THURSDAY 14 MAY 2015 ADDO ELEPHANT PARK
The princess sleeps with earplugs and covers her eyes with a black mask so as not to let in the early morning light so I was surprised to find her up at sparrow’s fart and ready to go! We were out the gate by 7:05 and as we admired the gorgeous sunrise she said, “I’d better take a photograph so I’ll remember what this looks like because I’m never up to see sunrises!”
She is sitting comfortably in the front seat and has warned me not to take photos of her without make-up – but she somehow manages to get it on between sightings – while we’re watching birds I suspect!
We drive around until 10ish finding the usual suspects – warthogs, a variety of buck, zebra play-fighting the odd elephant and lots of birds the highlight being a bar-throated apalis.
Two pale chanting goshawks in a tree are also great and of course the bokmakierie iconic in Addo.
Back at the hut we shower, the princess tarts up and Earl and I go to the communal kitchen to make breakfast. The princess has specific requests – no tomato and no kidneys please! Dad presents her with eggs, bacon and banana cooked to perfection. We slum it on scrambled eggs and kidneys – somehow I think we got the better deal!
When her highness is ready we set off for another game drive. We hear on the grapevine aka the Addo Face Book page that there were two male lions on the Gorah Loop 2 hours ago so we head there without expecting much. There are a few gathered parked on a bend and we see two lions a little way off but fast asleep. We snap a photo just to say that we’ve seen them then move on to enjoy more exciting things.
Our drive is fruitful and we have fun watching Princess’s favourite creatures - there is a play fight between 2 youngsters, marvelling at the Kudu and eland, amazed at the number of warhogs abound and are thrilled at how plentiful the game is.
We go past the lions once more – still fast asleep and then go back to camp for lunch. The Cattle Baron has edged into the Sanparks. I hope all goes well and that I won’t have to do battle and change their name to the Battle Caron. The service is good. The Princess and the Earl order beef burgers. I settle for a house salad. The latter is stunning. The princess needs to do Battle with Caron. Her burger is inedible – “If I throw it against the wall it will bounce,” she tells the longsuffering waitress. “Let me try the chicken burger instead, please.” This turns out to be just perfect. The chips, too, are done to perfections. The Earl eats his burger but admits it was rather disgusting. “You should stick to Banting,”I say smugly. My salad is full of greens, tomato, avo, cheese and grated egg. Yum!
After a loo break we set straight off for another game drive. It is now 3:30. We head for Gorah Loop and get there around 4 – the lions have not moved – still dead to the world. We see a tail flick slightly so know they are in fact alive. Off we go in search of the ellies. We find lots and enjoy all the other game and birds too. “We should go to the lion sighting at 5,” I say. “They’ll wake up then.”
“They’ll only wake up if buffalo turn up,” says the Princess knowing that this is their favourite food.
So we find ourselves back there just after 5 – but they’re fast asleep. We switch off the engine and wait to see if anything will happen.
Suddenly the Princess yells – The buffalo are here! And sure enough there is a biggish herd, alert and sniffing the air.
They’re aware but are very short sighted and don’t actually see them. A few separate from the rest and begin grazing in the bushes behind the lions. One of the lions sits up, the other rolls over and lies on his back. The grazes suddenly realise the lions are there and return to the herd. They regroup and start walking toward the lions. The boys leap up and start running toward the parked cars. The buffs chase after them and see them off. Wow – what an exciting sighting. I have a video which I will post when I figure out how.
We follow the lions for some time and marvel at seeing elephants in the background too. The gate closes at six and so the whole fleet of us head back to camp.
Back at our parking lot everybody is talking about the buffs victory. I show a lady who left just before the drama my video. Later in the communal kitchen she is telling all present about my ‘brilliant’ capture of the event!
After packing up for an early departure tomorrow we decide it is too cold to do a braai so The Princess treats us to dinner at The Cattle Baron – they haven’t misbehaved enough to call them Battle Caron
The Earl orders ribs – The Princess and I have grilled calamari tubes and share a Greek Salad. Perfect! The Earl is not 100% happy with the ribs – the sauce has a very strong taste that is not to his liking – It’s a half portion but he can’t finish it! We chat to the manager about our concerns and he takes it well and says he will investigate what the chef is doing and suggest some amendments to the way he does burgers and ribs! Everything else is perfect.
Addo Elephant park is fabulous. It is teeming with game, Jack’s picnic site is amazing, the facilities are clean and well-maintained and service is good. Next time we plan to visit one of the other rest camps – perhaps Spekbook tented will be fun. It overlooks a waterhole.
But we have a very good relationship and she can laugh at herself - she knows she's a princess.