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| Large groups of elephants clustered around the water holes at Addo Elephant park, including lots of small baby elephants! |
| Glenn's Journals 11-20-02 Port Elizabeth It's Wednesday morning and our last day in South Africa before heading out for Australia. Erin and I had a few tasks that we wanted to accomplish today but we had also agreed to join Guenter to Addo Elephant park. Erin and I were preparing for the day when Guenter came into our room. We verified that he was still going to Addo and we mentioned that we were interested in joining him. He approved and would meet us in an hour or so after he had gone for a jog. We left for Addo around 10:00 am and arrived about an hour later. The drive through the park was initially uneventful but the park ranger had mentioned which locations the elephants were located today and they were towards the back of the park. Along the way we saw ostrich and many birds. When we finally reached the back section of the park we came across over 30 elephants hanging out near a water hole. Males and females, including babies covered the area and we watched from the comfort of the car. As they strolled around they walked within feet of the car for close ups. We spent approximately 2+ hours enjoying the park before heading back to Port Elizabeth. Once back in Port Elizabeth Guenter was nice enough to drive us to a shopping area so we could get some of our chores completed, including buying guide books for Australia, checking e-mail, and getting a haircut for me. We stopped for lunch and then checked out a few shops but no luck. We then stopped in to collect Guenter's laundry from the drycleaners before heading into the old part of town. We checked out the Frederick castle where the cannons were still mounted overlooking the town. We also saw some of the original buildings and hotels from the origin of Port Elizabeth. It was well worth the visit. After our visit to "old town" we stopped at the shopping area nearest to the hostel where Guenter and I got haircuts while Erin checked e-mail and had a coffee. We then returned to the hostel for the night. We skipped dinner tonight as we had eaten lunch so late in the day that we were not hungry. Guenter went out for dinner around 9:00 pm. We stayed in and checked e-mail and played a little pool before calling it a night. Tomorrow we are off to Perth and will not arrive until Friday night. The good news is that we have relatives of mine meeting us at the airport. After 28 hours on planes and at airports that will be nice. |