Recently, the wife and I spent our wedding anniversary weekend in the Addo Elephant Park (AEP). Although we have been many times, we still enjoy the anticipation of the visit and scan all social media posts about other Addo Addicts’ experiences. It is exciting to read what others have seen recently and the general chit-chat about the conditions in the park.
It was therefore disturbing when I read a discussion on the Addo Chat WhatsApp group about foreign tourists getting mugged on their way to the park. It appears that Google Maps has been guiding motorists to use the R335 highway from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) via an area known as Motherwell. Actually, it’s a dangerous road where vehicles are occasionally hi-jacked and their occupants mugged. At other times, Motherwell residents protest against poor municipal services by putting rocks and burning tyres on the main road. It’s not a recommended route.
Safari companies were advised to tell their clients to use a safer route via the N2 and Colchester. This advice is clearly not a solution, because not all tourists make use of travel companies when they wish to visit a national park. The situation is dangerous for tourists who risk their physical safety to see Eastern Cape wildlife, but it is also damaging for the local economy that relies on tourism for a substantial part of its income.
Ilza and I drive from Makhanda (Grahamstown) so the safety issue is not that relevant to us, but of course, we are deeply concerned about the dangers other people face. We routinely come in through the south gate near Colchester.
It is always exciting as we turn off the N2 highway and slow down on the service road for last few kilometres to the Matyholweni gate. We look out for the unusual animals that seem to be a specialty of the Parkview Safari Lodge adjoining the AEP. They have a snowy white camel, bizarre-looking long horn cattle, extremely pale giraffes and a few other oddities to amuse people as they drive by.
That particular Saturday we saw very few animals in the first two hours or so. There seemed to be a lot zebra around and we didn’t mind that because they are easy to photograph and they put on entertaining shows chasing each other, fighting and even mutual grooming. Sometimes they make peculiar facial expressions appearing to laugh, even though I have serious questions about their stripey sense of humour. The young foals are adorably cute especially when they suckle from their mothers. Best of all, zebras in the AEP are not particularly afraid of vehicles which means they don’t run away when you approach them. It is more likely that they will slowly amble away when you narrow the distances to between two and three metres.
In some reserves, it is almost impossible to get within eighty metres of a zebra. This is usually a sign that the reserve allows hunting from vehicles.
Zebras can also put on good shows whenever they decide to have a spirited dust bath. They roll vigorously from their sides to their backs with all four hooves flailing in the air. You have to be at the right spot to get the photograph, but they can make for interesting compositions.
A somewhat disturbing situation arises as you drive around a curve and spot a zebra foal lying motionless on its side. Our first thought is, “Oh no. What’s the matter with the poor baby?” But invariably, it is just a young animal taking in some rays for a few minutes. Zebras have this peculiar habit of sprawling out in the midday sun for about five minutes.
The weather for our anniversary weekend was forecast to be very hot and we were not disappointed. We were booked in at the Main Camp which has a wonderful swimming pool where guests can cool off.
Hot weather means that animals seek out waterholes where it is relatively easy to spot them. The main section of Addo does not have any large water holes, but there are quite a few small and medium sized dams spread throughout the park.
A factor that we had not considered, however, was that two large ocean cruisers, the Aida Sol and the Queen Mary II, had docked at Gqeberha harbour. The two liners carried more than 4,000 passengers between them and of course many of those passengers wanted to see some wildlife.
Addo and other private reserves in the area are about half-an-hour to forty minutes’ drive from the harbour. Tourists filled several buses, game cruisers, mini-buses and self-drive rentals as they went sight-seeing in the various parks. Probably the majority came to Addo as it was the cheaper option and could accommodate larger vehicles. Full sized buses are only allowed in the northern section of Addo.
I understand that we are in the park to watch the animals, but I am also curious about the tourists wondering about the origins of each group. I am tempted to ask them directly but Ilza discourages me from doing that. So, whenever the opportunity arises I try to listen to their conversations.
When we stopped at the Domkrag lookout point, I heard the guide tell his charges the amusing story about how the Domkrag water hole got its name. Domkrag, is an Afrikaans name which means ‘jack’ (as in the device you use to lift your car when you have a puncture). It is said that many years ago there was a large tortoise that used to position itself under cars and then lift them up. I am not sure about the veracity of the story, but it is amusing.
Apparently the tourists in that vehicle did not think so. Not a single smile, nor question crossed their lips.
The same guide then told his charges that they were going to have lunch at the Main Camp restaurant, but he warned them not to leave their valuables in their mini-bus because there might be ‘Nigerians’ in the parking lot. It was amusing that he should make a patently xenophobic statement to a group of foreigners. Perhaps it was more racist than xenophobic because his clients were clearly not Nigerian.
This is an odd Real Safari newsletter because I have written more about tourists than animals. I hope that it did not annoy you - we had many excellent game sightings to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The heat drew dozens of elephants to just about every waterhole we visited, and on so many occasions these massive animals came within a hair’s-breadth of our car. It is scary, yet exhilarating and never gets old. No experience can compare with the moment when a six-ton pachyderm looks you straight in the eye and contemplates your future.
I hope you enjoyed reading this edition of Real Safari – I promise that the next one will be more conventional.