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Hi PeterPM

VERY WARM WELCOME to the best forum in the world!!!!

My family and I will also be camping in addo this weekend (arriving on thurs morn) Look out for my YR and we'll meet up for a chat

Yes, work always comes first - but before the school bell rings for me, just a quick post. The cottages are really VERY NICE and very stylish. A good choice for the first night. Hope weather will be sunny and friendly for you

Hi PeterPM

Have a lovely trip!

Remember the guys at the main camp gate entrance to the game viewing area -- short and chubby
= Daniel, and very small, thin = Johnson -- they are very friendly, have been there for maybe 20 years, and do know especially where lions have been seen recently!

Don't forget to look for caracals! Addo is one of the best places ever for them.
Coming up the valley from Matyholweni, you cross a dirt road when entering the old game viewing area. Down that first valley is a very popular place to see caracal at any time of day; my family saw one at Marion Baree waterhole recently; I saw one near Woodlands waterhole in April, and have often seen one when you go through a little valley before travelling up towards Carol's Rest waterhole...


Lastly, make sure you do NOT turn off at the first ADDO sign board outside PE -- that is the very rough, bad road to Addo Main Camp -- not good for fast travelling, and you end up very far from Matyholweni!
You have to cross the river at Colchester, and first major turn to the left will say Addo!
Have a lovely time,

Friedrich von Hörsten

Well what started as an early morning departure on Thursday has now been moved forward to Wednesday and an extra night in the park. See what excitement about nature can do? All reasoning about work, school has fallen by the way side and getting into Addo is the ONLY goal at this point. Thank you Dinkybird, your factoring in of road works delay; even though they were confirmed as being completed by FvH; has got us leaving first thing tomorrow morning. This way we beat the long weekend traffic out of Cape Town and get more time in the park. Win win don't you think.
FvH - thank you for the pointers regarding the possible location of the caracal. I would love to see one in the bush. I will interrogate Daniel and Johnson upon arrival

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome and the info so freely given. Hopefully I will be able to give you a decent trip report when we return.

Have a wonderful time in the bush and we are waiting for a trip report. Drive safely and keep the ready

Hello PeterPM

Are you back home and how was your trip? Any TR?

Hi Henk, the reality of being back at work is just to much to bear. I will get something together this weekend as I peruse the many photographs taken.

Until then....

I am watching this space

That makes 2 of us.

As frustration sets in, can anyone please explain how to load images to the post? When I hit the img button this is what I get "[img][img]" and there is no way uploading the image. Am I being "doff"?

Arrgh!

Hi PeterPM! I hope you had a good trip to Addo

In order to post pics on the forum, you'll need a "hosting site" like Picasa, Photobucket or Flickr.

Here is how to post using Flickr. If you have problems give me a shout and I'll try to help you.

Let me start off by saying that Addo is the neatest reserve I have ever
visited. The park is clean and tidy, the roads are fantastic, the sign
posting is terrific, and the staff incredibly friendly and helpful.

Our visit started with the drive from Somerset West. Our destination - Addo
South Motyholweni camp. Keeping 3 excited kids in check for the duration
proved to be quite a test, so we decided to stop in Plettenberg Bay for a
rest. We let the kids run around the beach for a while and this proved to be
a good decision. We were fortunate that by leaving early, we were ahead of
the long weekend traffic and arrived in Motyholweni at 14:45. Total
travelling time including the stop, at the speed limit (except for going
down Kaimans pass - a surprise expected) was 8.5 hours. A quick unpack and
toilet stop and into the park.

At first we noticed the very dense vegetation, so different to what we were
used in the Kruger area. We doubted that we would be able to spot any game
in that. We did the Vuyiso loop where we spotted kudu, ostrich and Jackal.
The open plain was a welcome relief.


We continued onto Ngulube loop where we encountered the first vehicles. We tried to identify what they were looking at but saw nothing so decided to move on. As we past, the chap
(I think it might have been RonnieL from photos in the Addo experiences thread) told
us there were lion in the grass and he was flicking his tail every now and
again.

Ronnie, if that was you, thank you for sharing.

With the time restrictions we returned to our cottage. Heading back we
encountered a huge bull elephant in the impenetrable, dense vegetation right
next to the road. Thankfully Addo elephants are by far less excitable than
their cousins in the Kruger and Pilansberg parks.

Addo welcomed us that night with a tremendous lightning and thunder storm,
lots of noise and not much rain but enough to threaten my fire. It took a
dustbin lid held above my fire to cook my chops. And they say it doesn't
rain in the Eastern Cape in the winter??
As the kids settled into bed we watched the lunar eclipse unfold.



Thursday morning we packed our hot choc and breakfast and went in search of
the lions. Unfortunately they were still lying flat or had moved on. We
moved on to the Ngulube loop and saw a couple of secretary birds. We watched
while we had our breakfast.


Back to our cottage to hitch the trailer and
make our move to main camp. Enroute we came across a puff adder. Rather
sluggish in the cold.



Moving north we came acroos this beautiful Kudu bull. It has been years
since I saw such a majestic kudu and we observed him for awhile. We were
quite amazed that others weren't that interested until we got further north
and realised that Addo is teaming wiith large kudu bulls similar to KNP with
their impalas....Still a rather striking animal.



Our first herd of elephant consisted of a few females with juveniles. One
was still suckling, and this had the kids in hysterics. They could not
believe that an elephant had boobs between their front legs. Keeping them
quiet while the bull came marching towards us with purpose was a task in
itself. They soon quietened down when the whole herd moved around our
vehicle, almost knocking the trailer, into the bush on the other side.







We were pleasantly suprised by main camp, once again the staff were
welcoming and very pleasant and efficient, the area is beautifully clean and
tidy and the caravan sites more than ample for our needs. Camping is always
more fantastic when the ablutions are clean and tidy and the Hot water is
always available - here Addo Main Camp delivered more than expected. The
only gripe that I have is the close proximity of 1) The railway line - the
trains at night spoil the ambiance and 2) The kids play area to the
underground hide.

Our guest for the evening was a lesser spotted Genet. Sorry no pics as he
was camera shy. Being this close to nature is why I prefer camping to
staying in the cottages.

After waking up in the freezing cold every morning before the Robins sang
their merry tune proved to be fruitless. Our main intention was to find the
predators completing their nightly tasks, but alas that was not to be. I
would suggest that, in winter, a lazy sleep in and a drive starting at
around 9:30 is preferable as the Addo animals only start moving around when
it warms up. Most of our sightings were in the afternoon when the
temperature was up.

The highlight of our visit was definitely watching the herds of elephant and
the way they interacted with each other and the way the young ones played
and bullied each other was very entertaining. (pic ellies wrestling). There was a large herd moving around the Gorah loop from around the Friday.



Sorry for the poor image quality as it was taken through the windscreen.

I really enjoyed the bird life and I was ecstatic for identifying the Bokmakirie. What a beautiful little fella with such a lovely tune.


On the Saturday we took an early morning drive south to get to Harveys loop. Once again the early mornings are dismal as sightings go. We encountered a couple of old dugga buffalo boys. The amount of force required to get through the dense vegetation was amazing. You definitely do not want to meet up with these beasts while on foot.

The early morning drive did reward us though with this beautiful sighting of this Burchell's Coucal.





The Zebras on Gorah loop are very accommodating. Apparently the lions were in this area on Saturday, but alas we missed them. However we did hear them calling in the night but Sunday was to be the long road home.




And don't forget the sunsets. I am sure that nothing in the world can compare with an African sunset.



All in all a most enjoyable visit, so much so that we have booked a week in early January.
Addo management and staff- Thank you for a very memorable time. We have managed to get our fix for the time being. See you in January for the fresh air.

Yes, Addo is definitely a great place and your wonderful photos have done it more than justice

Hi PeterPM,

Yes that was me that told you about the lions, at the time I was wondering if it was not you because I had read your post about your planned trip, I also remember the three little excited faces in the back of your vehicle. I am so pleased that you were able to see the lions. When I went back a bit later they were still there and that is when I took the pics of the elephant and the lions.
I also uncounted that big ellie bull on may way out of the Park. I noticed the ellie in the thick bush as I drove past. I stopped and reversed back and as I stopped he decided to come out of the bush and into the road. He was very calm and showed no stress so I was able to watch him for a while. It was getting dark already so sorry no good pics to share.
You guys had some great sighting and I am very pleased for you and great to hear that you have booked already for Jan 2012. A word of warning, Jan can become very hot. A good time to see game then is early morning and late afternoon. Mid day is a good time to find the ellies at the water holes having there daily mud bath to cool off, also a great time to watch the little ones interacting with each other.
All the best
Ronnie

@ Micetta, thank you for the guidance on posting the photo's, it took awhile.

@Ronnie, Thank you once again for sharing that lion sighting. It must be fantastic living so close to Addo and "popping in" when you have the time. For our January visit we are cutting our stay in the Cedarberg short in order to visit Addo, and believe me it is just as hot as anywhere else in the country. Besides the hotter the day the more rewarding the sundowner!

Have a splendid week everybody!