The Elephant March...

We took the kids back to Addo Elephant Park this weekend, hoping to have better luck with the animals! We set out mid morning, Addo is an hour away, and ordered a picnic basket for our trip in Addo! There is a restaurant right before the entrance that makes up baskets for people going into Addo, the basket was R140 ($14) and contained 5 different sandwiches, chips, muffins , fruit, cookies, waters, juices, coffee-all packed in a precious basket which you return on your way out of Addo! So we begin, I am talking it up the whole way-"We will see so much", "Aren't we glad we are all together", "What an awesome day"-In my mind I am hoping for the best! Little did I know we would all get goosebumps by the end of the day! Addo is a national park which does have lodging accommodations, self guided tours, and game drives guided by game rangers-we opted to drive through in our own car. We start off by seeing some Kudos and Zebra....




























We continue driving and we come across one elephant, we have learned that if the elephant is alone it is a male, because males will venture off on their own (HMMMM, sound familiar?!)

In the distance we see a ton of elephants-we race to where we think they are-OMG! There are elephants in every direction! So we drive to get a good spot to watch, and I look to the left and there is a herd coming from the distance to our exact location!

The babies hide underneath their mamas legs, much like my tribe!

We were so stunned, they were literally coming straight for us, they crossed! There was one car in front of us, and they were in their path but the elephants went all around the car as they walked!

Here is a video clip of the moment (please excuse the audio-the sound of pure southern excitement):

As you can see the day was filled with much excitement-there is something about seeing these animals in their natural surroundings that is absolutely incredible! I hope for you that at some point in your life you are able to experience something like this! Hunter said a prayer aloud in the car "God, thank you for your animals!", you truly feel God's presence in a place like this-you take out all materialistic things, and you are one with nature-An experience of a lifetime, for the young and old!

More of our favorites from the day...

Notice the brand new baby...

Watering Hole...