Lions and Elephants and Kudus, OH MY!

Sorry about the delays...internet is sometimes hard to come-by when your driving a several hundred km a day!

Regardless, Gpop and I finally got some time to catch up on some sleep.  We got to a late start this morning (really this morning means early afternoon today).  After some sweet dreams we headed out to Addo Elephant National Park, less than 100km outside of Port Elizabeth.  As we begin to drive again tomorrow, I should start discussing the regions of the country that we are in and their significance.  Addo, as is Port Elizabeth is in the Eastern Cape of South Africa which is broken up into several regions seen in the map:

When Addo Elephant National Park first opened in 1931, there were only 11 elephants left in the park area.  Now there are over 450 elephants in the park, however, we wouldn't have known that, as we only saw one from 2-3km away (check out the video).  I was thinking that they are probably all in Florida right now for SA's winter, as it is fairly chilly right now.

Another interesting fact, Addo National Park is home to the largest population of flightless dung beetles, however, again, we wouldn't have known that as we saw exactly zero dung beetles...but again, we weren't sifting through piles of elephant poop, so we may not have been looking hard enough.

I saw a bunch of animals for the first time ever, and many others for the first time in their natural habitat...

One of the most common sitings is the great Kudu, whose horns, I believe is the motivation of the infamous vuvuzela and a common source of Shofars! (I'm waiting for mighty Joe to arrive to team up and become Vuvuzela blowing super hooligans, as Gpop remains content sporting his vuvuplugs)

I could explain in words our first little self led safari, however, I believe this video can do a much better job...check out the amazing views and sweet animals that found us (as we had NO idea what we were doing) along our adventure:

Hasta Manana!

Max