Paddling on the Sundays River

The Sundays River Valley and Addo is synonymous with the Addo Elephant National Park and have never really been a holiday destination unless you went to visit the Addo Park.  But this has all changed.  The Addo area is about so much more than just elephants these days.  It has actually developed into a holiday destination all on its own.  Addo and its elephants are still the big attraction, but the area around the park has also turned into an adventure and activity mecca.  Zip lining, ferry cruises, sand boarding, quad biking, horse riding and more.  One of the more, and one that should be on your to do list, is Crisscross Adventures' Addo River Safari.  Some time ago, and I'm sorry but I uploaded the photos and never did the post, I got to join a number of journalists on a media trip with Chris Pickles and his team down the Sundays River. 

We got picked up from our guesthouse and transferred to the starting point where we got giver the obligatory safety briefing.  Life jackets got dished out to those who didn't feel that comfortable on the water and we were paired up for our journey down the Sundays.  My paddling partner was worried about not having paddled before, but Chris reassured us all that paddling experience wasn't a prerequisite to go on the trip.  Turned out her was right, obviously, as stretches of flat calm pools were narrower channels with faster flowing water.  Never did we see water even hinting at a thought of turning white so this really is for everybody.  Our three hour gentle paddle down the Sundays River was one of beautiful scenery, sightings of birds, flowers, plants and even a water monitor dashing off into the reeds at our approach.

Two thirds along the way we stopped for refreshments and a walk up to a lookout spot over the surrounding valley with the river below while Chris showed us a couple of plants and told us some of the area's history.  From here we were back in the water for the last stretch down the river to the pickup point.

The river safari really is for anybody who enjoys the outdoors and is keen to do something new.  The canoes are like flight deck ships and won't capsize.  The only difference though is that these canoes are easier to control and handle than a ship loaded with war planes. Other than being splashed by you and your partner's paddles, you won't get wet, but the canoes do have water tight container for you to put your camera in if you want to take one. Photo opportunities there are lots.  Just a pity I was to slow to get my camera out for the water monitor.

Disclosure: I got to go on the Addo River Safari courtesy of Crisscross Adventures.  I received no further remuneration, wasn't asked to write a positive post and keep full editorial control.

Sunset on the Zuurberg Mountains

An afternoon trip to Addo for an early evening meeting had me arrive in the area an hour or so early.  Problem? Not at all.  Doesn't matter where you are, if you have a passion for travel and is a Geocacher to boot, there will always be something to see, do or find.  This day was no different.  I decided to take a leisurely drive up the Zuurberg Pass to pick up a Geocache I hadn't done before plus it's been a while since I've been up the pass and I was keen to see what the road is like these days.  For a start, the road is in excellent condition.  Secondly, I found the cache I was looking for.  Thirdly, and this was the special bonus of the day, I was greeted with this sight on my way back down.  A beautiful sunset over the Zuurberg Mountains.

Addo Palace Ndebele Private Reserve pictorial

Just before peak season hit us I was on a social media workshop road trip in the Karoo and Addo areas.  The night before the workshop in Addo I got to stay at Addo Palace in the Ndebele Private Reserve bordering the Addo Elephant National Park.  It's always nice to stay and experience somewhere new and this was no different. Ndebele Private Resevre is a 2500 acre game farm in the foothills of the Zuurberg Mountains and about 30 minutes from the Addo main camp. 

 

Addo Palace consist of three thatched buildings decorated with Ndebele patterns outside and an African theme inside.

The main building, or Main Lodge, has five luxurious en-suit rooms and also accommodates the main lounge, dining room and kitchen.  Kudu Lodge has another 3 suites with en-suite bathrooms and kitchens while the Zebra Lodge is a family unit that can be used on a full self catering basis if necessary.

I stayed in one of the Main Lodge rooms with big spaces and high ceilings.  I had the option of taking the room at the end of the passage with the veranda that has a view of the mountains, but I gave that up to my travelling companion. Darn!

Although we had blue skies there was a nip in the air so there wasn't a chance for me to try out their pool.  Would have loved to just float in the water and take in the surrounds....

I did get to do that though on the lapa wall though

Addo Palace would have been the ideal spot to just chill for a couple of days, but the road back to civilization was waiting the next morning.  Will have to make a plan to get back there some time.

Disclosure: I spent the night as guest of Addo Palace - Ndebele Private Reserve but didn't receive any additional remuneration and retain full editorial control over my post.

A Pale Chanting Goshawk in Addo

I have never been a big bird expert.  When I started working as a tourist guide I went to a lot of effort to increase my birding knowledge, but a LBJ (little brown job) and an Overtheroadian were still the most common answers I gave when something flashed across the road as we drove along somewhere.  Addo Elephant National Park has a bird checklist of over 400 species with about 200 occurring within the main game area. In all the years that I worked as a guide and visited Addo, my favourite bird to spot was probably the Pale Chanting Goshawk.  Don't ask me why.  I just liked this light grey bird with its bright orange beak and legs.

The Pale Chanting Goshawk is a bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.  It is found all over southern Africa and usually a resident of dry, open areas with low rainfall.  This species grow 56 – 65 cm long with a wingspan of about 105 cm.  They eat a variety of vertebrate prey, mainly lizards, but also small mammals and birds as well as large insects. This one I spotted on my last visit to Addo sitting on top of a thorn tree, but they often walk around on the ground as well.

I miss my ellie friends

Way back when I started working in the tourism industry I worked as a freelance tourist guide and one of the companies that used me had tours going to Addo Elephant National Park just about every day.  That means that I got to go to the park 5 or 6 times a week and I never got tired of it.  These days I don't get to visit Addo nearly as much as I would like to and when I had the opportunity to drive through it on my way to a meeting I didn't say no.  It was nice to spend some time with my old ellie friends, even if it was only for an hour or two.

Ziplining in Addo on the longest double zipline in Africa

The first thing people think of when they hear the name Addo is elephants.  On that front the Addo Elephant National Park is doing an awesome job attracting people to the Sundays River Valley.  But the Addo area is so much more than elephants and the rest of the big 5.  More than just animals for that matter.  The whole Sundays River Valley is a beautiful area with scenic drives and views, history, great eateries and a wide variety of accommodation and activities.  The new kid on the block is what everybody in the valley is talking about at the moment though.  Adrenalin Addo officially opened on 1 September and offers the longest double zipline in Africa.  A whole 500 meters long, up to 60 meters high and I got to try it on an educational organised by the guys from Addo Tourism.

Arriving at Adrenalin Addo in Sunland between Addo and Kirkwood, the first thing one notice is the platform up on the hill across the river.  That and the stunning surroundings with the Sundays River flowing in front of their centre, subtropical ticket on the hillside and citrus orchards all around.  While I waited for my fellow adventurers to arrive I enjoyed the view from the deck with a quick coffee to calm the early nerves.  Looking up I thought to myself that it looked seriously high but as a seasoned zipliner (or at least I would like to think so) I wasn't going to allow that to stop me from doing it.  Once the others arrived we got kitted out in our gear and we were ready to go.  First up though was crossing the Sundays River on a raft.  Coming back we would be flying overhead.  The guides conduct a bit of a tour on the way to the top pointing out plants, fossils and the remains of the first irrigation channels.

Once we arrived at the top and climbed the platform I suddenly realized how high it really was and my fear of heights seriously kicked in. My fear took a back seat though when I started to look around. WOW! Looking down on the valley with all its farms and the Sundays River flowing through it is truly stunning.  We had seven in our group so the first three pairs went together with one solo zipliner coming last.  After watching the first two pairs go it was my turn.  I had Yvonne from Addo Tourism on my left and we were pumped.  As the guides hooked us up they explained what they were doing.  Two clips on the wheels (sorry, I have no idea what the proper word for this is) and a backup line behind us.  Step off the bench and... 3... 2... 1... GO!  

Stepping off and letting go was heart in throat time for me but once you are off and going all the fear is gone.  What an absolutely amazing sensation and something very hard to explain.  From start to finish the zipline takes about 30 seconds or so and once you hit the automatic brake at the end you just want to go again.  I've been playing around with video clips on my camera lately and has started to experiment with a video editor on my laptop.  This was such a great experience that I couldn't help but to throw something together for this post.

 

Adrenalin Addo is situated about 15 minutes from the Addo Elephant National Park and a great add on for visitors to the park either leaving on the way back to Port Elizabeth or as a break before heading back into the park.  They're also going to offer light meals some time soon so it would be a great lunch and zipline stop while on tour as well.  Other activities offered are a giant swing (which I didn't get to do this time around) and canoeing on the Sundays River.

 

Disclosure: I enjoyed this visit as a guest of Ryan and his team at Adrenalin Addo, organized by Yvonne of Addo Tourism and the team at ECTOUR.  I received no further remuneration, wasn't asked to write a positive post and keep full editorial control.

Tuskless elephant

The majority of the female elephants in the Addo Elephant National Park are tuskless.  The general opinion amongst laymen is that it's because of selective hunting of the elephants with big tusks in the late 19th and early 20th century while others think it may be due to the vegetation (structure and/or nutrient composition) of the area.  Long term records have been used to assess trends and it has been found that although it could have played a roll, selective hunting solely cannot provide adequate explanations for the high frequency of tusklessness.  Non-selective genetic changes resulting from the population's isolation, small size and bottlenecks (during the 1800s and 1920s) are suggested to be primarily responsible for the ladies in Addo not having tusks. 

The pretty girl and the dung beetle

Looks can be deceiving.  You tend to think young pretty girls would only be interested in fashion, nightlife, tanning on the beach, spending time in the shops and hanging out with their friends. Yes, yes, I know I'm generalizing but I'm trying to get to a point so bare with me.  Late last year I hosted a travel blogger visit to Port Elizabeth and the surrounding area and the first blogger of the five to arrive was Rachel Lang, known online as Bush-bound Girl.  She wasn't quite what I was expecting, not that I know what I was expecting.  Rachel was the perfect travel companion a blogger can ask for.  She had endless enthusiasm and jumped at every opportunity to participate and try out things.  This made for great "experience" photos, plus the fact that she's a beautiful girl helped as well.  On our guided game drive in the Addo Elephant National Park our ranger stopped and picked up one of Addo's famous Flightless Dung Beetles.  Who immediately asked if she could hold it?  Nobody other than Bush-bound Girl.

The flightless dung beetle used to be found widespread in Southern Africa but these days is classified as a vulnerable species and only found in Addo Elephant National Park and a couple of other isolated spots.  The beetle is strictly dependent on a number of vertebrates (particularly elephant and buffalo) and when these animals were shot out at the end of the 1800's and beginning 1900's the poor dung beetle population took a huge knock.  These days things are slowly getting better and better for them with the increase and spreading of the elephant population in Addo and the surrounding reserves.  

Random elephant "did you knows"

I haven't done a "Random ..." post in ages, so for today I'm doing three

Random elephant did you knows. 

 

An elephant's trunk, which is a fusion of their nose and upper lip, contains over 100,000 different muscles.  African Elephants also have two finger like features on the end of their trunk that they can use to grab small items with.  Indian Elephants on the other hand only has one of those "fingers".  An elephant can lift up to 350kg with their trunks. 

Elephants have circular feet with soft tissues or "cushion pads" beneath the manus and pes.  This helps to distribute the weight of the animal.  They appear to have an extra "toe" similar in placement to a giant panda's extra "thumb", that also helps with weight distribution.  Five toenails can be found on both the front and hind feet.

Elephants have their mammary glands situated between their front legs similar to humans and primates and strangely enough, they do look like breasts.

 

The pictures were all taken in the Addo Elephant National Park

Malachite Sunbird in Addo

Addo Elephant National Park boats with over 450 different bird species making it not just great for elephant and game watching, but also bird watching.  I'm not always too bothered with trying to photograph birds with my superzoom as it isn't really fast enough to take proper pictures of them, but on my last visit I had a borrowed SLR with a long lens and snapped away at anything that moved.  One of those was this Malachite Sunbird. 

The adult male is metallic green when breeding, with blackish-green wings.  In non-breeding plumage, the male's upperparts are brown apart from the green wings and tail, the latter retaining the elongated feathers.  The female has brown upperparts and dull yellow underparts with some indistinct streaking on the breast.  The Malachite Sunbird is found in South Africa in hilly fynbos (including protea stands as well as areas with aloes) and cool montane and coastal scrub, up to 2,800m altitude.

The magnificence that is Addo Elephant National Park

I've been in the tourism industry for 16 years and first started out working as a tourist guide back in 1998.  Back then I used to go to Addo Elephant National Park sometimes as often as 5 or 6 times a week and people used to ask if I didn't get tired of going there.  I did get tired of the drive to and from the park but I would never get tired of the park itself.  It quickly became one of my favorite places to take tourists and I enjoyed ever new day as much as the one before, getting as excited as my guests when we encountered elephants or other game.  These days I don't get to visit the park anywhere close to what I would like to, but when I do I make the most of it.  I often think people who have never been to Addo don't realise how special the park really is and those comparing it to Kruger does it a great injustice.  No it's not Kruger but it offers magnificent sightings, amongst it the best wild African elephant sightings in the world.  Tourist guides like my friend Craig Duffield of Mosiac Tourism calls Addo his office.  I often wish I still did.

Baby elephant at Addo Elephant National Park

International visitors to South Africa all has Kruger Park on their lists of places to see in the country but what many of them don't realise is that you can get just as good an experience in the Eastern Cape.  Addo Elephant National Park is probably one of the most under rated game parks in the country with perceptions changing as soon as people get there.  You may not be able to spend 4 or 5 days there like in Kruger, but the variety of animals, birds, plants and sightings are up there with the best.  On my last visit we were watching a family right next to the road and this little guy decided to move away from his mother and allow to snap his picture.   

Flowering Spekboom in Addo

I like pizza... and braaivleis...  and burgers... and... and... and...   Elephants like a whole bunch of things as well.  One of those things is Spekboom (Portulacaria afra).  Spekboom, also called the elephant bush, forms part of the Subtropical Thicket biome and is prevalent in the Addo Elephant National Park.  In actual fact its one of the reasons why Addo has such a good elephant carrying capacity as the Spekboom is a succulent and also supplements their water intake.  Although the Spekboom normally flowers in late Spring the flowers are specifically noticeable after good Spring rains.  Something we had lots of this year.  Right now Addo is stunning with lots of green and yellow, but its the pink Spekboom flowers that stood out for me on my last visit.

Succulent flowers at Kuzuko

Succulents always surprise me with the beautiful flowers that they produce specially when they grow in dry and arid areas.  The flowering succulent in the picture was growing next to the path to our room at Kuzuko Lodge in the northern part of the Addo Elephant National Park.

After reading the post, Alan Fogarty of Alan Tours helped me out a bit with the name:  Crassula ovata or Kerky bush, Beestebul, iPhewula also commonly known as the "Botterboom"

Approaching with confidence

When this boytjie matures a bit more he will be a really impressive bull. 

Not that he isn't already.  He's only problem is that he is an Addo bull so

he will never have the huge tusks that the Kruger bulls have. 

Cape Weaver in Addo

Visiting Addo Elephant National Park isn't all about elephants and other big game.  Addo is also home to over 300 different bird species, one of which is this Cape Weaver I found at Domkrag Waterhole in the park.

Waterhole interaction

A couple of young bulls interacting at the Hapoor Waterhole in the Addo Elephant National Park just like a couple of young men would at their local watering hole

Elephant family

One can never emphasise enough how amazing a park the Addo Elephant National Park is.  I think a lot of people underestimate Addo but the beauty of that is that when they visit their expectations are completely blown away.  I always say, and I do so because I believe its true, that Addo is the best place in the world to view wild African Elephants in their natural environment.  Over the years they have become used to visitors' vehicles - not tame - which means that its often possible to have them walk closely past a vehicle giving visitors mind blowing sightings.  Very much like this family that walked straight at and past us on a recent visit.

Mongoose

If I stand on my toes I can see the weekend.  Just like this yellow mongoose I recently spotted at Addo Elephant National Park.  Most people who see him standing like that may think it's a meerkat, but that would be a case of mistaken identities. Have an awesome weekend!

Dusk in Addo

Dusk is by far my favourite time when visiting any game reserve or national park. It's preceded by the most beautiful light for photography but when the sun starts to dip, touching the horizon, it’s like calm sets in on the bush. The cross over from day to night. When the daytime animals start to settle down and the night time animals wake up. After a hot day the coolness of evening brings relief while the wind often dies down. The best time of the day.

The picture was taken at Gwarrie Dam with the Zuurberg Mountains in the background while on a late afternoon game drive in Elephant National Park.