February 18 - 22
Last Monday we drove from Sedgefield up into the Eastern Cape. We stopped briefly in Nature's Valley, a small picnic / beach area in the Tsitsikamma National Park. It is beautiful there, another area where a river meets the Indian Ocean and you find the contrast between the calm lagoon-like peacefulness of the river and the wild, untamed nature of the ocean. From there we carried on through Port Elizabeth (quite frankly an ugly, industrial town which is a little bit scary) up to Addo Elephant National Park. Addo is 180,000 hectares and is home to a multitude of wildlife species and birdlife including approximately 700 Elephants, Lions, Black Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Leopard, Spotted Hyena, many antelope species and the unique Addo Flightless Dung Beetle. We checked into a very nice little Bed and Breakfast called the "Lenmore" and we housed in quaint little log chalets with a view of the Mountains in Addo and our own private lagoon in front. They were very comfortable and cozy, with certain character. We were kept company during our visit by Lily and Suzie, the resident Daschunds, as well as a number of geese, ducks, chickens and rabbits!
Monday evening we booked ourselves into the Addo Sundowner game drive, a two hour safari in an open Landrover through a small area of the park. We were able to see many of the different animals in the park, including a Spotted Hyena who just happened to drop in during our evening "tea" break. We then returned to the bed and breakfast and retired for the night.
We tried to book the Addo / Schotia all day game drive for Tuesday however they were booked solid so we ended up booking it for Wednesday. That left Tuesday to be spent lounging around at Lenmore, which was fine as it is so peaceful there. The morning was beautiful and we spent it sitting on the veranda of the chalet watching the various critters. We wandered over to the Addo Wildlife Sanctuary and Rescue which is a very tiny privately owned and operated rescue for many types of African wildlife including birds and reptiles. We were able to view and interact with many animals including a stinky little Meerkat (although very cute) and a Caracal, a type of African wildcat. Athough small, pound for pound, the Caracal is Africa's strongest wildcat. Tuesday afternoon and through the evening the weather took a turn for the worst and it rained throughout the night. The safaris in Addo were canceled due to the weather so it was fortunate that we booked for Wednesday.
Wednesday morning the skies had cleared although it was still chilly and windy. Our guide, Malcolm, picked us up at the B&B to start our day full of safari-ing. Malcolm has been guiding for many years for the Schotia Private Game Reserve and he is perhaps the most knowledgable ranger there. He has been watching the animals for so long that he knows all of their patterns and behavious, and he is familiar with many of them individually, being able to read their various moods and almost reading their thoughts. Ironically, Malcolm is the same ranger that Joan and Michael went on a drive with four yearsago and they remembered him! We began our morning in search of elephants in Addo. Malcolm had warned us that the elephants would be very difficult to find due to the weather as they would be trying to stay in the bush and out of the wind. He was right. After driving many kilometres through the park, at the end of the morning we had seen two elephants, a lot of wart hogs and a couple of dung beetles. How do you hide 700 elephants in an elephant park, throw in a little cloud and wind and some thick brush and they will disappear!
After a quick lunch stop we traveled on to the Schotia Game Reserve, still being guided by Malcolm. Schotia is the oldest private game viewing reserve in the Eastern Cape bordering the eastern side of Addo. They have over 40 mammal species and approximately 2000 animals. It was the first reserve in the Cape Province to have free roaming lions and guarantees lion sightings. We were in an open Landrover and were able to sit on the front "scouting seat" on the hood to scout for game. 
The afternoon was chalked full of animal viewing including the resident pride of lions! There are nine lions in Schotia, the group consisting of one adult male, two lionesses and six youngsters, all about 18 months old. In the morning the lions had killed a zebra and had been feasting on it for the better part of the day. They devoured it and when we found them they were busy digesting their meal in proper lion fashion, asleep!
Schotia has the largest open air lapa (African outdoor eatery) where we stopped to have a traditional African meal, after which we continued through the park with spot lights to catch any nocturnal life on our way back to the main check-in area and back to our transportation back to our B&B. We then jumped in our car and drove the 3 1/2 hours back to Sedgefield.
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