Where Have All the Ellies Gone?

The best time to go to Addo National Elephant Park? Funnily enough, all the tourist websites say the Winter months. Why? Because there are fewer visitors … and it’s dry. Ha-ha-ha! They’ve obviously not heard of global warming. We’ve just returned from Addo, early June, slap-bang in winter. And it poured. Thunderclaps roared above us, lightning dazzled the sky, and buckets of rain fell from the heavens.

A moody, storm-cloud view from our beautiful unit at Nyathi Camp in the north of Addo.

 

 

Amazing the difference a day makes (just like the song goes). First clouds and rain. Then the second and third days dawned beautiful and clear. We just love the Zulu-inspired beehive huts which house a very spacious bathroom and a ginormous bath with a view.

 

Waking up to beautiful pillows of mist on a clear day. The units are discreetly tucked into the vegetation for privacy.

The one advantage of the plentiful rain was that the park was absolutely resplendent in every shade of green … chartreuse, lime, sage, jade. The disadvantage was that the vegetation was so high and luxuriant the animals, elephants included, materialised out of and then quickly dissolved again into the dense thicket as if they’d never been there.

Case in point. Shades of green wherever you look. The most brilliant lookout, Zuurkop, will normally reveal grey or red-dust rounded backs tucked into the thicket so you can descend and go and try to find the elephants by road. Not so much this time. Not a trunk, not an eyelash, not a tail hair. Although … on the one day, from here, we did see two ellies independently moving through the vegetation, and immediately below us on a slope was a big herd of buffalo. A great sighting up close.

This massive bull (photo courtesy Hirsh) suddenly appeared out of nowhere on a roadside. But try to find an elephant? In this park of over 600 elephants! Impossible. It was so wet that the usual must-see waterholes like Hapoor were dead empty. The Spekboom Camp too. Once, we chanced upon an elephant casually drinking from a puddle on the side of the road. No need for them to go anywhere to find water!

Having kept us waiting for 15 minutes while it had its morning refreshment from a puddle, this elephant padded straight for our vehicle. At the last minute it decided we weren’t a threat so it veered off the road and disappeared into the vegetation.

 

The appeal of this young Burchell’s zebra was its wispy beard backlit by the sun (look carefully).

 

The cutest yellow mongoose (thank you Hirsh for the photo) trying to be a meerkat.  It had all the poses, little paws poised, head swivelling from side to side as it checked out its surroundings.

Another ellie heading straight for us down the road, but he too veered off at the last moment. These sightings were immensely rare, though. We are convinced they just don’t like the cold, and in the shivery winter temperatures (which they were), they dig themselves deep into the vegetation cover for warmth. Even the sun didn’t entice them out to bask in the sun for a while. Anywhere in the park. But kudu we saw in spades … beautiful males with stately horns, and eland, and red hartebeest, and Burchell’s zebra. We even saw, independently, two grey duiker (in the rain!). So we simply can’t complain.

 

Even though Addo is an elephant park, you have to take it seriously! All the Big Five are here … and the dung beetle is a protected species in these parts.

 

Love it! Dung beetles having right of way.

 

    

The striking Karoo Boerbean when it flowers. The green pods become woody and are a nourishing food for both indigenous people and wild animals. Birds and butterflies love the nectar of the scarlet flowers.

A view outward from a table and bench tucked secretively into the thicket at the brilliant Jack’s Picnic Spot. Jack was the name of a rhino that used to frequent these parts.

The name Nyathi is an indigenous term for buffalo. And there is a large herd in this part of the park, but you don’t always get to see it.

And I end with the cherry on top: in the Nyathi environs we came across a hefty male lion and his paramour after the efforts of a bit of mating.

 

So … not too much of elephants … but plenty of everything else. Who’s complaining?