We went on our first visit to the Addo Elephant National Park on a wet, windy and chilly day. Our last day on holiday was well spent and we got to see the elephants just as I gave up hope and headed to Cattle Baron Grill & Bistro for lunch.

Now the third largest national park in South Africa, Addo Elephant National Park has expanded to conserve a wide range of biodiversity, landscapes, fauna and flora. Stretching from the semi-arid karoo area in the north around Darlington Dam, over the rugged Zuurberg Mountains, through the Sundays River Valley and south to the coast between Sundays River mouth and Bushman’s river mouth, Addo covers about 180 000 hectares (444 700 acres) and includes the Bird and St Croix Island groups.

The original elephant section of the park was proclaimed in 1931, when only eleven elephants remained in the area. Today this finely-tuned ecosystem is sanctuary to over 600 elephant, lion, buffalo, black rhino, spotted hyena, leopard, a variety of antelope and zebra species, as well as the unique Addo flightless dung beetle, found almost exclusively in Addo. The park can exclusively claim to be the only national park in the world to conserve the “Big 7” – the Big 5 as well as the southern right whale and great white shark off the Algoa Bay coast.Plans are currently afoot to include the proposed proclamation of a 120 000 ha (296 500 acre) Marine Protected Area which includes islands that are home to the world’s largest breeding populations of Cape gannets and second largest breeding population of African penguins.

Five main attractions/things to experience:

Lion (found mostly in the southern section of the park)
Herds of elephant at Hapoor dam
The Interpretive Centre at main camp
The picturesque Zuurberg Mountain
The rolling sand dunes of the Woody Cape section

We were a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see any of the wild cats, but we got to see some animals and a lot of bird life.

As I write this, Uncle Brian lies in ICU after being hit by a drunk driver while on his early morning cycle. He will be going into surgery tonight. Please keep him, Aunty Nan and their daughters, Heather and Liz in your thoughts and prayers.

We love going to military museums, so we couldn’t pass up the change to go to the SAAF Museum next to Port Elizabeth International Airport. It was really interesting and Papa was in heaven.

I’m not interested in the planes, helicopters or weapons used during wars, but the stories of the men and women who were sent to the front lines have always fascinated me.

I spent hours reading transcripts and descriptions of the airforcemen and what they went through and everything they experienced while fighting the second world war. It was devastating and tragic, but extremely interesting and eye opening at the same time.

I did not know that we had “War books” in South Africa. I spent quite a bit of time here, at this table.

The kids were done about 2 hours in and were starting to climb the walls. I decided that is was probably a good idea to get them out of the building and outside where they could eat a snack and run some of that energy off. They discovered this adorable aeroplane jungle gym outside and spent a good 2 hours playing on it while Papa went into the workshop where they are refurbishing and rebuilding some of the historic planes. He may have been geeking out there. I love doing things that bring him so much joy. It really is the little things that make us the happiest at any given time.

While we were there, Aunty Nan messaged me saying that there were dolphins just off the coast of Pollock Beach, so we hurried Papa up and got the heck out of Dodge to go see the dolphins.

This was amazing, the dolphins weren’t super close to the beach, but close enough for Papa to zoom in and get some really great photos of the dolphins jumping up. It was the highlight of our holiday. Who can say they saw dolphins in the ocean, out in the wild??? WE CAN!!! Thanks again for the heads up, Aunty Nan!

Pop in tomorrow to see our adventure at Addo Elephant National Park with Aunty Nan and Uncle Brian.

Oh My Word, the kids just LOVED their first visit to Bayworld!

One of the leading tourist attractions in Nelson Mandela Bay, Bayworld is unique in Southern Africa, embracing a natural and cultural history Museum combined with a Snake Park and Oceanarium. It is located in the heart of the Port Elizabeth beachfront and serves up a feast of edutainment to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

The main activities of the Complex are research and education aimed at stimulating a greater awareness of the need for conservation of South Africa’s natural and cultural heritage. Research and education programmes focus on marine life, reptiles, maritime and local history.

The seals were delightful and so so playful. When we arrived at their pool, they started swimming up to us to get a closer look and loved making the kids giggle when they sat on the edge watching us.

We were privileged enough to to have a short seal demonstration and talk. The kids loved watching the seals do little tricks and little Sammy was having nothing to do with any of it. All she wanted to do was play and mess with the trainers, LOL. She is my favourite seal by far! Unfortunately due to a critical staff shortage, they couldn’t do a full presentation. They do have a volunteer program for those interested.

They have an endangered African Penguin community. The African penguin is endemic to Namibia and South Africa, breeding in southern Namibia, Western Cape & Eastern Cape, on 25 islands and 4 mainland sites. The Algoa Bay population comprises almost half of the global population, which stands at some 80 thousand individuals. In 2010 the species was reclassified as ENDANGERED.

We also saw a huge sea turtle, but it was shy and didn’t give us time to get a good look.

The kids loved the Oceanarium. They have a collection of creatures that the we all loved watching. Its so calming and relaxing.

This lego shipwreck was my personal favourite, non animal, exhibition at the Oceanarium.

Maritime History Hall exhibits tell a story of shipping of by-gone years, early explorers of the African coast and the lure of trade with the East. Artifacts from shipwrecks found near Port Elizabeth, a model of the Dias padrao and various ship models are featured. The landing basket at the entrance to the hall was used to load and off-load passengers onto the decks of tugs. You can try lifting a small portion of a canon similar to those from the Portuguese galleon, Sacramento, which was wrecked near Schoenmakerskop more than 300 years ago. I spent most of our time at Bayworld here. I loved it! The kids… Not so much.

Temporary Display- Africa’s Lost World – A striking exhibition at the Museum featuring dinosaurs from Africa is sure to delight young and old. A number of the dinosaurs have been fitted with mechanisms allowing sound and movement. Of the dinosaurs featured are: a sauropod, the Algoasaurus, which lived in the area today known as the Algoa Basin; a stegosaur, Paranthodon africanus, a creature with the smallest brain-to-body size ratio of any animal; and a large predatory dinosaur from the Sahara Desert area, larger than the American Tyrannosaurus rex. Koko and Pixie loved this particular exhibition. Fifi was noncommital when I asked her if she like it.

Papa and Fifi really enjoyed the Snake Park. They have many snakes and all sorts of lizards. Papa even held an American Corn Snake and we chatted for quite a bit with Mariette, the head handler, while we were there. The kids got to touch and hold tortoises and we learnt quite a bit about them. It was fascinating. I haved a snake phobia, so I stayed away from the snake, but the girls and Papa were quite enamoured with it. You can tell from the pics that Koko wasn’t going to get much closer to it, either.

2 HUGE Burmese Pythons.

Pixie found her footprint and dug it up!