Much Addo About Elephants

Did Shakespeare Reference Addo Elephant Park?

“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy.” Who would imagine that this quote from one of William Shakespeare’s most recognized comedies would sufficiently summarize a single day at Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Lion Reserve?

Greetings all, hope all are well. This marks the last entry from the African continent. During our time here, the internet connections here has been like a cheetah running across a tree-dotted South African plain, spotty. Not the same case in Cape Town. So I thank you Cape Town. So like hungry a lion and lioness, we ferociously tackled our final two destinations, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.

A Wilder South Africa

With limited time left in South Africa, viewing the wilder side of Africa was the goal. To come this far without seeing Africa’s idyllic wildlife would be like going to Paris and skipping the Eiffel Tower. You just don’t do it.

At the planning stages of our trip, a visit to Kruger National Park was the intention. But as fate would have it, the presence of malaria there and Nadine’s rapidly expanding belly, we needed an alternative. Initially, Pilanesberg National Park in the north caught our attention. But due to the lack of communication from the tour company and a strong desire to flee Johannesburg proved too much. This would turn out to be a great decision, unlike coloring my hair blond in college. It became a combined visit to the Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Lion Reserve.

Counting The Fab Five

The Big White Five, a creation all my own, takes a backseat to the real Big Five. This team consists of the lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, and the rhinoceros. The intention had been to catch a glimpse the Big Five within the two parks. So count along.

In the crisp African morning, this group of four saddled into the nicest mini-van Nadine and I had set foot in upto this point. It was a spacious van with more than enough space for six passengers. And let’s not forget the air-con that just wouldn’t quit.

Addo Elephant Park, the first stop, extends across 16,000 hectares. A couple dozen African elephants greeted the van as they cooled themselves. Effortlessly, they slung mud with their gray, ribbed, elongated trunks onto their backs. Pretty sweet. For those of y’all counting at home, let’s check #1 off the Big Five list.

From there, a large male controlled the situation. He leisurely, yet powerfully and thunderously, strolled down the road. His presence forced the van to stop. He passed directly in front of the family mini-van. Did I mention it was air conditioned?.

Just like Pumbaa in the Lion King, a group of sounders brought the next stop in Addo Elephant Park. Not to be outdone, a male elephant showed off in the distance. He moon walked on the periphery of his watering hole.

A Little Lunchtime Background

During the next hour and a half, several elephants passed us, poked their heads out from around corners, and stood in the horizon. After all, it was Addo Elephant Park. But in addition to warthogs and elephants, a massive Cape buffalo with a 1950’s style hairdo called out like Elvis for attention. Over the ten minutes we sat watching him, this version of this aggressive Big Five animal was inactive. He turned his head twice, blinked once, farted three times, and moved his tail half a time.

In the meantime and your accounting purposes, that would be check #2.

Our mini-van guide Nick told us how these buffaloes are quite strategic, powerful, and dangerous. The buffalo can easily flip a lion with its’ flipped up horns and head shield called a “boss”. Like Elvis, they are actors. They may behave as if injured so that once you are within distance to its’ horns, they can swiftly jab you. Sneaky guy that cape buffalo.

As if that isn’t enough, keep your head about you when a Cape buffalo runs away. You think he is long gone. Revenge is being orchestrated. He’s thinking, “that guy just tried to shoot me, he’s got something else coming his way.” By the time you are looking for your pencil and pad to mark the African buffalo off your Big Five list, he already circled back and charged from where you never expected him to be, right behind you. Clever animal.

But when this herbivore and I met, he just conserved his energy in the midday sun. Luckily, he didn’t wait at the next corner with a broad grin on his face.

A Wild Lunchtime With Zebras

Completing the visit in Addo, zebras calmly dined on grass. Not part of the Big Five, but impressive none the less. And some antelopes, no relation to the cantaloupe.

From Addo Elephant Park, the best sandwich we’d had in nine months fortified us for the second half of the day at Schotia Lion Reserve. Ed, the Schotia guide cruised the property in a Land Rover. The park was divided into two sections. One side housed lions, the other did not. The non-lion side was first, a considerable relief for Nadine.

On the non-lion side, we immediately met blue and black wildebeests. The blue is recognizable from the blue of his black tail and the black wildebeest because of his white tail. Or is that vice versa?

An animal named after my former college car introduced himself, the impala. Unfortunately it wasn’t born in 1968, otherwise it would have really been special.

The ride through the bush animals familiarized us with an animal that was heads and tails above the rest, the giraffe. Imagine this, seven giraffes running between trees in front of a pond. Idyllic.

In the pond where the giraffes drank laid two hungry animals underwater. In fact, some might say they are two hungry, hungry animals. Submerged in the water, two hippos. Only protruding nostrils revealed their presence. It was like being in the presence of another animal that has a massive nose, Matthew Pepper. After the ease of seeing giraffes, the truck waited for the hippos to pop out of the water. Never happened. The loud blast of air exiting their nostrils was the only proof that they were actually there. Maybe they weren’t really that hungry hungry.

Where Ya At Jim Bob?

Our 1978 Land Rover searched for a single elderly resident in the park, Jim Bob. He just happens to be the park’s rhino. The most dangerous moment occurred here. As the Land Rover followed the deep ruts in the path, the front tires caught an incline and jerked the truck into a big bush and immediate halt. In the open, exposed cab, the stop threw us over to the side and almost out the vehicle. Fortunately it didn’t. The small bruises our knees from the incident show our true ruggedness and toughness. If it had thrown us out close to Jim Bob, I wonder who would have been running the fastest and yelling the loudest.

The search for the only white rhino continued. Safely back into our seats and atop a hill with untrained eyes, we craned our necks searching the countryside for the two-ton ungulate. How could you even lose a two ton animal with a chubby body, a single large horn, and a face only a mother rhino could love? Quickly, further up the road, there was our 37 year old rhino lumbering forward. That was a massive creature. Check #3.

I Ain’t Lioning, That’s A Big Cat

After quick snack at the lodge, the Land Rover passed through the gates to the lion side half of the day. Five lions lived in this half. Once inside the park and a downhill descendent, four lions lazily sat in the tall grass judging the trucks rolling by. Check #4 for everyone counting at home.

The pride lounged under a tree as the sunset morphed from a bright orange and red sunset to a mix of purples and pinks. We contemplated this reality . . . from a safe viewing distance. It was reminiscent of a West Texas sunset. With all the other trucks long gone, Nick pulled within 15 feet of the lions, close enough to make Nadine scoot towards me, and me towards her so I could see better.

In the end, #5 eluded us. No leopards this day, but I’d consider it a success to see four out of the Big Five.

Don’t Be A Jackass At The Table

After all the excitement, the safari had been the highlight Africa. We left Melissa and Jesse, and took to the road on one last twelve hour bus to our last stop, Cape Town.

The schedule left only two days for Cape Town, not nearly long enough. Table Mountain is a flat mountain looming large over Cape Town. Any trip here requires a cable car ride up Table Mountain. As luck would have it, blue skies extended across the horizon, not a single cloud in the sky. Short conversations echoed across the gorge.

Table Mountain took the first half of the day. The second half consisted of walking the pier and running into familiar travelers. For the third time in Africa, we ran into Carlos from Argentina.

Next morning and for good reason, we boarded a train. It’s direction, Simon’s Town. The small town closest to the Cape of Good Hope. A large population of jackasses live there. Those jackasses also just happened to be Jackass penguins. You can’t go wrong with penguins that live in a warm climate and make donkey sounds. (Insert your own New Mexico joke here please)

When a pair of babies asked for more food from their mom, the mother let out this loud jackass sound. Thus, if you happen to hear this sound in six months from, you know the inspiration.

Questions Of The Week

1) What mammal causes the most deaths every year to humans in Africa?

2) Out of the Big 5, which ones are diurnal?

Life is good and hard to believe that the trip is almost over, but we still have Italy and Switzerland.

Peace
JW