Addo Elephant Park

            

Vervet monkeys

Yesterday my parents and I completed the journey along the Garden Route highway to the harbor city of Port Elizabeth in Eastern Cape, South Africa. After a leisurely English breakfast at our guest house, we drove through Plettenberg Bay to the sugar-sand stretch of beach along the shore. The morning was just beginning when we got there and walking beside the soft tumbling waves was peaceful. Although the day was bright and the sun was shining, few people were out on the sand, presumably because of the winter season and cold breezes. Before heading out on the highway road, my parents pulled into a secluded gated forest. The painted board by the entrance read: “Monkeyland.” Perfect. What a wonderful surprise; my parents know me too well. My mom and I proceeded to go on a tour through the protected secondary jungle where we encountered species of monkeys from all over the globe. Each animal had been reclaimed from laboratories, zoos, peoples’ homes, and circuses. The tour was quite informative and for once, I was impressed with their conservation ethics.

Shirley and Grace at the canopy bridge in Monkeyland

African sunset

            We only stopped once more before PE—in a place called Jeffrey’s Bay and Strand Beach. The stretch of shoreline is world renowned for “supertube” surfing waves. Although the waves appeared gentle, there were still surfers trotting out into the bay and toppling in the surf. The water of the Indian Ocean felt cool to the touch, but that didn’t stop little children of every color from scampering in the foam and rolling in the mud. The rest of our journey led through forests with vines and thorns and herbaceous plants tangled in dense thickets, vast canyons and ravines with rivers far below hurling themselves into the sea, deep sapphire-blue mountains with mist shrouding their peaks, and hilly grasslands containing hundreds of asymmetrical boulders. We reached Port Elizabeth before dark and checked in to another guest house where a kind woman amiably welcomed us to a spacious room inside a walled manor. We drove to the coast for dinner at a restaurant called Ocean Breeze for a meal of prince prawns, hake, and calamari. While we sat, we watched the sun paint the sky with flames of orange and red before setting below the mountains.

Townships, remnants of apartheid

            The adventures of today were possibly even more exhilarating. We woke up early to head out to the Addo Elephant National Park. As we drove, the red African sun began to rise above the plains, illuminating rows and rows of cookie-cutter houses confined behind tall fences. Townships. Areas that during apartheid were reserved for non-white people outside the city ranks. I still am only beginning to understand the story of this country’s past.

Zebras

Kudu

            Addo Elephant Park exceeded our expectations. We drove around the large preserve in our own vehicle and without a guide and still managed to see an abundance of wildlife. The park encompasses 180,000 hectares (444,700 acres) and contains over 550 elephants. Most of the park lies along low rolling hills comprised of thick acacia woodlands and savannahs. The morning was lovely and we discovered hyenas, buffalo, warthogs (these guys were everywhere!), bushbuck, kudu, zebras, jackals, flamingos, mongoose… but no elephants. We were beginning to become concerned when lunch time rolled around and not a glimpse of an elephant had occurred. The frequent dung along the road told us they had to be around somewhere!

Warthog

Luckily, just as we pulled into a picnic area for lunch, two elephants were drinking at a nearby waterhole! We sat watching the pair until they slowly lumbered off up the hill in the distance.

African elephant herds

That was just the beginning… we drove into the heart of the reserve and pulled up at a large watering hole in an open savannah to find herds of buffalo, kudu, and elephants hydrating themselves in the afternoon sun. We stayed at the watering hole for an hour and a half… by the end of that time, we had seen almost 100 elephants that came within 10 meters of our car. Matriarchal herds with elephants of all sizes came and went from the water’s edge, socializing with each other and drinking deeply before plodding back into the acacias. It was spectacular and left us euphoric as we drove past eland, ostriches, hartebeest, and more elephants to the Southern edge of the park before heading back to our guest house for the night.

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