For our second full day at Addo Elephant Park, we had nothing booked, no particular plans. We would simply explore the park on our own, and see what we could see.

The park is big. To get from the north end, where our accommodations were, to the south end, which is near the coast, takes a few hours of driving on the circuitous dirt roads. After breakfast, we eagerly headed off on our adventure.

There is a road that runs east-west through the middle of the park, and there used to be a fence all along it. A few years ago, they took down the fence to give the growing elephant herds more space. At the top of a hill, we reached an intersection with the east-west road, and passed into the southern section of the park.

Shortly afterwards, we saw several cars stopped beside a small clearing, at a crossroads. It didn’t take long to see why. Just visible above the grass in the middle of the clearing, were a couple of male lions. They periodically looked up and around at the trees and cars, and then lay back down, almost as if inviting a belly rub. But we stayed comfortably in our car! The staff at the park had several stories some amusing, some tragically horrible, about guests who had stupidly exited their vehicles inside the park.

Further on, we crested a hill, and then made a long descent into a shallow valley. Various antelope were all over the hillside to our left. Further ahead, there were a few elephants meandering along not far from the road.

At the south end of the valley, there was a watering hole. Three more elephants were standing around it. It felt like we had entered the hidden heart of the park, with all kinds of animals all nearby.

Eventually, we continued south. There is another set of accommodations at the southern entrance, but not the main office nor restaurant and gift shop that was near our cabin in the northern section. We drove past the chalets and out a gate. We were now not far from the main east-west highway leading to Port Elizabeth, and further south, the coast.

The town of Colchester was across the highway. We drove through it admiring the small cottage-like houses, and ended up at a gas station, which had a restaurant attached. But when we entered the restaurant, we found it clearly in the middle of renovations. The staff apologized that they couldn’t serve us, and recommended a pub back the way we had come.

We backtracked and located it, on a quiet corner across the street from more bungalows. Their grass lawns shone a deep green in the bright sunlight. It kind of felt like we were in someone’s backyard, as we enjoyed our lunch on the outside deck of the pub.

When we returned to the park and made our way back to the watering hole, the elephants were still there, more this time including some babies. They did their best to put their trunks to use drinking and showering, with mixed results.

As we drove on, we noticed two more elephants ahead. They were at the side of the road, and they appeared to be following the road, coming towards us. I slowed the car right down, and pulled over to the other side of the road, and stopped. The elephants kept coming. The two of them slowly passed within a few feet of the car. They were close enough that we could count the creases in their thick grey skin as it swayed back and forth.

When we reached the crossroads where the lions had been lying in the grass, we saw they were sitting up this time. Otherwise, they hadn’t moved an inch all day.