eastern cape sa

Addo Elephant Park

2008-07-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Addo elephant park is situated in the Sundays river valley. The park covers a large area and is home to the big five. The park offers a variety of accommodation, game drives and day visitor picnic areas. The park has 2 major entrances. The main entrance is near the town of Addo and the second is near Alexandria.

My day visit to the park was definitely very enjoyable and I got to see the majestic elephant I wanted to see. These guys are enormous and it is easy to feel really small in their company. From the picnic area it the main camp you can see over a water hole. The day I was there a solo elephant male came to the water hole. There was also a few small buck and of course the usual warthog.

After lunch we drove through the park. Quite a large part of the roads are tarred. This makes it easy to drive through the park with minimal strain on your car. It was on the tarred area that we came across a elephant baby and his mom. Too cute for words right?

At some point the you end up driving on dirt roads. This isn't a problem since these roads are well maintained. Finding the lions and the rhinos are not that easy. It takes a lot of driving and patience and if you are lucky you might bump into them. I guy I work with often goes to the park and he always get nice pictures. I found some ostriches and a warthogs on the drive.

After driving for about a hour and a half we came across a water point and there were elephants everywhere. The photos I have doesn't do justices to their size or their numbers. They would walk right by the cars and from all direction. We were in a minibus and they where towering over us.
The park is well worth a visit.

Kragga Kamma Game Reserve

2008-07-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

This is a beautiful private reserve with a large open grassland area. This allows for easy game spotting and a relaxing drive.

The park is off the N2 freeway in Port Elizabeth on the way to Hunters Retreat. Take the Kragga Kamma road turnoff and continue with it for about 8km. There is a sign that directs the visitor to the entrance on a gravel road. The entrance is about 1km on this road where there is a boom and a office. Here you will greeted by a staff member where you can purchase permits to enter.

The roads though out the park is gravel but are good enough for a normal car to drive though in most weather conditions. This make for a good afternoon drive. First the visitor sees a open grass area that makes for easy game viewing of which there is no scarcity. There is a good number of antelope species and other herbivores. These include cape buffalo, zebra, giraffe, springbok and what would a park in Africa be without warthogs. The warthog is ugly yet cute. What a face and what a personality.

There are also a few rhinos and if you are lucky you might spot a jackal.

After driving on the winding road in the grassland area, the is an entrance to the cheetah enclosure. This is where, on a good day you will find these beautiful cats posing for the camera as these images.

Just look at them.

After the cheetah enclosure the road leads into an indigenous forest. Here the visitor should drive slowly to make sure that he misses nothing. There is a myriad of plants and animals that are just waiting to be photographed. This was one on my last visit.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The Beauty of the eastern cape

2008-03-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

There is a lot to be said about the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The least of which is Port Elizabeth and East London which the 2 major centers along the coast.

Here is a picture of Bonza bay beach on a hot summers day.