Addo Elephant Park - It's not just elephants

Steppe buzzard (best guess!)

 

More postings will follow about the amazing elephant experiences I had in Addo Elephant National Park in February this year, but I was lucky enough to see a lot more than just hundreds of elephant.

This is one of the postings that doesn't feature a single elephant!

I based myself at Main camp in the north of Addo for 3 nights and that gave me plenty of time to explore that scenic rolling area of thickly bushed hills and gulleys with large open areas inbetween. 

It was only when I drove down the centre of the park on day 3, to exit in the south, that I realised how much more there is to see.

My next visit will definitely focus a bit more on the southern section of Addo.

This selection of photos are as a result, mostly taken in the north.

 

 

Foraging for insects in old ele dung

 There are both lion and spotted hyena in Addo, but the Black-backed jackal is also commonly seen.

Scavenging a kudu hide

 Some of the other smaller wildlife I saw over the 3 days..........

The flightless dung beetle (endemic)

Many yellow mongoose

A scrub hare (typically nocturnal)

And although I wasn't specifically "birding", I did see a lot, including species that are not found in the north-east bushveld (Kruger NP and surrounds).

Denham's bustard

Crowned lapwing

A rather scruffy Fiscal fly-catcher

Close to one particular road junction, a pair of ostrich had obviously placed their clutch of eggs.

On my first morning, the male ostrich was sitting on the eggs, whilst the female was out foraging in the open field across the road, and on the second morning they had swopped positions.

They gave me a great opportunity to get close up shots of their faces.

And later on my third morning, in the south of Addo, I had ostrich mating - the pic below shows the male flirting/showing off for the female just out of the frame.

Being late summer, there wasn't a spectacular amount of flowers out, but the dense thickets were full of the creamy flowered Caustic-creeper, with dashes of pink flowering spekboom and blue plumbago.

Brown-veined White Butterfly on the Caustic creeper

Spekboom

Plumbago

Some more birds.......

A handsome Bokmakeri

Female Red-backed shrike

I saw more procreative activity in the 3 days than I've ever seen before. Those ostrich, a life-time sighting of mating elephant (will be posted about separately), and then this amazing pair of Angulate tortoises.

To wrap up this first, of several, postings on just 3 days in Addo Elephant National Park, I'll include an always cute pic of a warthoglet and it's mother.