Addo's bush reveals few of its inhabitants to visitors. While sightings of elephant, red hartebeest, black-backed jackal, vervet monkey and ostrich seem fairly common, anything else could be considered a bonus, although the elephants more than make up for this.
Under these circumstances, a walk along the Spekboom Trail is recommended. This trail is set in a botanical reserve from which the elephants, rhinos and other larger mammals have been fenced out. It provides a good opportunity to study Addo's rich plant life and smaller creatures such as insects, butterflies, lizards and birds.
Talking of birds, Addo has a checklist of some 190 species, with a further 60 species occurring in the Zuurberg section. Some of these may be seen from a hide in the rest camp while other good places for twitchers include the park's dams, the Spekboom Lookout and the Spekboom Trail.
Addo has enjoyed considerable success in terms of conserving elephants and the 11 elephants Harold Trollope drove into the new park in 1931 increased to 316 earlier this year. This would not have been possible without more land, and a programme to purchase land and create a corridor between Addo and the adjacent Zuurberg National Park was embarked upon in the late 1980s. In 1995 Zuurberg National Park was amalgamated into the Addo Elephant National Park, increasing its size to more than 54,000ha. The park is still growing.
The beautiful mountainous terrain, grasslands and forested valleys of the Zuurberg support a rich variety of plants, mammals and birds. Many of these do not occur in the Addo section, including three species of cycads, leopards and hippos, the colourful Knysna Lourie and Narina Trogon, and raptors such Black, Longcrested and Crowned eagles and Peregrine Falcon.
Visitors can explore the Zuurberg section on foot, on horseback or by 4x4, with overnight options on the horse and 4x4 trails. River rafting on the Sundays River will soon add to the mix. The only non-trail accommodation is at the six-bedded Kabouga Guest House. However the Zuurberg Mountain Inn - just across the road from the park's entrance gate - provides a comfortable alternative, while Addo's rest camp is little more than 18km away on a good dirt road that incorporates a scenic section of the Zuurberg Pass.
At the very least, you should allow yourself a full day and night in Addo, with an additional morning or afternoon set aside to visit the Zuurberg section. Addo is little more than a two-hour drive from the Mountain Zebra National Park to the north or the Tsitsikamma National Park to the west - both very desirable options - while the city of Port Elizabeth is less than an hour away.
Whatever your itinerary, once you have visited the area you're sure to bless the foresight of the conservationists whose efforts allowed yesterday's "Hunter's Hell" to blossom into today's splendid national park.
David Steele was the founding editor of South Africa's Getaway magazine. He now works freelance.
About Addo's Elephants
A study of elephants in South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park has provided information that increases our knowledge of the African pachyderm. Anna Whitehouse and Anthony Hall-Martin have traced the life history of every one of the (approximately) 370 elephant that have lived in the park since its creation (starting with 11 elephant) in 1931. Using records kept by wardens and rangers, and over 8600 photographs taken between 1934 and 1998, they have built up a picture of each animal's life, the relationships between individuals, including cow-calf bonds, and the composition of family groups.
Individuals were identified by age, sex, body size, tusks, tails and their particularly unique and unchanging characteristic patterns of facial wrinkles and blood vessels on the backs of their ears. Amongst the findings were those showing that, in Addo: the average age of first-time mothers was 13 years; by 16 years of age 95% of the cows had had at least one calf; and nearly every living cow below the age of 49 years was either pregnant or lactating.
The population, currently 280 animals, is healthy. More than 90% of the herd have a life expectancy of over 50 years. The research findings will be most useful if proposals to make the park significantly larger take place.
Anthony Hall-Martin is well known for his extensive work on the ecology, behaviour and management of elephants, particularly in Kruger National Park. He is Director: Conservation Development in the South African National Parks. Anna Whitehouse is currently writing up her PhD thesis. Their study is reported in Oryx, volume 34, No. 1, Jan 2000, pp46-55.
Published in Travel Africa Edition Twelve: Summer 2000 Text is subject to Worldwide Copyright (c)
Comments on the above article:
The article above was written in the year 2000 by Mr. David Steele and since then alot has happened at Addo Elephant National Park. The vision of expanding the Park from the Karoo area down to the coast has materialised. Also, the vision of introducing previously found animals like lions, hyenas and cheetas has been done. The Addo Elephant Park of 2009 is much more than just elephants.
