http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , South Africa , Eastern Cape , Addo Elephant National Park en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:53:00 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:53:00 +0000 Week 4 Eastern Cape Part 1Warning this blog will contain loads of animal photosWed 7 OctBloody typical the day I have to travel is gorgeously sunny and hot. Anyhow managed to take in the rays all morning before Ady gave me a lovely lunch and I got a lift up to the bus I decided to use Intercape this time and boy was it a cut above the Baz bus. They had wide reclining seats and huge windows http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-444630.html On August 27th we took Tiffany for her first game drive in Addo National Park. This national park is famous for the number of elephants that you can see there. We found this watering hole just in time to see a large herd of elephants walk up to drink. There were many females with a number of young babies with them. I later learned in a book that because the elephant gestation period is so lon http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-441308.html Hey guysWell after flying down the coast on SA's N2 Hwy which is a really nice road we arrived at Port Elizabeth. We were supposed to stay in Gramstown in a hostel that was actually an old prison but they were booked when we got there so we just pushed through to PE. Our decision to keep going was rewarded with one of the nicest hostels we've stayed in much nicer than some old prison what the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-420594.html 300109 This morning we went on another safari at Addo. We saw a lot more animals than the previous night with the first being a pride of lions right next to the road. We were parked so close to one of the males that a fellow passengers remarked that one leap and he would reach the jeep. However the ranger answered that he had no reason to as they were all used to cars and people were wellf http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-382163.html 290109 Today we drove to Addo Elephant Park via Pt. Elizabeth. We had booked a few days earlier and were hoping to stay in the actual park where you can observe the animals from cabins near waterholes but unfortunately it was all booked out. So we booked the Elephant House which was about 10 minutes away from the park. This was a beautiful old English style hotel.Sunset SafariThat evening we http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-380170.html From Coffee Bay we travelled to Port Elizabeth PE to fetch an extra person from the Airport then went further inland to our next accommodation Orange Elephant Backpackers. Orange Elephant is about 8 km from Addo Elephant National Park. The rooms feel more like a guesthouse. Each little house had two double rooms with a small lounge and bathroom. The main area has a restaurant and bar area. The http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-368610.html Well it is now Christmas Eve and outside it is something like 26 degrees at 9am in the morning. We are now in Port Elizabeth airport just having checked in for our flight to Cape Town so thought we would fill you in on our travels over the past two days. Writing duties fall to Gavin today as Claire is sitting outside catching some sun before we board the plane for a lsquosunlessrsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-356953.html Thursday morning some of us went quadbiking 4wheeling in the indiginous forest near Tsitsikamma. It was pretty cool. I liked the sand dunes in Namibia better for 4wheeling but it was still fun Drizzling rain and lots of mud. From there we drove to Jeffery's Bay the surfing mecca of South Africa. However it is summer and all the good waves are in the winter. So they were mostly nonexistent http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-354942.html After our time at Addo we made our way to another section of the park Woody Cape which sits along the coastline and doesn't house any elephants. It was from here that we were to start our 2 day hike. We met up with four young locals and cooked a braai for tea at the hut where we spent the night at the base of the trail. Day 1 of the hike was 19.5 km and was mostly walking through forest and al http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-354419.html After two nights at Tsitsikamma national park where we didnt do much as Alice was feeling ill we made our way to Addo Elephant Park a national park of 380000 hectares. We arrived late afternoon and after setting up our tent safely inside the fence of the main camp we went on an evening game drive. Unfortunately we didnt see any lions but we did get right up close to a pack of hyenas. We saw http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-354415.html We arrived in Addo ridiculously early due to wanting to get the hell out of JBay. Our guest house was lovely. Run by an english couple it was a lovely welcome compared to where we came from. Due to our early start we chilled out in our Roundhouse thatched roof and all for an hour or so and then headed to the National Park. We decided not to pay for a safari as you can navigate the park by your http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-344796.html so jetzt bin ich wieder ganz allein und mein schatzi sitzt grad im Flugzeug aufm Heimwegund der Urlaub ist auch vorbei und der war sooooo schoensinnd von kapstadt die Garden Route bis Port elizabeth gefahren http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-338307.html The Eastern Cape to Kwa Zulu NatalThe next nine days were organised as a tour from Capetown on the South Coast to Kwa Zulu Natal on the South West coast. It was a private tour which ended up being over 2600km 1600 miles with our own driver which felt really decadent Day One was a travel day from Cape Town to Oudtshoorn. We met our guide Chris in the morning when he came to pick us up and we http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-327200.html Nicht dass es nur den Addo Elephant Park gibt. Daneben liegen drei Haueser und ein Township die den Namen Addo tragen. Der Baz Bus faehrt leider nicht dorthin. Also muss man den lieben Manager des Hostels anrufen und seinen Shuttle Service in Anspruch nehmen. Nachts um elf trafen wir uns dann hatte im Bus noch einen anderen mal wieder ein Deutscher kennen gelernt beim Mc Donalds in Port Elizab http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-293914.html Addo was a replacement for a game drive that we were supposed to do in Zimbabwe. As the last game drive on this section before we hit Cape Town it was the last chance for most people on the truck to see lions. It's a good thing we've got many more parks to go on our trip because the lions were nowhere to be found. We did see loads of elephants and the highlight was sitting in the underground hi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-280992.html PassoverThe first night we were invited to Jansrsquo Aunt and Uncle where they had a very small evening of over 20 people and for the first time in a long time we were sent to the childrenrsquos table along with Jan's brother his girlfriend and a couple of cousins.The next day we were invited to the Rabbis house for lunch and despite not all arriving in time for the end of the service wh http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-273440.html Love having messages and thanks to my star sonfor sending on link Good thinking batman.I feel bursting with things to say and my new good fridns who are less voluble than me will be waiting ot go next door for coffee. The shebeen in in New Brighn township and looks a bit like a rural American general store in a tin shack with all the drinks in a separate room behind a kind of iron gate. There http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-249610.html The Gaol runs regular day and weekend trips so a bunch of us signed up for the trip to Addo Elephant Park on Sunday. There were 16 of us in total on the trip mostly Americans and we split up into two vans. It took about an hour and half to get to the park from Grahamstown and the highway we drove seemed to be almost completely lined by other game parks we were pretty excited to see a giraff http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-248034.html Hi again ... We've had an unexpected trip to Port Elizabeth so I can use the internet Well weather over here has been changeable we actually had rain the other which made a welcomed change to the constant glare of the sunThis week I have been out with two researchers undertaking elephant research in general looking at their behviour. So it's been nice to get close to the elephants ... the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-244808.html Hi everyone ... well internet access here is very limited I could go a month without access when do have it we have very little time so I don't know when i'll get chance to download photos keep you updated but so far ...I have been involved with assisting the rangers with fence patrol not too exciting but by doing so you get to see all the animals that the tourists don't so seen yellow m http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Addo-Elephant-National-Park/blog-241748.html