Craig Duffield’s expertise is not just in the history and the culture of his country, but also in the wildlife. “I’m trained as a culture guide and certified to guide around the Eastern Cape,” he explains, “but also as a wildlife guide” – a ranger to you and me. This comes in hugely handy at our next stop, Addo Elephant National Park. Like the province it sits in, Addo isn’t the most famous of South Africa’s National Parks, but it’s a hidden gem.
The third largest in the country, the park is home to a vast range of animals. In a single game drive through the rolling, scrub-covered hills we see lions, elephants, warthogs and kudu as well as rare sightings like the caracal, a small cat-like creature with enormous ears. It’s not just the National Parks that are full of wildlife either. South Africa is one of 17 countries that have been listed as “megadiverse” by Conservation International, and it really does feel like there are incredible creatures everywhere. At one stage a troop of baboons slows down traffic on a main road, and a restaurant we eat in has a sign warning “monkeys may drop in for a visit during your meal.” After leaving the national park we take a canoe trip down the Addo river in search of birds. The stretch of river we’re paddling isn’t protected, it’s just farmland. Either side of us are carefully kept orange groves, and yet the area is teeming with wildlife.
We see kingfishers, the ahinga snake bird, two of the absolutely majestic African fish eagles and even a sleepy-looking owl having a daytime nap in a tree. At one stage our guide points out a boomslang, a highly venomous tree snake, swimming through the water ahead of us with just its head visible above the surface. One evening later on the trip, Warren Manser, another wildlife guide, leads us out to a small pond in the hotel grounds to go “frogging.” This is not (as urban dictionary would suggest) the act of dogging on a canal boat, but rather spotting, catching and then releasing the tiny reed frogs that make such a racket in all South Africa’s waterways.
