I'm floating on my back in a cement dam somewhere in the Zuurberg when I see a long tube overhead. No, it's not the trunk of an elephant but the nest of a spectacled weaver - one of many that my travel companion Eloise Costandius and I have seen during our visit.
It's been a rainy few days and we've often had to make do with these "trunks", instead of the real things, because the elephants have had no need to visit the waterholes. Our ellie tally will remain low because it's our final night in the park and I don't think they venture into this mountainous Kabouga section too often...
There were elephants here once, when the Iqua, Damasqua and Gonaqua people trekked along the Sundays, Kabouga and Wit rivers with their livestock. Maybe even when the Xhosa people built their kraals under the leadership of chiefs Cungwa and Habana.
But hunters arrived in the 1700s and killed anything that moved. Farms were marked out and the remaining elephants became a problem for the farmers. A major called PJ Pretorius was appointed in 1919 to exterminate the elephants - he killed 114 in a year and sold two calves to the Boswell Circus.
A local farmer, JT Harvey of the farm Barkly Bridge, didn't accept the status quo. He decided to leave the elephants on his farm in peace, and that's how Addo Elephant Park was born...
Our trip through Addo started five days ago in the indigenous forest of Woody Cape in the far eastern corner of the park. From there, we crossed the N2 to explore the grasslands and subtropical thickets of the Colchester and Main Camp areas. Tomorrow, we have one section left: across the Zuurberg to the Nama Karoo, where the greenery of last week will fade into shrubland and noorsveld.
To think: You can see all this in just one park!
WOODY CAPE
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June/July 2022 من go! - South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June/July 2022 من go! - South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
The wilder shore
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A river runs through it
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TAKE A HIKE
Harkerville's mini Otter
Sweet & juicy!
This issue's recipes all include lush seasonal fruit like nectarines, plums and apricots. Enjoy!
Big mountain magic
On a clear day, as you approach the Cathedral Peak Hotel, it happens involuntarily: You start to grin. You'll be standing up there soon, gazing over this valley, and the scuttling of ground-level life will seem irrelevant. Join us on a five-day adventure into the heart of the high Drakensberg
Your next weekend away
A self-catering house in the Tankwa, a campsite next to the Orange River, a guest farm near the Drakensberg... Toast Coetzer travelled a lot last year: Here are six of his favourite places to stay if you're planning a road trip or weekend escape.
A life through binoculars
If the name Hugh Chittenden sounds familiar, it's probably because you see it every time you use your Roberts Bird Guide he's one of the co-authors. He lives in Mtunzini on the KZN coast and birding is as much part of his day as a cup of coffee.
Wanderlust in the park
All great cities have great parks, writes Dara Kell: spaces where you can exhale and slough off the stress and grime of urban life.
The Kalahari remembers
The Kalahari is a place of magic and heartache, where drought is an ever-present threat. Drive a loop from Upington to the Kuruman River and discover soulful landscapes, brilliant skies and resilient people who never give up.
Take a Hike
Hug a baobab in the Bushveld