Helderberg Manor -- It's a lifestyle

Helderberg Manor Retirement Village in Somerset West is more than just a retirement development. It is a lifestyle community which strives to provide its residents with all of life’s greatest pleasures. From a fully equipped gym and swimming, to restaurant and beauty salon, this retirement village has all the elements of a fabulous retirement village.

Luxury Eastern Cape Boutique Hotel

Woodall offers luxury Boutique Hotel accommodation in South Africa's Eastern Cape. Opening onto beautiful rose or indigenous gardens, alive with the calling of birds, the rooms at Woodall are as seeped in luxury as they are in comfort. Each room is spacious, private, and equipped with every convenience from climate control to internet access. Other features include private verandas, en-suite bathrooms, mini hi-fi’s, mini-bars, sumptuous furnishings, crisp percale linen, bathrobes, telephones, electronic safes and CD players. All have private outdoor showers for an enlivening experience not to be missed. Twin or King bedded rooms available. There are also two family units.

African Lodge in Luxury Country Cottages
"Havens of Tranquillity"

Luxurious rooms and cottages are private and spacious with an understated elegance and a classical feel. Each room is individually designed and decorated with an air of bygone romance.

Suites
"The Luxury of Space"

Luxurious suites with a contemporary feel are airy and furnished using natural materials and raw silks. Light and spacious, completely private, each suite offers understated refinement: spacious bedrooms, separate sitting, dressing areas, expansive bathrooms complete with double outdoor showers and private pools. There is one family suite.

Source: Woodall-Addo Guest House Accommodation Elephant Park

Addo Guest House Accommodation | Elephant Park Safaris

Woodall's luxury open topped land cruiser departs daily on a number of excursions: Our highly experienced and qualified game rangers, with an intimate knowledge of the Addo area, include a bird and tree expert with a MSc Degree in plant sciences; a local historian whose knowledge and experience of the local area is unsurpassed; a wildlife and agricultural conservationist. These rangers offer personalised tours with emphasis being placed on individual interests and comfort.

Addo is the best place to get up close and personal with the biggest land mammal - the Park is home to the densest population of elephant in the world. Other mammals include lion, hyena, Cape buffalo, and black rhino, as well as zebra, jackal, warthog, suricate and numerous species of antelope. Over 150 bird species have been recorded in Addo and there are around 600 different plant species. Addo is also home to the endangered dung beetle. Whether you experience the park from the comfort of your own vehicle or on a game drive with an experienced guide, the chances are you will have close encounters with the elephant. To make the most of the park be sure to bring binoculars, camera, walking shoes. Wildlife reference books and road maps of the Park are available from the reception at Woodall.

Five Star Eastern Cape Guest House Accommodation

The establishment was developed from the original farmhouse built in the early 1900’s and the charming ambience and character of yesteryear still permeate the atmosphere. Old world attention to detail blends seamlessly with contemporary African luxury and style as reflected in the raw, earthy magnificence of the architecture. This award-winning boutique hotel caters for the discerning traveller by offering five star luxury and standards of service, reflected in attention to detail and spacious accommodation.

Source: Addo Guesthouse | Addo Elephant Park | Eastern Cape Accommodation

South African Road trip (2): Addo Elephant National Park

From Coffee Bay we travelled to Port Elizabeth (PE) to fetch an extra person from the Airport then went further inland to our next accommodation, Orange Elephant Backpackers. Orange Elephant is about 8 km from Addo Elephant National Park. The rooms feel more like a guesthouse. Each little house had two double rooms with a small lounge and bathroom. The main area has a restaurant and bar area. (The food at the restaurant was very good)
We spent the whole of the next day in the National Park and in the evening we sat around the camp fire and listened to a band that was also travelling along the coast.
The park itself:
In the park itself we did see plenty of elephants. Addo has over 450 elephants and has densest population of elephants in the world. We followed the herd for a few kilometres watching them play in waterholes along the way. It was strange seeing elephants without tusks. It made them look I bit like Indian elephants.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing a Caracal (African Lynx) in the wild. They are very shy and nocturnal so seeing one is very lucky especially such a relaxed one. The caracal was lying near the road licking himself clean. He had spots on his chest and stomach which is apparently a sign that he is still young.
Caracals are the largest of Africa's ‘small cats’. The can kill antelope that weigh up to 40kg (about 88 pounds)
Another small predator that we saw was a black-backed Jackal. These jackals are endangered because they are often shot and trapped by farmers for killing sheep. We also saw some yellow mongoose.
We didn't see as many ,er, herbivores as we'd usually do, but we saw some very large buffalo, a few Burchelle's zebra, lots of Red Hartebeest, Kudu and more Warthogs than I've ever seen in one area.
We saw a few interesting bird species like Ostriches and a Pale-Chanting Goshawk.
Driving was very slow going through the park because you have to avoid all the leopard-tortoises and dung beetles on the roads. Flightless dung beetles are only found in Addo. Leopard tortoises are also meant to be endangered but after going to Addo I never would have said so.
The next day we travelled to Plettenberg Bay…

Article Source

Eastern Cape Homestays up their game

WITH the tourism sector accounting for more than 10% of the provincial economy, rural communities have started to realise that their natural surroundings could be used as a source of income and a tourist attraction.

This can be done in the comfort of their own homes, with little or no start-up capital, in the form of what has been termed home stay accommodation.

Home stay accommodation is provided in a private family home with the owner living in the house or on the property. The guests share the public areas with the host family – who expose them to the national and cultural heritage while sharing with them a traditional way of life. Traditional food is served to the guests.

A perfect example of how home stay projects can evolve is Kwam’ eMakana in Grahamstown, a project that saw the home stay initiative evolving from an idea into reality.

One hundred women were shown how to start and manage their rural bed and breakfast facilities by being taught the skills with which to draw tourism to the rural areas and townships.

However, not all of these establishments meet the required quality standards to host guests. The long term plan of the Eastern Cape Tourism Board is to eventually get these home stays to a level where they can be converted into guest houses – enabling them to be graded by 2010.

Community-based travel is the largest untapped market for both domestic and international visitors to the Eastern Cape and the rest of South Africa. It offers unrivalled potential for tourism growth, while providing small businesses with jobs, conserving local cultural and natural heritage.

The ECTB is collating a database of tourism establishments in the EC to include the informal accommodation sector – under which home stays fall – to ensure there is sound information for

development, analysis and interpretation of the sector.

Article Source
Woodall Country House - Addo

Addo Elephant National Park History

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.

Article Source

Woodall Country House

Full steam ahead for rail tourism in Eastern Cape

Three rail corridors in Eastern Cape full steam ahead
Port Elizabeth, Alicedale and Addo have been identified as the most promising Eastern Cape rail tourism corridors in a study commissioned by the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) and Department of Roads and Transport.

The study, commissioned in early 2008, also identifies a further four inter-city rail corridors, namely the East London-Bethulie, Cookhouse-Blaney junction, New Brighton-Vondeling and Amabele-Mthatha corridors.

ECDC regional head Ken Bern explains that the intention is that a large proportion of the half-million international visitors are looking for a holiday which offers scenic beauty, excursions offering unique local experiences, high quality scenery, as well as authentic or vintage décor. Currently the total value of the international market’s spend in 2006 was R4.3-billion, an increase from R3.8-billion in 2005.

In addition, the study is also looking to see how it can capture a younger economy, and backpacker segment who favour high speed trains. The study points to a growing rail tourism sector and that the province already enjoys success with the Apple Express, the Port Elizabeth narrow gauge vintage train.

For more information contact Noxolo Mtana or Ken Bern on +27 43 743 5600 or email nmtana@ecdc.co.za
The study assessed the province’s potential by measuring its technical qualities, rail’s operational status and tourism potential. There were 10 criteria used in evaluating the tourism potential, including the scenic quality of the corridor, availability of tourist attractions and resources, priority tourism areas, access to departure/arrival points, accommodation, connectivity, market presence, market proximity, social capital and environment.
And it was according to these criteria that the three railway lines were considered the most promising.

The report points out that the Port Elizabeth-Avontuur line, which is home to the Apple Express, is currently being used to haul timber pulpwood from the Assegaaibosch area to Baakensrivier in Port Elizabeth, and travels to locations which can offer many attractions as well as accommodation in key towns. Furthermore it is supported by motivated and committed local tourism roleplayers and is close to a key source market in Port Elizabeth.

The second line, Alicedale, operates as a daily (except for Sundays) commuter service from Alicedale to Grahamstown and back. The town is home to the Bushman Sands Hotel and the hoteliers believe it can be used to transfer conference groups to and from the hotel from Port Elizabeth. at Alicedale The Addo line, which is used during the fruit season (May to October) when export citrus is hauled from pack houses in the Sundays River Valley to Port Elizabeth’s harbour, offers tourist attractions such as the iconic Addo National Park, which is fast becoming a key tourism node on the Eastern Cape, offering the unique Eastern Cape vegetation, wildlife and country lifestyle. Again, the area is easily accessible from Port Elizabeth and hence very suitable for day and weekend trips.

Bern points to other country examples such as the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe where rail remains a popular means of travel and holidaying with older, wealthier, well-educated, well-travelled, mid to high income tourists.

'Considering the extent of the Eastern Cape’s under-utilised rail network, the potential exists to develop rail based tourism into a viable industry that could generate much needed employment opportunities in impoverished rural areas. The next move for us is to conduct detailed feasibility studies on the three rail corridors as well as for the four inter-city rail corridors,' says Bern.

The report also indicates that some lines such as the Letskraal–Lootsberg section and Grahamstown-Port Alfred and Lady Grey-Barkley-East rural branch lines may be better suited to light-weight rail traffic. Recommendations include the outsourcing of these lines to the private sector.

'It is also possible, in addition to carrying tourists, these services could also be used to transport local communities who would not ordinarily have access to affordable public transportation. Obviously, feasibility studies should evaluate the merits of converting the lines that are suitable for light-weight rail traffic or for conventional trains in terms of return on the capital investment which would be made for each option,' adds Bern. In developing its recommendations, the study considered local and international case studies.

Bern explains: 'Across the board, whether it is the Blue Train, Rovos Rail, trains in Australia, Canada or UK, the number of passengers using rail transport is on the increase. For example, Eurail Group reported a worldwide increase in EurailPasses sales of 24% in 2004 and 18% in 2006.'

However, there are challenges which need to be addressed if rail tourism is to be pursued in the province. These include a shortage of locomotives, the availability of passenger rolling stock, access agreements for private enterprises for rail usage, the uncertain future of state-subsidised rail tourism enterprises and limitations with regard to steam train operations.

In its heyday, the then South African Railways, apart from being the largest freight hauler in the country, provided affordable, safe and reliable public transport to both long-distance travellers and daily commuters.

Enthusiasm for this tourism initiative is also borne out by local rail operators such as Johan Minnaar, William Luckoff and later Charles Kingwill, who established the Karoo Railway Safari 10 years ago, believe their 'sleepy Karoo valley, with its solitude and natural beauty, is a wonderful experience which should be shared!'

Their planned rail-based venture will take tourists from Bethesda Road to Lootsberg (northwards) and Nieu Bethesda, to a farm a few kilometres outside of Graaff-Reinet, an area described by a top railway official as the second most picturesque scenery in South Africa.

Article Source