We were already docked in Port Elizabeth, South Africa when I woke up this morning. Port Elizabeth has recently been renamed Gqeberha (pronounced kuh-BAIR-kha). Gqeberha is known as the "Friendly City" and the "Bottlenose Dolphin Capital of the World" due to its massive, year-round dolphin populations in Algoa Bay.
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| Good morning, Gqeberha! |
Knowing that we would be away from the ship most of the day and that our excursion would go through lunch, we made sure to eat a nice breakfast before we left for today’s outing – a trip to the Addo Elephant National Park. The third largest national park in Africa, Addo Elephant Park covers over 630 square miles. It is home to many different animals, including over 850 elephants!
After breakfast we climbed on a bus (thankfully modern with AC) and were taken from the port to Addo park, about 1.5 hours away. There we met our guide and boarded 4x4 open-air vehicles for a 2 hour ride around the park.
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| Dung beetles have right of way! |
It may sound funny that a bus carrying dozens of people must stop if a dung beetle is trying to cross the road. Our guide explained why they are important. Google goes further "Dung beetles are crucial ecosystem engineers. By feeding on and burying animal waste, they increase soil fertility, cycle carbon, suppress nuisance pest flies and livestock parasites, and improve soil aeration and water infiltration. Their vital services save the agricultural industry millions annually."
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| our driver and guide |
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| accommodations inside the park can be rented |
We saw more elephants by far than any other animals, but we also saw female lions with cubs, kudus, wart hogs, zebras, mongooses, giraffes, a bird (which I’ve forgotten the name of) and dung beetles.
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| lioness sleeps in the grass |
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| lioness (left rear) and her 3 cubs |
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| grazing male kudu |
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| wart hogs on their way to somewhere |
Have you ever thought about how an elephant drinks? They use their trunk like a straw to suck up the water, then with the trunk they deposit the water in their mouth.
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| sucking up water through the trunk |
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| water is transferred from trunk to the mouth |
On our return, our bus stopped to watch a whole herd of elephants moving alongside the opposite freeway. Our guide said that in all the years he had done guided safari groups, it was the most elephants he had ever seen together at one time!
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| males going nose to nose |
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| Friend or foe? I don't know. |
The weather was so pleasant and we were even a little cold in the 4x4! Tomorrow we will definitely take jackets. I learned a hard lesson today. While today’s cell phones can take great pictures, they can only maintain quality if not zoomed out too far. The temptation for me is to frame the photo as I see it, and since I was quite a distance from my subjects, I zoomed in too far on many of them. Unfortunately, probably half of them had to be deleted. Ugh!
However, I did get a few close ups that were keepers.
Barbara: Oh I'm sorry you had to delete photos, but I am glad you told me before I travel! The elephant's eye photo is my favorite and the Kudu. They are such pretty animals. And your lions....they look like a relaxed happy bunch. This was a very good tour, even if it was a long jaunt. I hope you got a warm shower when you got back. Did you pack a winter suitcase and a Summer suitcase? I am such a light packer that I don't know how you manage.
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