Giraffe at Kragga Kamma

Addo Elephant National Park, as with all National Parks, has a policy to only have animals that occurred there naturally.  Giraffes didn't thus you won't find them in the park.  The best place to see them though is at the Kragga Kamma Game Park just outside Port Elizabeth.  

St Francis the patron saint of animals

The Animal Welfare Society on Victoria Drive truly needs all the help it can get with so many people who care for animals it is also clear that there are even more who don't really care for animals.  Outside the Animal Welfare building stands a statue and I wonder how many people notice it or know who it is.  It is the the figure of St Francis, the patron saint of animals and the environment.  A fitting place for him to bestow his blessings on.

Fire's biggest victims

Walking along the Fynbos Trail at Schoenmakerskop observing the devastation of the recent fires I just realised again how the little guys, like tortoises and snails, are the biggest victims.

Walking the Animal Welfare dogs

Not everybody are in the position to adopt a dog from the Animal Welfare, but everybody are able to put some time aside to go and walk the dogs.  Visiting the donkeys at the adjacent East Cape Horse Care Unit it gladdened the heart to see how many people are volunteering their time to walk and play with the homeless dogs. 

A Kragga Kamma photo safari with Chasing the Rainbow

I'm still working my way through Chasing the Rainbow's videos featuring Port Elizabeth and the surrounding areas as I find them excellent material for my Video Friday posts and at the same time (hopefully) getting more of my followers to follow them as well.  Today's video features Kragga Kamma Game Park and shows how awesome an attraction it is to 1: take kids; 2: take photos and 3: take kids and encourage them to take photos.

Snake interaction at Animals in Wonderland

Over the last couple of days I have done a few posts about the PE Geocaching community's visit to Animals in Wonderland.  The main reason for our visit was an event celebrating World Snake Day and that was also the reason Animals in Wonderland was selected as the venue for the event.  Juan and Jeru has an extensive collection of snakes and other reptiles which they use as part of their educational visits (both at their premises or yours) and parties.  We were a fairly biggish group but with enough snakes to go around, we all - or most of us as some hid in the back - got the opportunity to handle at least one of their slithering pets. 

Wallace the pig dog

We have a couple of Daxies at home who think they are people and I have a friend who has a African Grey who barks like a dog and then says "I'm not a dog".  But have you ever seen a warthog who thinks he's a dog?  Spending an afternoon at Animals in Wonderland I met Wallace the warthog... I mean Wallace the dog... No wait, Wallace the pig dog... Wallace.   

Wallace is an orphan warthog who came to Animals in Wonderland as a tiny little piglet and was hand-raised to give him a shot in life.  Now Wallace runs around with the resident dogs, sleeps on a mat in front of the bed and sits when he's told so.  He also like to have his belly rubbed like his doggy siblings. But who doesn't? 

Interesting tit bits at Animals in Wonderland

Part of the experience at Animals in Wonderland is a room full of interesting tit bits where both kids and adults can discover new and fascinating things.  Among them there is a tank with a platanna frog and one with mudskippers.  Yes, mudskippers.  Those fish that walk  (or more like hop or skip - hence the name) out onto land.  I could not believe my eyes when two of them hopped out the water and onto the adjacent mud inside their tank. In the photo the Damselfly and Mrs Blaster are discussing how much the platanna frog grosses them out.

Animals in Wonderland

Last weekend I got to visit Animals in Wonderland for the first time during a Geocaching event we had there to celebrate World Snake Day.  Animals in Wonderland is an environmental education facility located out in Greenbushes.  They're not a rescue and rehabilitation facility but rather take in animals and birds that cannot be released again although they have and will continue to rehabilitate and release any animals that can be done so.  Animals in Wonderland caters mostly for school groups and kids parties, but also offer tours on request, but this must be booked in advance.  Not just is there a range of raptors and other birds, but also a few different mammals and reptiles. And snakes. Lots of snakes.  You'll also meet Wallace the Warthog who thinks he's a dog but I'll post about him in a day or so.

The facility has three Spotted Eagle Owls.  One of them, Mia, was hand reared and forms part of the education program.  The highlight of the Damselfly's visit was having Mia sit on her arm.  

Pork passanger

We've all seen pictures (or in real life) of Red Bill Oxpeckers sitting on rhino, buffalo, giraffe or some of the other bigger animals.  Taking a drive through Addo the other day I got to see a similar scene but it didn't include a Red Bill Oxpecker nor a big animal.  This time it was a Southern Boubou riding on a warthog's back.  Pumba has a new friend.

Buffalo portrait

I know I posted a picture of a couple of Addo buffs earlier on in the week, but I wanted to share this one with you as well.  It's nice when they look straight at you.  Makes for great pics.  Or I hope he was looking at me...

Striped donkey portrait

This male zebra seemed to have had a run-in with something and was standing in the road in Addo's southern section.  He was probably feeling sorry for himself and nursed his wounds and standing in the middle of the road meant he could see any approaching predator coming a long way away.  It also meant though that I got to stop right next to him and get a closeup portrait shot.

Addo Buffs

My quick trip through Addo last week didn't produce a big amount of elephants as usual.  I did get three separate Cape Buffalo sightings.  When I started working as a tourist guide 18 years ago the Cape Buffalo sightings were very few and far apart.  The Addo buffalo was basically nocturnal due to the hunting of big game that took place a hundred years earlier which lead to the buffalo starting to hide during the day and only coming out at night.  This all changed when Addo introduced lions into the park and the buffalo's' behavior literally took a 180 degree turnabout.  What makes the Cape Buffalo in Addo so unique is the fact that they are disease free.  The majority of buffalo throughout South Africa suffer from bovine tuberculosis (BTB) so buffalo from a place like Addo is regarded as Black Gold and is very sought after at game auctions.

Big boy drinking

There is nothing wrong with drinking alone.  Pity about the paparazzi audience...

Addo landscape

I was invited to the launch of the SPAR Kirkwood Wildsfees at the Addo Elephant National Park main camp yesterday and decided to take the scenic route through the park from Colchester.  Back when I was a tourist guide I used to visit the park as often as 5 or 6 times a week at one stage.  These days I don't get to visit nearly enough and is probably lucky if I get the time to visit once or twice a year.  An absolute crying shame if you ask me.  Even though I only had about 2 hours in the park it was enough to wet my whistle for another longer visit soon.  Just got to find the time though.

Zebras in the city

It's not often that you get the opportunity to see game right in the city.  An early morning walk on the Grysbok Trail in the NMMU Nature Reserve gave us the opportunity to see zebra fairly close up and while on foot.

Garden services at rest

With the Walmer Township so close to the airport it's nothing strange to see cattle or goats grazing in the area around 3rd Avenue and Allister Miller Drive.  Normally, in between people complaining about it, there are jokes about the garden services at work.  Natural garden services that is often more effective than the municipality when it comes to maintaining some open spaces.  Last week I had to drop something off at the airport and found the goats taking a break from their verge maintenance duties.

Animals in the Sardinia Bay Conservancy - Chasing the Rainbow

Chasing the Rainbow is a fellow travel blog based here in Port Elizabeth.  The blog is done by Sarah and Ralph Dirsuwei and covers mostly family travel which means that they involve their three sons Jacob, Luke and Cian.  The family lives in the Sardinia Bay area within the Sardinia Bay Conservancy.  For the last few months Jacob has had a bush camera set up along a fence within the conservancy which get triggered by movement.  And movement there is lots of.  Check this out.

A Journey of Giraffes

Normally people would go to a game reserve to see giraffes but did you know there is a group of 20 giraffes on the Port Elizabeth beachfront? 

What do you call a group or collection of giraffes?

Corps of giraffes

Herd of giraffes

Tower of giraffes

Journey of giraffes

While we are at it.  I bet you didn't know that there are a couple of American states that has laws involving giraffes.

In Atlanta, Georgia, it is illegal to tie a giraffe to a lamp post or a telephone pole.

In Chicago, it is illegal to fish while sitting on a giraffe’s neck. 

In Idaho, you can’t fish while sitting on a giraffe’s back.

Calling for #AnimalRightsInTourism

Today the documentary Blood Lions gets release and to coincide with that, travel bloggers from all over South Africa decided to put their voices together to call for #AnimalRightsInTourism.  Blood Lions put the focus on the canned hunting industry which has direct links with places offering lion cub interaction.  Does people who get to play with lion cubs realise where that cute little cub goes when he is all grown up?  Probably into a small fenced enclosure and right into the sight of a trophy hunter.  The cute little cub doesn't stand a chance.  He can't even try to get away.  I'm not going to lie. I've petted cubs not thinking what will happen to them.  I've rode on an elephant and you probably read it on one of my blog posts. One never thinks what those elephants went through to become the "obedient" animals they are today.  Obedience or fear?

Not long ago I visited an Eastern Cape game reserve and one of the things our group did was to "walk" wild cheetahs.  Not walk as in taking them for a stroll.  Walk as in approach them on foot but staying a respectable and safe distance from them.  Observing them in their natural environment and not intervening compared to walking them while they have leases on.  Over the last few years my view on #AnimalRightsInTourism has changed drastically and I would rather see them in the wild than interact with them in captivity.