Mozambican Adventures of the Beilfuss family (Madison chapter)
19 August 2007
Addo Elephant Reserve
We spent one of our cold, rainy, cloudy days while in Port Elizabeth touring the renown Addo Elephant Reserve, probably the second most visited Park in South Africa. When our driver arrived to pick us up for the trip we were initially very disappointed to see a minibus, as we had been assuming we'd make the tour in an open game drive vehicle. But when the rain and wind continued for the day, we were quite happy for the warmth and dryness of the minibus!
The ecosystem at this Park was so different from anything else we'd seen or that we know from our Park: very low vegetation, alternating between dense shrubby growth and open (formerly cropped) grassland. We spent the duration of our tour in a fully fenced area where the density of animals (mostly re-stocked) was higher, and saw lots of interesting things, including the Red Hartebeest (in the photo - we have Lichtenstein's Hartebeest at our Park), ostriches, zebra... But the end of our day trip approached and we still hadn't seen the animal for which the reserve was named! Our driver was not to be outdone by these creatures, and searched high and low, resorting to calling his buddies on the cell phone to find out where the ellies were hiding that day. Finally we found them, and had great looks at aged bulls, enormous dames, and young babes. We could go home happy from our day at Addo!
Our family has moved back to Madison (we returned mid-August 2008) for a variety of reasons. While we are very sad to have left the Chitengo family we had come to love -- and the extraordinary natural resource, Gorongosa National Park -- we are very excited to be back in our old Jean Street neighborhood in Madison, and to be able to see and communicate with our friends and family more readily.
"A Complicated War: The Harrowing of Mozambque" by William Finnegan.
"Drawn from the Plains: Life in the Wilds of Southern Africa", by Lynne Tinley, wife of the ecologist who documented the plants and animals at Gorongosa before the wars. Out of print but available through www.abebooks.com
"The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals" by Richard D. Estes
to pick us up for the trip we were initially very disappointed to see a minibus, as we had been assuming we'd make the tour in an open game drive vehicle. But when the rain and wind continued for the day, we were quite happy for the warmth and dryness of the minibus!
The ecosystem at this Park was so different from anything else we'd seen or that we know from our Park: very low vegetation, alternating between dense shrubby growth and open (formerly cropped) grassland. We spent the duration of our tour in a fully fenced area where the density of animals (mostly re-stocked) was higher, and saw lots of interesting things, including the Red Hartebeest (in the photo - we have Lichtenstein's Hartebeest at our Park), ostriches, zebra... But the end of our day trip approached and we still hadn't seen the animal for which the reserve was named! Our driver was not to be outdone by these creatures, and searched high and low, resorting to calling his buddies on the cell phone to find out where the ellies were hiding that day. Finally we found them, and had great looks at aged bulls, enormous dames, and young babes. We could go home happy from our day at Addo!
