Gentle Giants

It took us a few weeks, but finally we managed to go on a safari. Just North-East of Port Elizabeth is the elephant sanctuary Addo National Park, home not only some 400 elephants, but also warthogs, hyenas, lions, ostriches, different types of antelope and, notably, the rare dung beetle*. Upon entering the area by car, a huge Cape Cobra crossed the road!

The area is open to explore by car, which was better than expected. We did get a couple of extraordinary sightings of elephant herds. The feeling of sitting still and quiet with the window rolled down just 10 meter from a giant wild elephant cannot be described in words.
http://www.addoelephantpark.com/




* - The dung beetle is a beautiful insect that forms dung into tennis ball sized ball that it rather clumsily rolls back to its nest. Its relative, the scarab, was a holy animal in ancient Egypt.
For all you dung beetle lovers: http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/beetles/scarab/