Leaving the Garden Route we headed inland to Addo Elephant Park which would be our last animal based activity. The drive up was interesting with many townships to pass.  In some areas there is no domestic refuse collection so the townships resemble living in the middle of a landfill site and was only comparable to the slums in India, if not worse.   We saw plenty evidence of the regular protests with burnt out vehicles and tyres strewn around the roadside. Social protests are frequent, rather than standing in parliament square holding a placard, they hijack and burn out trucks and cars on public highways and motorways. We only drove during the day as we were advised by local South Africans not to drive at night and also what routes we should avoid day or night.

On arrival in Addo, we checked in to the River Side Lodge adjacent to another black township.  It is surreal that tourists sit in nice lodges/restaurants segregated from the locals who sit outside their liquor stores getting drunk, even very early in the morning.   K found it extremely intimidating even though there was no direct threat to us during the day. Having a beer or two in our lodge bar, we heard timely gunshots just as the bar staff were telling us horror stories of the local crime.  No great surprise that we were soon tucked up in our bed with Zeus the Great Dane for protection.

Anyway, onto something far more pleasant, hundreds of elephants roam the Addo National Park and we watched the biggest longest bath time since arriving in southern Africa. We estimated nearly 300 elephants came out of the bush and spent 20 mins per herd having their morning bath.  We parked by a waterhole and held our nerve not to move as huge elephants brushed passed our car heading into the water. It was even more nerve racking when the inter herd rivalry kicks in and they charge around fighting in between the parked cars. 

On entry to the Addo National Park, you are given a map and a children’s animal spotting score card. K was VERY keen to turn this game into a completion and took an early lead with a monkey and elephant sighting worth a point each.  M reluctant for competition fought back with a 10 point buffalo sighting and then the spot of the day, a very rare long haired brown hyena worth another 10 points.  Game over!  It was hard to spot animals in Addo due to the tall lush vegetation, another reminder of our wise decision to visit Kruger in the dry season.