Addo National Park was amazing! Nothing was like the experience of witnessing a herd of elephants gather at the watering hole. Addo is home to most of Africa's well known Big Five animals: elephant, lion, rhino, leopard, and buffalo. It is the third largest national park in South Africa with its main goal is conservation. When Addo first opened in 1931 it was home to eleven elephants. Now it is home to over 600.
As we loaded the large, open trucks our group was excited to catch a glimpse of these magnificent animals. The truck traveled across South Africa's bushveld in search of these mammals. Luckily, we encountered a large group of elephants at the watering hole. Our tour guide explained that both the males and females have tusks. Adolescent male elephants leave the herd to live with a other bull elephants only interacting with females to mate. Our guide also said that elephants eat 300-400 pounds of vegetation a day and can drink about 200 quarts of water during one stop at the watering hole. The herd we watched had a special surprise, a three day old baby elephant that was surrounded protectively by the mama elephants. This outing was truly spectacular and a dream come true for so many of us.
Unfortunately, challenges to Africa is the steady decline of these animals. Poachers illegally kill them for their tusks, meat or hide. Loss of habitat by people slowly taking over their lands. China and the US are the top two importers of illegal products of poached animals.
"Every morning an impala wakes up knowing that it must outrun the fastest lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning a lion wakes up knowing that it must outrun the slowest impala or it will starve. It makes no difference if you are a lion or an impala, when the sun comes up in Africa you must wake up running"
~ anonymous, Zambia
~ anonymous, Zambia
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