Addo Elephant Park of Mice and Ellies

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Majestic giant mammals draw visitors to Addo Elephant Park, yet like Elephants who never forget, what my children will remember most is mice and Red-necked francolins (we called them bush chickens).  At Spekboom tented camp we stayed in tents 4 & 5.  Tent 5 was fantastic, the game fence is about 1 m from the tent with a good view of the waterhole.  I awoke to the sound of elephants rumbling at each other, at night jackal calls embroidered the night.

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A resident brown mouse in tent 5 boldly scampered about, sometimes venturing out to find a morsel.  One night I woke to find it on my pillow, it then went to the door apparently waiting to be let out.  Outside little stripped mice rustled in the bushes.

Fjord's bird
Fjord’s bird

Fjord seems to have animal super powers, he attracts the animals which he loves.  At age 2, fascinated by cats he drew a feral cat to our garden and seven years later it still lives there.  Now obsessed with chickens, something within him speaks to birds.  This time he developed a bond with a little bird with an injured foot.  One morning he went looking for his little friend around the camp.  He returned to find it sitting on his bed.  If anyone can identify what bird this is please comment below.

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I was so tempted to pee in their Liqui Fruit

Tent 5 is closest to the ablution block and kitchen area (interpret in the loosest possible sense of the word).  Our only complaint was that the fridge barely worked and 1 selfish family staying in the camp hogged the entire small freezer section, while I was worried that we would get food poisoning from our meat in the almost warm fridge section.

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Of all the places on our 7 night trip to Somerset West we loved Spekboom camp in the heart of the bush most.

Addo Main Camp chalet 25
Addo Main Camp chalet 25

From Spekboom camp we moved to the main camp, our chalet overlooked the bush.  Very naughty monkeys who must know that the window in our chalet doesn’t close easily got in and pinched some food and worst of all the last piece of Christmas cake which I had been saving.

View from our chalet
View from our chalet
It was great to cool off in the swimming pool at the main camp. Chalet 25 was closest to the pool
It was great to cool off in the swimming pool at the main camp. Chalet 25 was closest to the pool

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Cliff and the children went on a night drive, they were very lucky as 2 lions had killed a buffalo almost on the road and they witnessed the lions fending off an opportunistic jackal.  Elephant walked so close to the vehicle that they could have reached out and touched them.  Back at the chalet I enjoyed some quiet time reading.

Both camps are special in their own way and I’m already looking forward to our next visit.

Below a few other snaps from Addo Elephant Park

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3 comments

  1. Lovely post Suls. Memorable moments! The kids will never forget these experiences.

  2. Must still do Addo we just didn’t make it this time. Lovely pics!

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