We departed Port Elizabeth on the 29th for a short, one-hour drive to Addo. There was nothing special in Port Elizabeth. The weather was cold and windy, and it was simply a stop to break up the long drive from Knysna to Addo.
The weather was beautiful on our arrival, so we figured we would take advantage and do an afternoon safari in Addo Elephant National Park. The park is the third-largest in South Africa after Kruger NP and Kgalagadi NP, which we would be visiting as well.
There are more than 600 elephants, 400 Cape buffaloes, over 48 endangered black rhinos and a variety of antelope species in the park. Transvaal lions and spotted hyenas have also been reintroduced into the area, although we didn’t see any lions or rhinos during our safari.
The park is also home to the largest remaining population of the flightless dung beetle.
We got lucky and encountered warthogs, zebras, kudu, jackals and hyenas, but the highlight was a very close encounter with a herd of elephants containing several youngsters and bulls.
