Addo Outings 2016

[Richprins]

Good shots again, Peej!

Is there more water in the bush than up here, so the animals can move around when dry?

I also just recently saw a steppe buzzard, I think..must compare...

[nan]

magnificent Steppe Buzzard and little Ellie

[Mel]

Aha, the infamous afternoon sighting, just before getting out again coming up?

Kukuzo certainly looks nice and you did get your share of lions. But as said before... not when it's happening on your own budget. I'm too cheap for that and as your pix from the main game area show - Addo itself has a lot to offer. However, your episode just confirms that Easter holidays will not be happening for us again, seeing that holidays in general seem to be a bit crazy.

Bring on that excellent sighting

[PJL]

Is there more water in the bush than up here, so the animals can move around when dry?

Not really... it's a much smaller park so for animals they can cover most of the park within relatively easy reach of water. It's just that now the grass has become so dry the grazing isn't to be found in the open any more, so I believe the herds have moved into thicker areas

[PJL]

Aha, the infamous afternoon sighting, just before getting out again coming up?

Not the one you're thinking of Mel

[Mel]

I actually wasn't thinking of one particular animal... just of the fact that there will be something that others would love to see.

[PJL]

I actually wasn't thinking of one particular animal... just of the fact that there will be something that others would love to see.

There are quite a lot of highlights that I can't wait to share here

[PJL]

Our 'excellent sighting' was something I had never seen before in Addo... we were coming to a T-junction by Hapoor and there was a car reversing. I wasn't sure what he was playing at as he was starting to block the junction and there clearly wasn't any animal nearby.
I had to eat my words as all of a sudden from in front of his car, a rock monitor came strolling across the road and into the dry ground next to us







Nearby one of the elephant herds seemed to be having trouble deciding which way to head after their drink at Hapoor



But once they started moving we could see they were on a collision course with the monitor! It was incredible to see the reactions of the elephants - almost as if they had never seen one before. There was plenty of trumpeting and showing how big they were, but the brave rock monitor just kept trundling along



Our friends were by now happy they had followed us

We were due a pit-stop at Jacks, but could tell there were elephant at Spekboom so pulled in there first to check out the view from the hide





A lone buffalo pulled in and did a good job of scaring many of the elephant away, but once he got to the water he decided not to bother drinking and then wandered off again



Which left this bull in musth in charge of the water

[Mel]

A rock monitor!!!



Have you ever heard of a sighting before? I must admit, I wouldn't even have known that there is a slim chance of seeing one...
Fantastic photos as well

Also like the shot of the indecisive elephants. They are quite impressive generally, but when the form a crowd like that even more.

The buff probably though "Because I can "

[PJL]

Have you ever heard of a sighting before? I must admit, I wouldn't even have known that there is a slim chance of seeing one...
Fantastic photos as well

Thanks Mel... yes there have been a couple of sightings that I've heard about. My guess is that there are quite a few around, but they are so rarely seen as they probably hide out in the dense bush most of the time