The Addo Elephant National Park was founded in 1931 when there were only sixteen elephants left in the area due to hunting. The park has since expanded to be the third largest national park in South Africa and the elephant population now over 550. Bull elephants from the Kruger National Park were introduced to supplement the gene pool.
The park is also one of the few places in Africa where you can see the “Big 7” – the Big 5 (elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo) as well as whales and great white sharks.

Elephants are very interesting animals to watch... especially near water on a hot day! I took these photos when it was about 40 degrees celsius. Many of the elephants, especially the young bulls were trying to keep cool in the water. As you can see by the photos, elephants can be extremely playful animals.

The banks of the dam were quite steep so some of the elephants found it easier to reverse into the water (apparently elephants are the only animals that can’t run downhill)
In amongst all the elephants were some smaller animals such as warthogs and even jackals.