Woodall Country House and Addo Elephant Park

1 st March

A nice breakfast, we are punctually at the roundabout at 8.30. I am only two minutes late, I admit, but there is nobody there. Ok, we are Germans! Some minutes later the second the couple appears for our planned trip to the Addo Elephant Safari with Ruan our guide. They are South African, grown up in the bush as they say. So we are to decide where to sit in the Toyota Land Cruiser. I decide to sit behind the driver, it is Ruan. He comes a few minutes later, a charming, handsome young man from South Africa, a farmer' son, so he tells us. 

Off we go, our tour lasts from about 8.45 to 3 pm. We saw numerous animals, many elephants as well as dung beetles (Pillendreher), buffaloes, warthogs, kudus, elands, tortoises, birds, a huge snail, bushes and hundreds of elephant' s droppings. 

We saw elephants only 9 days old and also the old ones, like John, a huge, massive animal. 

We heard a lot of stories about animals, about Kudus, for example. They are huge animals, weighing up to 700 kg, they can jump up to 2,5 m from standing. There are four stories how the kudu got its name:

The testicles are so big and long that they bang against the kudu's knees when running, ku- du - ku- du.... 

Or by the sound of the hoofs. 

Then we go on foot into the bush in a fenced in area, it is impressing how thick and how high the bush is and what a huge variety of plants can be found there. 

Then we see a five legged elephant and Ruan tells us that this is the penis, which is up to one meter long so that the elephant can scratch its stomach. 

The most impressing experience we have on the way back, when we encounter John, one of the big ones in the park. He is an import from the Krüger National Park, to improve breeding. 

John is walking up a long street towards us. He is a very massive and huge animal, with more than 2.5 meters height, higher than our car, which is 2,5 meters. Ruan stopps the car at the left side of the road and switches off the  car to show him that we accept him to be the boss. We see tiny little cars behind us, whose drivers get nervous and try to drive backwards to escape from the elephant. It is a nice game for John, as he follows them and he doesn't move a centimeter to the right or left, he just walks on.

It is a big show for him.  I am scared I can tell you!!!! Sorry to say, but we saw only one lion:

Thank you, Ruan!

The complete group, having picnic:

Troy, Nathalie, Ruan, Doro, and me (behind the camera).

For the rest of the day we relax.