Plettenberg/Addo Elephant National Park-up early to get a start on the long drive to Kuzuko Lodge in Addo. This area of the park is to the north and involves quite a few dirt roads, so we were unsure about the GPS estimate of 3 hours and 28 minutes. The lodge was a last minute splurge. Not too bad though as we are only staying one night and the  rate includes the chalet, 2 safari trips and all meals.

The featured photo is of Kalihari, he and Mat are best friends after battling it out. Kalihari won the fight, damaging Mat’s jaw, but Mat is the Alpha lion because of his hunting skills. Mat grew up having to hunt for his food. Kalihari grew up in a pride where the lionesses did the hunting.

This is Mat, as you can see he is an excitable type of guy. We were parked about 25 feet away from him. Because of his fight with Kalihari, he is missing some teeth and his jaw doesn’t close properly. When Mat kills, Kalihari tears the skin of the animal to make feeding easier for Mat, then he backs off so that Mat can eat first.

We saw Kudu, Zebra, Hartebeest, Jackel, Elephants and Meercats. We weren’t able to get photos of all the animals, because they would take off the second they saw us.

Jonathan was our excellent ranger guide. He knew where the animals were and was able to navigate some of the worst roads I’ve ever seen.