Addo Elephant National Park

 On the highway to the park, we saw the memorial to the
three young black African men who were murdered in the '60's,
setting off the human rights battle that eventually ended apartheid

One of many large ostrich farms

If they only knew....

Beautiful birds in the lush foliage

Great sign!

This fellow was sitting on the roof
of the lodge as we arrived.  We
could hear them running about on the
roof of our cottage

Another welcome by this big fat fellow, in
the lobby.  He and his equally chubby
buddy (seen in the background) greet
all visitors

Our gorgeous cabin.  Almost all of our
accommodations were considered 3 star...
simply amazing!

Huge bathroom with a shower on the
other side of that little wall

Plus a garden shower that I
used, in spite of the cool weather

Lush gardens

Our cabins from afar

Floral display as we entered a nearby park and hiked the gorge

One of the roosters at the lodge

Drinks in the lounge before dinner

Kembo giving us a pre-dinner chat

Early the next morning we entered the Addo Elephant National Park.  The park stretches from the semi-arid Karoo area in the north, over the Zuurberg Mountains, through the Sundays River Valley and south to the coast, covering about 180,000 hectares.  The original elephant section was proclaimed in 1931 when only 16 elephants remained in the area.  Today the ecosystem is sanctuary to over 550 elephants, lions, buffalo, black rhino, spotted hyena, leopard, a variety of antelope and zebra species, as well as the unique Addo flightless dung beetles found almost exclusively in Addo.  Plans are well underway to expand the park to 264,000 hectares.  The mega park includes a marine protected area that includes islands that are home to the Capes largest population of gannets and a breeding ground for the endangered African penguins.

Elegant and beautiful

Great view from up here!

Kembo taking a shortcut to the cab..
trying to prevent Brigit from hijacking
the truck

Finally giving up

Yikes!

..and other predators

Lezanne and Kembo's tribute
to Movember

A little fox finding lunch

Turtle migration

Heading to the water hole

Atta girl!

Africa has serious drug problems and we all agreed that crack should
be first to be banned....holy!!!

We discovered an injured male elephant along the track.  His hind leg was swollen to double it's normal size and we watched him limping across an open area, becoming weaker and weaker.  Elephants leave their herds when they are ill or injured and find a place to die.  Someone asked Kembo if park officials ever intervene to save an animal and he replied that they allow nature to take it's course.  He expected that predators would take his life before the night was over.  We all felt extremely sad and helpless.