Day 301 June 2 2015 Main Rest camp- Addo Elephant Park - South Africa

trying to roar like a lion

elephant and a rock daisy skeleton 

the two male lions we saw

no zoom used to take this pic

entrance to the walking trail in Addo

on the trail in Addo

Day 301  June 2 2015  Main Rest camp- Addo Elephant Park -  South Africa

We spent the morning hanging around the rest camp and the interpretive center.  In the afternoon we went for a drive and saw many animals including 3 yellow mongooses which were the new animal of the day.   The most impressive thing that we saw today was how the lions interact with the elephants.  We saw 2 male lions that decided to have a snooze by a waterhole 25 feet from the edge of the road.  While we were parked there watching the lions a single elephant walked toward the water.  When he saw the lions he stopped and backed up and stood a fair distance from the lions.  After another 5 minutes a pack of elephants showed up.  As the pack walked past the lone elephant, he joined them on the last 100 meters of the walk to the waterhole.  As the elephants got close the lions took off and found another place to snooze about 200 meters away but still close to the road.  When the elephants approached the waterhole they walked within a few cm of the car and I was worried that the one that walked on the right side of the car would hit us.  There was not much room between us and another car that was also parked there.  We also saw 2 young and 2 big elephant’s feet slide out from under them as the got close to the waterhole as there was slippery mud around it.  It was rather funny to see elephants slip sliding away.  When we got back to the camp the kids and I went for a 2 km walk on a trail.  It was dark when we got off the trail so it was a good thing that I had remembered to grab the flashlights.  We ended up in the restaurant for supper which is the only place that has internet in the camp.  Evy and I spent our time booking accommodations in Oudtshoorn, Cape Agulhas and Cape Town.  This is the first time we have booked accommodations in 3 places in a row.  We almost never planned the stages of our journey that far in advance.  It is hard to believe that we only have another 7 nights left in South Africa and harder still to believe that we have been out of Canada for almost 8 months.