On our last morning in Knysna, Jeff and Mick went for a run, cooled off with a swim around the loop, and were packed and ready to go by 10:00!
We ate at a funky little place called 34 Degrees South and then left Knysna for Addo Elephant National Park (our post-NYE substitute for a week+ in Kruger) for three nights and two days. The drive was lovely, as every drive in South Africa has been so far. When our Google maps route took us on a seemingly very remote dirt road, however, Jeff was a bit on edge. So, we called the park, who reassured us we weren’t lost, and carried on with confidence.
It was hot and humid when we stepped out of the car to check in at the park in the late afternoon, and by the time we got settled into our no-nonsense self-catering unit, the cottonball clouds had turned a menacing shade of gray.
We picked up some provisions at the little store and then checked out the nearby pool, which was shallower than it looked – evidenced by my post-shallow dive skinned knees. Mm hm. Over the course of this trip, Mick has come up with a standard response to these frequent mishaps of mine. First, he gives me a sort of mock-sympathetic look and then he shakes his head slowly and says, “Oh, Mommy!”
The little porch off our unit looked out at brush-covered, red dirt hills and, depending on the time of day, you might see one or two or perhaps a hundred elephants on their way to the nearby water hole (or you might find a turtle).
We didn’t see any elephants that night, but we did see some vervet monkeys, several pretty birds, and what was probably a kudu.
We played dominoes for a while and ate our usual packaged pasta & salad dinner in this anything-but-usual setting.
Mick found several geckos in our bungalow – one that he managed to capture and observe for a while, and another small one (about an inch long) that we just looked at and commented on its cuteness.
At some point, the dark grey sky started producing thunder and lightning like we’ve never before experienced. Some of the lightning strikes moved all across the sky and some just lit up the sky with a bright pink flash. The thing we’ll remember the most, though, was one thunderclap that must have been directly above us. It was so loud it shook the bungalow and left all of us with ears ringing. I was afraid the windows were going to shatter. Crazy.
The next morning, we walked down to the watering hole viewing area near the park office which, empty the night before was now packed with elephants – big, medium, small, and the impossibly adorable very small. We walked to an area called the “hide” where we were much closer to the elephants, but hidden from their view. Here we could hear them communicating, see them drinking water, lumbering to-and-fro, and spraying themselves with muddy water. Incredible. Picture after picture after picture.
Addo, similar to Kruger, allows guests to drive out in the park in their own cars, which is what we did after a late breakfast. Strangely, we didn’t see elephant this time out, but we did see lots of other wildlife – kudu, red hartebeest, zebra, blue heron, and lots of highly entertaining wart hogs and wart hog babies (my favorite!).
In the evening, we took a guided group drive around the park and, in addition to all of the above, saw a cape buffalo, black-back jackal, a spotted hyena and lots of elephants. In fact, the place our driver selected for the included “snacks and drinks” portion of our tour, was perfectly situated for great elephant viewing.
Our driver/tour guide was great – super knowledgeable, funny, and informative. We learned that, although there are rhino in the park, no one speaks of their whereabouts for fear that information could get into the hands of poachers. We learned that black rhino, who live more in the brush, walk in front of their babies so that they can bulldoze a path for them. White rhino, who live in open areas, walk in the back of their babies so that they can keep watch over and in front of them. New zebra mothers and their babies seclude themselves in order to memorize their stripes before entering the herd. Water buffalo are the most dangerous of all of the African animals because, unlike other large predators, they don’t mock charge before attacking. They’re also the most expensive animal, which I found surprising.
We learned that wart hogs don’t see very well and therefore aren’t active at night. They sleep in burrows, but since they can’t dig their own, they rely on using those abandoned by aardvarks or aardwolves. They back themselves in so they don’t get stuck and so they can see what’s in front of them before venturing out in the morning.
Jackals are very important for the health of the park because they control all the little varmints that carry diseases. We saw a jackal, but he was pretty far away and I can’t actually find him in the pictures I took. Male kudu, who live both in the bush and in the open plains have horns, whereas the females, who remain primarily in the bush, do not.
In the case of the hartebeest, however, who live on the plain, with little or no protection, both sexes have horns.
Day two was more of the same, sitting in the hide, mesmerized by the elephants in the late morning, and later, in the afternoon, driving around in the park and spotting various animals.
While we weren’t lucky enough to see one of the park’s dozen or so elusive lions, we did finally spot the flightless dung beetle that exists almost exclusively in Addo. Dung beetles eat – you guessed it! – dung, preferably elephant or buffalo, but rhino in a pinch. If they’re hungry, they eat their dung fresh, but if not, they roll some into a ball, bury it, and eat it later. Baby dung beetles are born inside a dung ball and basically eat their way out into the world. Because these beetles have to walk (instead of fly) everywhere, the space once occupied by wings evolved into a carbon dioxide storage tank that allows them to breathe and conserve water at the same time. Design and functionality for optimal performance. Mother nature should design cars.
We spent our last evening as we did the first, playing dominoes and eating dinner on the deck, watching the sun set in the beautiful African sky, taking pleasure in knowing, if not always seeing, that there’s a whole wild world of animals out there.
Our last day in South Africa was largely spent driving – about 10 hours worth – but because there were amazing views the entire way, it went quickly and we arrived at our funky hotel near the Johannesburg airport early evening. Just in time for another thunder and lightning storm.
As we left for the airport in the morning, Mick said, “I’m sad to be leaving all these happy people.” I suspect that’s why people like traveling to Africa. Granted, the continent has places of unimaginable beauty and animals surviving in the wild as they have for centuries. Many of its peoples have also had to survive myriad political, social, and environmental hardships. It’s these people, who, like our camel-trek guide in the Southern Sahara said, “have nothing, but everything.” For those of us who live in the very fast-paced, technological, competitive, and sometimes superficial first world, seeing and being around people who are intrinsically happy, despite some or all of the aforementioned hardships, is intoxicating. We want what they have (less is more?) and oddly, they don’t seem to have what we have (more). Of course I’m speaking in generalities (I realize it’s a whole continent), but I suspect anyone whose been lucky enough to travel here will find at least some truth to my theory.