The park store is very well equipped so we find milk, yogurt and beer at good prices (not like buying in Banff National Park where prices are inflated to death!) I had only brought one Tshirt with me so I invest in an orange shirt with a nice elephant design.
Drive 1: We are off to explore this huge park which has a lot more to offer than just elephants, although there are 600 of them here, happily wandering around in healthy breeding groups, all les by a wise matriarch. And single bull and young bull elephants all over the place too.
What is amazing is how they walk right past your car, you could reach out and touch them, but we don’t. They are so used to all the vehicles, they just do their thing.
This is also heaven for dung beetles. they have right of way on the road so the driver is hard pressed to keep missing them. About 2 inches long, they fearlessly gather elephant poo into small balls and roll them around. They lay their eggs in them too.
We see several big male kudu and warthogs, which are all over the place. A mama nurses her sweet wee baby elephant. Latter at a waterhole we see an elephant, kudu, many birds and the colorful Egyptian geese calling across the water.
It is gorgeous hilly and thicket terrain and some fo the overlooks range way across the plain to the Karoo lands. This is wooded and bushy terrain with the famous fynbos vegetation.
You can either take a tour on a safari truck, hire someone to ride with you or drive yourself around the park. We opt for the latter as we are now experienced on what to look for. Good decision.
The gate closes at 6pm so we return to our cabin and find families have moved in both sides, having fun on what is the kids 2-week school break now. They light up their braais (BBQs all supplied here) and we see smoke coming up from the green patios.
Sitting on our patio we look ot over trees to the flatland beyond and amazing sunsets. But the only critter we see in front of our deck is a lone warthog one morning. Some other cabin/tent areas overlook a water hole where the elephants come, but not here.
The birds are amazing. Lots of yellow and red feathered friends.
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