Addo Elephant National Park is a diverse wildlife conservation park situated close to Port Elizabeth, and a diverse the park it is. We went for a two hour game drive that was packed with a variety of wildlife including the African elephant, the zebra, the caracal (very rare), warthogs, spotted hyenas, antelopes, and a vast array of birds. Apparently the park has also lions, black rhinos, buffalos and the flightless Dung Beetle, but we didn't get the chance to see those.
The park is now the third largest national park in South Africa and covers about 180,000 hectares. In 1931 the park originated when only 16 elephants remained in the area, and now the park has over 550 elephants. Addo is planning an expansion to become 264,000 hectares to make it a mega-park and will then become the "Big 7" and will also include the Cape Gannets and African Penguins. N.B. The "Big 7" (Elephant, Rhinoceros, Lion, Buffalo, Leopard, Whale and Great White Shark).
We have a favourite... and it's the warthog! How fitting that our truck is called Pumba (warthog in Swahili). Warthogs are everywhere and when they run their tail goes up like an antenna. Another interesting thing in the park were the male (bull) elephants in musth. This is where the male elephants are highly aggressive and have a large amount of reproductive hormones running through their systems. We were about 5 meters away from one of the bulls when he started to pee and raise his foot, so that was the time to back up the truck and leave.
The park exceeded my expectations and to see so many animals within two hours blew my mind, Totsiens Addo Elephant National Park.
The Rare Albino Lion: Look out for her in Addo Elephant Park, she has red feet and pale skin!