The next two days we spent at Addo National Park, just north of Port Elizabeth. This was a wildlife reserve that specialized in elephants, and we saw LOTS of them. The park itself had a herd that numbered around 400 elephants. The main thing to do was game drives. On a game drive, you creep through the park in your car at about 3mph. Now, this may sound terribly boring, but it wasn't in the least, because the animals were everywhere!
We saw a turtles, ostriches, birds, zebra, and several types of antelope species. I fell in love with warthogs, who look like cute, squat dogs with tusks. There were warthogs with their babies all over the park, little squat piglings following their mamas. Now I see why warthogs are popular characters in Disney movies.
In the game area, visitors were not allowed to get out of their cars because the park has a few lions. The lions weren't there originally, but without predators, the other species were getting out of control. We didn't see a lion -- our only disappointment.Several of the roads went near watering holes where the animals congregate. At two different spots, we just parked the car and watched for 30 or 45 minutes. During that time, we were able to see probably 50 or 75 elephants drinking, washing, and playing. At one point, a small herd on its way to the watering hole passed within five feet of my face. Amazing! With the elephants, pictures really are worth a thousand words, so here's a 6,000 word essay:
Africa, in my imagination, had always been about a countryside densely packed with very traditional cultures. With Addo, I saw a different side -- the wide open savannas that support some of the most extraordinary creatures on the planet.
1 comment:
wow!
Post a Comment