Addo Mini Trip (June 2016) *

[PJL]

After a nice picnic lunch watching Aardlam we continued along the Gorah loop where there were some usual characters such as kudu and yellow mongoose, but a fair distance from the road. There is a little dip in the road before completing the loop and it gave a nice perspective looking up to some Zebra walking along on the ridge above us - the Investec Zebra




And this black-headed heron posed nicely for us




We arrived a bit early at the main camp to check in to our forest cabin, so we took a wander round the camp to pass the time and had a look in the new interpretive centre which has Hapoor's head mounted on the wall




We also made the all-important booking at the new Cattle Baron restaurant (spot the elephant in the picture). The refurbishments were looking good and my mouth was already watering in anticipation of testing out their steaks later in the day




Finally we were able to get the keys to our forest cabin. We unpacked and relaxed on the deck with a glass of wine while the kids enjoyed some freedom from the car. I'm hoping Toko might be able to help ID this little visitor




Reflecting on the morning, we couldn't remember such a great number of really good sightings where we were hardly ever surrounded by other vehicles

[PJL]

Our afternoon drive was much quieter than the morning, but we did get some great sightings of elephant by Woodlands and Rooidam








We tracked all the way into the south of the park wondering if any of the male lion might be around but it wasn't to be. Even the jackal by the elephant carcass were quiet.




The great thing about winter time in Addo is that the gates close after sunset, so we were treated to some amazing colours in the park as the light faded.





The 2nd photo is at Gwarrie Pan with some of the mountains on the edge of Groendal in the distance

We headed out the park and straight to the restaurant....

[PJL]

So the long-awaited verdict on the new restaurant!!

Certainly the renovations (particularly on the interior) are very welcome. I should have taken photos of the seating areas but I forgot There is still the 'outside' section with more wooden benches and tables, but they have added cushions to the benches which should help. The inside section is totally re-fitted with nice comfy chairs and new tables - definitely feels like you're in a proper restaurant. The menu is of course the standard Cattle Baron listings, so I promptly went for their 300g chateaubriand fillet steak

I'm guessing that the waiters and waitresses are mainly taken from those who were previously working at the restaurant. Perhaps with a few hand-picked Cattle Baron extras to run the place. For some reason the waiters never seemed to be hovering in the background after ordering... they disappeared into the kitchen areas, so drinks refills etc took some time to be ordered (hence my wondering whether they have kept on previous staff). Despite the level of service not quite being as good as perhaps it could have been, our food was great The steak was melt-in-the-mouth, and the kids/wife also thoroughly enjoyed their meal. So well done to Cattle Baron for bringing up the food standard

Be aware though that the prices for food have of course increased. But personally I'd rather pay more and have a nice meal than be left wondering what meat the burger was actually made with
Oh and one last thing to remember is that they allow you to take your own drinks in without corkage. We forgot about that


After the kids had gone to bed I took a wander over to the floodlit hide to see if anything was around. There were some crashings of elephants nearby but as I arrived in the hide they had apparently just left. This might be a familiar view to many of you:




From the viewing area above the hide I could make out a few ellies in the bushes, but also a couple of other ghostly figures in the distance. They stayed in the background, but when they moved in some of the sections being lit from the floodlight it was clearly 2 blackies
I'm not a big 5 chaser (Addo really isn't that type of park anyway!), but I was astounded to have seen 4 of the 5 in one day.

The sighting also made me wonder whether the sanparks Addo webcam being in for repairs has other motives. There have unfortunately been issues in some other nearby private reserves recently.

[PJL]

We got up early the next morning with a plan to hunt for hyena. David has only seen one once in the park and he was too small to remember, so he's been dying to see one again. Many of our visits to Addo are day visits where we'll head in from the south, so there's very little chance of seeing hyena as their dens are all up in the north between Rooidam and Gwarrie Pan.

Once enough layers had been put on to combat the cold, we made a quick stop at the floodlit waterhole to see if there was anything around. By this time the kids had heard about the blackie sighting the night before, so in their eyes the two indistinct slightly zebra-looking shapes up on the hill were quite obviously the blackies from the night before so they had a thrilling start to the day.

We were first at the gate (even ahead of the early morning Addo game drive vehicle), but it was incredibly dark as we entered the park, and we were jealous of the powerful spotlight which the guide behind us was using. However they didn't appear to stop for anything which we didn't see. Being first along the road gave us a nice sighting of a scrub hare who (much to the kids amusement) took it upon himself to race us along the road rather than seek shelter in the bush.

Unfortunately despite tracking all around the hyena den area we didn't get any luck with them, but the sunrise was spectacular




We took the dirt road down to Hapoor and found this rock kestral fluffed up from the cold




The park was very quiet, but as we dropped into the southern section I spotted some familiar movement behind some bushes so I pulled up and trained my camera on a clearing knowing it was going to be only a single-shot opportunity...



I've seen bushpig in the same area a few times now, but they seem to show themselves a lot more in winter than summer


We had to duck back north again in order to get packed up before check-out time, and found this coucal enjoying the morning sun




Back at Hapoor these young bulls were finding an energetic way of keeping warm, whilst a young karoo scrub robin found our car quite fascinating.






We decided on one last trip along the dirt road for hyena possibilities but it was quiet apart from another extremely close encounter with a big elephant bull. Click on the photo to see the video

[PJL]

After packing up there was just time for trip up the Gorah loop before heading south and out the park. Near Domkrag we had a lovely sighting of a Pale Chanting Goshawk, and of course there were the normal Spectacled Weaver crew at the lookout point.






Shortly after Domkrag we found Valli Moosa, and perhaps one of his offspring. He's really quite a gentle giant and was seemingly quite happy with the other elephants around him despite appearing to be in musth.




The Gorah loop provided the usual suspects including a fine looking kudu, yellow mongoose, ellies play fighting and the obligatory red hartebeest.










There were similar sightings as we headed south and out the park. I'm always impressed with the diversity of sightings on any given day in Addo, and this weekend was no exception

[PJL]

It seems the stocky lioness was close to giving birth
I'm yet to find the little ones in the park yet. She's keeping them very well hidden

[steamtrainfan]

Now that I have eventually made a reservation at Addo I am reading Travel Tales to try and gain some information on this Park that I last visited in the 1970"s.

Thanks PJL for your very detailed travel tale and stunning photos.

[steamtrainfan]

Wow PJL. Cannot believe that the holiday we mention above is now over.

As Arnie once said " I vill be back."

[puppy]

Great TT PJL - Just love Addo.

[nan]

wow a Bushpig
and love the video too