Let's begin by saying thank-you. We may have always enjoyed our adventures and sharing them with you in conversation, but as a worry shared is a worry halved, so is a joy shared a joy doubled! Writing these and making the video's has become such an unexpected joy in my life, so thank you for reading and watching :)
On a side story, when we started InsideOut Fitness we needed to - very quickly - figure out how we would "market" it. We are service providers by nature, Jay in fitness and myself as Physiotherapist - we are not very good at marketing. Social media is not our thing - we have enormous gratitude to those of you who have stepped up to teach and help!. But back to the dilemma of how we "market" this venture, we decided the best way was to stay true to ourselves. Posting adverts of industry fitness pics, stereotypical and outright sexist (in my opinion) of woman in the perfect gym attire, rubbed me up the wrong way. We were not doing that. We are a family, perfectly imperfect. We decided to share our adventures instead. It may seem off the topic of woman's fitness, but when in doubt, do what you love and it will work. The concept is born off the idea that in a fundamentally service industry, being authentic is better than following what is expected, that the 2 topics are not separate but part of the same person and to help people on there journey, we share ours.
Addo! So this is part 2 of 2021. Winter was great but Summer is where its at! We spoiled ourselves this time. By spoiled, I mean we booked a chalet/rondavel and did not camp. We have learned through years of this that Summer is intense. Camping is great but really hard in the heat with no river. We had initially booked the Spekboom tented camp, we did it for a night in Winter and decided it was not our preference. This time we stayed in the rondavels overlooking the main rest camp flood-lit waterhole. WOW. We arrived in the rain, a lot of rain (desperately needed in the regions severe drought). We had a late lunch of thai curry and enjoyed the downpour.
Addo in Summer is glorious. We have seen some our our best sightings in Addo, elephants, lion, rhino, spotted and now brown hyena (didn't even know they had!), bat-eared foxes, glorious butterflies, birds and the list goes on...
We had 4 nights here. Family could visit from PE and we could enjoy a rare alone time in nature and our kids once again could be treated to the spoils of grandparents.
It was so much fun to watch the Eli's in the rain and the scenes with the sunsets and clouds. We drove to the middle section every morning looking for the lions we saw when we drove in (unfortunately not again). The Ngulube Loop and Vukani loops are our favorites and did not disappoint. Full of antelope and predators. On this trip we had the privilege of seeing our best secretary bird sighting, a skulk/troop of bat eared foxes foraging in the field with some warthog and our most prized brown hyena sighting nervously eating a kudu kill. Jay loves his eli's (Indlovu now the name of his vehicle), but I love buffalo. They make for such interesting photos and Addo is one of the best spots to see them up close and in there herds. Summer brings wonderful sightings of babies and all there cuteness!
We did not picnic at Jack's this time, too hot, but it makes a regular and staple pit stop for the loo, with lovely private braai areas. Remember to always look on the sighting's boards to follow the animals and plan your drives. We have not done a SANParks game drive in this park, mostly because we are well versed on the roads and never short of sightings. I can imagine, though, that if you stay outside and come in for day visits you may have less than ideal experiences. The best sightings in Addo are absolutely just after sunrise and just before sunset - if you staying outside Addo, you will miss these times as it is open earlier and closes later for guests staying inside.
The museum and underground hide is wonderful, with a well stocked shop and Cattle Baron restaurant. There is a lovely day visitors picnic area and the pool is only accessible to staying guests. There is also a lovely short PPC trail inside main camp. Watch out for the flightless dung beetles on the road, especially after the rain and in Summer! They are everywhere then and one tends to forget they are endanged.
Aaah, it was glorious. Next Summer we will be visiting Kruger again! We will be staying in a few new camps and hopefully wonderful adventures! Our next big trip - third time lucky - we are in Namibia!!!! This is our much awaited and anticipated trip, we cannot wait to share it with you!