Addo

Saturday was the adventure of a lifetime! We got in a bus at 9:00 to start our journey to Addo National Elephant Park! I was so excited! Elephants are one of my favorite animals! There are around 500 elephants at Addo; therefore, you can understand my eager anticipation and my choice of shirt for the day. Mike was our tour guide and he was absolutely amazing! Again, another sweet-hearted man with such a love for his country. We learned so much from him throughout the day. We arrived at Addo and I immediately had a flashback to Jurassic Park. We all concluded that we were in Jurasic Park as the trip continued.
 Addo is a National Park stretching over 400,000 acres. It is a reserve- therefore, the animals roam wild and free. You drive along the long stretches of dirt roads to look for the animals. It is like a scavenger hunt! We had a list of animals to check off as we spotted them.

 We were so fortunate to see a vast amount of animals throughout the duration of our adventure. One of the first animals that we saw were two lions! It immediately changed from being in Jurassic Park, to being in The Lion King. It was incredible to see all of these animals in their natural habitat. Mike told us that he hadn't seen the lions in months. We were very lucky to be able to see them! What a great start to our trip!

Mufassa (Simba was hiding)

Zebras!

We also saw three different types of antelopes, warthogs, zebras, turtles, tortoises, buffaloes, ostriches, birds, and so much more! It took us a couple of hours to make our way through the park as we approached the water hole where over 200 elephants were gathered. The pictures do not do it justice! We were definitely back in Jurassic Park. There were elephants of all ages and sizes. It was amazing to watch them interact with one another. This is a video of us pulling up to the water hole. Then, there are some facts that we learned about elephants!

• Their trunks have over 60,000 muscles in them.
• They use their trunks to eat and drink, and they also use them to interact with one another. 
• They have "hand shakes" that are special to each relationship that they form.
• Elephants' life span is usually up to an average of 65 years old. 
• The gestation time for an elephant is 22 months. 
• The young play with one another just like humans.
• They mourn the loss of another elephant.
• They walk on their tip-toes.

 

It was an incredible day! I might add some more to this post later! However, it is bedtime here in the southern hemisphere:] School starts back tomorrow!