One delight after another at ‘boring’ Addo
From the thrill of an elephant encounter to marvels on a smaller scale
Chatting to a guide at an animal sanctuary somewhere north of Port Elizabeth, the Addo Elephant Park was dismissed as being “Boring, there’s just elephants and a few buffalo.”
It wasn’t to prove them wrong that I set off on my monthly visit to Addo recently, I was keen to try out my Black Friday bargain, a Canon mirrorless camera complete with 100 to 400 lens, an improvement on my aging EOS 650d with 300mm lens.
Whether the camera would be put to good use or not, only time would tell. Sometimes sightings can be few and far between, but not that day. Addo threw one delight after another at me – and the sightings were as diverse as you could hope for. Yes ellies, which are a thrill all by themselves as they appear, as if by magic, from the dense bush, walking silently within millimetres of the car. No one and nothing can beat the thrill of looking deep into the eye of an elephant giving this lucky human a glimpse into their beautiful, gentle souls.
And yes, there were buffalo, sometimes solitary, sometimes off in the distance offering a chance to use my other recent purchase – binoculars, which have proved to be a very useful companion indeed.
On a smaller scale there were flightless dung beetles, a vulnerable species, which can only be found in a few areas of South Africa. They can be found in fairy large numbers in Addo despite speeding motorists’ attempt to hasten their inclusion on the list of extinct species, which is a real pity as these insects have a vital role to play in the ecosystem – they collect elephant dung and roll it into a ball, subsequently burying it. They then climb into the ball of dung with their mate, reproduce and the dung beetle larvae are born inside.
The dung ball eventually accelerates dung decomposition and improves nutrients in the soil.
Sharing the elephant dung on this visit were pretty white butterflies, which apparently feed off the liquid in the dung to obtain nutrients. Not the best of diets, but yet another reason not to drive straight through piles of dung on Addo’s roads.
And then there’s the birds – a pale chanting Goshawk, a Denham bustard and black headed herons to name but a few.
After watching the ellies at play at Hapoor for what was probably way too long, it was time to head south. But the day was not done yet -at Peasland two warthogs engaged in a battle for supremacy, something I had never seen before.
These were not the so-ugly-that-they-are-cute Pumbas of Disney fame, these were serious pugilists intent on causing as much harm as they could. Again, I stayed way too long until the pugilists lost interest in each other.
Even if I had failed to see a single animal, which has never happened, there’s the fantastic scenery to drink in, from beautiful flowers in the lush green bush to breath-taking views from the Algoa lookout where you can see the golden sands of Nelson Mandela Bay, offset by the blue green of the Indian Ocean. You can also enjoy these views from a number of the loops in the south of the park.
A word of advice, if you are an Addo novice, don’t be tempted to ignore the loops. That’s where you are most likely to come across great sightings. You learn, over the years, that some of the loops, particularly Harvey’s, will be home to large numbers of elephants, especially after good rainfall.
So that was Addo done and dusted until after the Silly Season. Selfishly, I like to have the park to myself as much as humanly possible. Sharing my special place with a summer holiday influx of tourists does not fill me with the joy the Festive Season should evoke.
Too many humans in the park? Now THAT is boring. Addo and it’s many animal kingdom inhabitants definitely is not.
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Great photograpphy, Steve. Enjoyable from the aesthetic point of view, can never be "boring".