Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa

In 2016, we travelled the Garden Route of South Africa. It was a first for me. However, my fiancé grew up in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape and was my tour guide. He was quite insistent that you can't visit the Cape without a visit to Addo. Unfortunately, we visited on a very bad day as we didn't see a single elephant. However, I did see plenty of the endangered Dung Beetle.

We travelled to the Cape early this year in an effort to continue my tour of where he grew up. Addo was on the list once again; I looked forward to it even after last years disappointment.

Travelling through we saw the typical safari animals such as wart hogs, spring bok, zebra, and various other animals.

The first set of elephants I caught a glimpse of was a family walking down the road. I felt like I had won the lottery.

This is what I came here for! Finally, a group of elephants. After seeing this group, they came from everywhere.

The mothers and the babies are always my favorite! It was quite cool watching the elephants circle their young and stand as a fortress to protect the young ones.

During the gathering at the waterhole, one of the elephants singled our vehicle out! I am not sure what set him off, but he was not happy. He was in musk and decided to moved past many cars and come directly for us. My fiancé began backing up and told me to remain calm... funny thing, he was backing off the road into a rut filled portion of land. And I was to remain calm!

Yes, this is the one that took such a disliking to us. And here he is turning directly to us and beginning his warning to back off.

The elephant began flapping his ears. I knew we were going to be pancakes. Thankfully, after me not so kindly pointing out that he was no longer on the road, we were able to turn around and head away from this watering hole.

It was quite an experience. In the end, we stopped at the gate for a bathroom break. One of the park officials asked if we had enjoyed the park. We explained that we had not seen a single one the previous year and this year we experienced an elephant wanting to charge. She stated that she can't ever recall anyone entering the gates and never seeing an elephant. She laughed about the elephant in musk and stated "If you do not have a life threatening experience in Addo, then you have not truly experienced the park!" This should be a standard greeting going into the park. The disclaimer and not responsible for deaths on the entrance sign should have set off warning bells.

I would certainly go back; it was such an amazing experience! It's not everyday that I get to view elephants in all their glory or anger!

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!steemitworldmap -33.44447 lat 25.74612 long Addo Elephant National Park South Africa d3scr