Addo elephant.
November 2011.
Back in South Africa, we cross the middle of the country towards the coast.
The scenery is rather monotonous.
Hard to believe we are in Africa with such names !
But most of the cities we were going through have something of ghost towns.
We arrive at Addo Elephant Park.
Hapor's head dominates the lobby.
This old male, known for his regular escapades traumatising the farmers in the region, ended up being shot.
We go in search of those famous elephants, but it seems that they decided to hide this morning.
At each stop, a sign points out that the lions were reintroduced to the park in recent years.
It is forbidden to go out of the car.
We finally see the tail of our first elephant !
He is feasting on a poor cactus !
A true fakir !
A little further, a large male is on the road.
Matthieu gets out of the car in order to take a picture of the elephant and the car together.
But the elephant does not like the idea and rushes towards us.
The children scream and Matthieu finds refuge in extremis in the car.
Whew!
The scenery with the sea in the distance is superb.
We see a lot of animals.
One, then two, then three elephants appear in front of the car.
Followed by a troop.
One comes out of the woods just behind us.
Being surrounded by all these elephants is really amazing !
Tugdual takes advantage of the lunch break to update his log book:
"Suddenly this huge elephant starts running towards us.
We're all screaming "Dad ! Aaaah ! Take care ! Come back ! "
Dad jumps back into the car a few meters away from the elephant.
Ouffff ! "
We are approached by a French family who is discovering South Africa after the wedding of their daughter with a South African.
They seem to have good fun !
Arriving at a water hole, we have the chance to see an elephant family taking a bath.
We don't get tired of watching them.
The show is superb.
Two young males playing in the water.
After the bath, they cross the road to reach the bush. Extraordinary.
We see a caracal in the tall grass.
This big cat of about twenty kilo can not be easily admired.
At the campground, we met Veronique and Gerard.
They came down from Europe following the east coast after passing through Libya.
Good journey to both of you, and thank you for this great evening we spent together.