Addo Elephant National Park and Schotia Game Reserve

Saturday the 19^th of February was the first flown blown safari that we experienced. We were on our way around 8:30. Our plan was to go to two locations: Addo Elephant National Park and Schotia Game Reserve. We first arrived at Addo Park around 10ish. We got out, stretched, and took a few pictures at the park entrance while our tour guide got the vehicle permit.

 After our guide got the permit we stopped for a quick restroom break, walked through the info center, and were on our way into the park. It only took about 5 minutes before we saw our first elephant roaming towards a water hole. Amazing to say the least!

Our guide gave us some information about the elephants and what the Addo Park did for them.  Addo has a population of about 450 elephants, we saw about 100 going through the park. We had a fantastic lunch at a picnic area in Addo provided by our guide and were then on our way to Schotia.

 It was about a half an hour before we got to Schotia. We immediately went on a safari drive on bakkies when we got there. A little information on Schotia: it covers about 1500 acres but still houses giraffe, zebras, hippopotamus, different kinds of antelope, rhino, wildebeest, and last but certainly not least lions.  We went on a 2 hour safari drive before dinner and saw all of these animals.

It was towards the end of the drive that we saw giraffe. They were up on top of this large hill all day in which no paths could lead us there. By then end of the day drive they had made their way down the hill and were within reach.

The zebras were one of the first animals we saw and we were already a half an hour into the drive. They were in a group of three: a male and two females. A male will usually have multiple females at his disposal signifying dominance among other males.

We were about to take a tea break when one of our friends spotted a rhino not to far away. We drove over there and joined another bakkie to watch these amazing animals. The male wasn't too keen on us watching him and his mate as it charged the other bakkie and stopped before hitting. It was alarming but at the same time so exciting!

After a quick ten minute tea break we were back out on the reserve roaming the land once again searching for animals we hadn't seen yet. We then saw Mufasa's killers... the wildebeest. It wasn't nearly as fun to see these as it was rhino or giraffe so we carried on quickly.

Lions were by far the most exhilirating animals to see. We were lucky enough to be there during the lion’s mating season. Lions mate only four days out of a year so those four days are pretty vigorous. During these four days they mate every 15 minutes of the day. It certainly was quite an educational experience for us. The female in this setting is the dominant figure. The male is trying to establish himself as dominant figure by following her wherever she goes to the point of annoyance. The only way they could mate was if the female was ready.

Before heading to dinner we had the pleasure of watching a lioness with her cubs. The mother would sit there while the energy-filled cubs would attack her playfully. We could have seen only this and been satisfied. We then headed to a nice complex on the rerserve and had a delicious dinner in the park; kudu stew with rice, chicken, potatoes, and bread.  We took a night drive, didn't see too much, and were on our way back to PE. A fast and fun-fulfilled 12 hour day. We hope to do this a couple more times before we leave.