visitors, why not have a read through this post we compiled after our previous visit? And to follow along on our travels through Addo, you might find this map (from the SANParks website) most handy.Addo map from https://www.sanparks.org/parks/addo/tourism/map.php

 

26 thoughts on “Summertide Diary: Exploring Addo (part one)”

    1. de Wets Wild Post author

      We are glad to have you along with us, John. Thank you. And we’ll hold thumbs that you will be able to come visit in the not too distant future because South Africa has lots you’d love to see.

      Liked by 1 person

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