June 3, 2013

 Other than being windy, the day is a great day.  We headed to Addo Elephant Game Park with our two Elders, (Davuke and Tennant).  We stopped at our favorite farm stall for their great braai bread…this time with egg and bacon.  We usually just get butter and jam, which is really yummy, as well.  

 When we arrived at Addo, Elder Davuke realized that a couple of cars ahead of us were filled with Elders.  Of course, he ran out to check on it and had a great reunion with some of the elders he worked with before. 

At the entrance to the park they had some elephant skulls and it was interesting to note their construction. They are honeycombed. I don't know why but my guess would be to save weight. Can you imagine it is to save weight.

We have been to Addo a number of time and each time our quest is to see something we haven't seen before. This time around it was dung beetles but with no luck. It seems that they are only out and about in the summer and we missed them last year. We are going to try one more time before we leave in October and hope to have a sighting.

 At a second gate to the park, the attendant noticed the tags on the Elders and ran to get his Book of Mormon, I think in Xhosa.  They found out he is an investigator…obviously reading the book.   That was kind of cool.  Then on to the travels through the park…lots of elephants, water buffalo, zebra, and wart hogs, which, by the way, are very ugly!!!  There were other various animals and birds, but those were the main ones of interest.  We got some great pictures and video.  Elder Tennant especially loved the day since it was his first visit to Addo.  

  
 The park is dry this time of year and so at some of the watering holes they have wells and pumps to keep them watered. They must have had problems with the pump and removed it for repairs but that was OK with the elephants they just did their own God given water fetching tool, their trunk. 

Although the pictures don't show it very well some of the elephants got really close to us. The elephants in this picture actually had his trunk and tusks over the hood of our car. A little over a month ago one of the elephants at Addo turned over a car that happened to be in his way, so when these big guys got so close Janet was more than a little worried, but not me. If the elephant rolled our car over I was ready with the camera to get some really good pictures. The pictures below with the backward dating is from Elder Tennants camera and he is from Australia. Janet had our camera but she was to nervous to be taking picture so we had to use his.

We had some oranges and apples in the car and decided to share with the elephants.  One of the elders tried getting one to take it out of his hand...it almost worked, but not quite.  They did, however, like the fruit that ended up on the ground.

We saw our first water buffalo on this trip through.  We were so excited to see one lying down fairly close to the road.  And then, we saw a couple more...and then, more...and then, many more and then...a bunch started crossing the road and then...they just kept coming.  I don't know how many we say today, but it was a BUNCH!!!