Life Trove: goose

14 April 2015

Exploring the Addo Elephant Park

Addo Elephant National Park is the second largest wildlife reserve in South Africa after The Kruger National Park and is home to over 600 elephants. Mum and Mike have been there several times and have raved about it, so it was exciting to get to visit it. It certainly didn't disappoint.

Priceless moments

Being inspired by lots of fascinating facts from Chrisèl who did a wildlife guiding course in The Eastern Cape just a few months before.
A wonderful sighting of a herd of elephant arriving and frolicking in a water hole, including the cutest youngsters.
An extremely close encounter with a female elephant and her calf as they ambled right past our car while parked at a dam.
Getting extremely excited when Chrisèl suddenly said "Leopard ... !" Then a second later, she broke the spell by saying "... tortoise." It wasn't a leopard at all. Just a leopard tortoise! I then discovered from Chrisèl that there is such a thing as the Little Five: the elephant shrew, buffalo weaver, leopard tortoise, ant lion and rhino beetle. What a great concept. You don't just have to be excited about big animals.
Watching two male tsessebes have a bit of a fight.
Sighting of the endangered Addo flightless dung beetle along the road.
Lots of sightings of Eland in large groups. And cute warthogs eating on their knees.
Discovering that the park shop sold granadilla lollies. Ice-cream sticks don't come better!
Staying at The Orange Elephant Backpackers and buying loads of fresh ingredients from a local shop and making an enormous salad to have with our babotie.

Less happy moments

Walking out barefoot onto the lawn at the backpackers at dusk to do my meditation, then discovering on the way back that is was land-mined with multiple thorns and getting stabbed in both feet several times. So weird that it didn't get me once on my way onto the lawn!
Discovering the local restaurant had Diemersfontein Chocolate Pinotage on its menu which we really wanted to try after hearing about it from Antony. Then being told they didn't stock it. Ah, the disappointment!!
A ravenous but very stealthy mosquito accosting us the one night.