Addo Elephant Park
This
is, without a doubt, the domain of the elephant. They are everywhere
you go in the Addo Elephant Park and they let you get so close to them
without agitation
that you can even see the long eyelashes that frame their doe-like eyes
in stark detail.
This can be a
confusing park to the first time visitor because it’s made up
of a number of disjointed sections, a legacy of the fact that the
conservation area
is being expanded at an uneven rate.
What this
means in practise is that you will sometimes need to drive outside the
park through settlements and open farmland to get between different
sections and the Main Game Viewing Area where most of the wildlife is.
At the moment
(2008) the Addo Elephant Park stands at a total size of 164 000ha. Once
the future proposed
expansion is completed the entire park will form one unit and be the
third largest national park in South Africa.
Addo
Elephant Park Map
This map will give you a better idea of the
dimensions of the park that can be navigated with a normal sedan
vehicle and includes the Main Game Viewing Area and Colchester section.
The sections that aren't shown on this map (because
they require a 4x4 and/or there is no big game there)
is
Darlington, Kuzuko, Kabouga, Zuurberg, Nyati and Woody Cape. Click on
the icons for details and zoom in by using the controls in the top left
hand corner or double clicking in the map area itself.
View Larger
Map
Visiting
the Park
There are a number of safari companies that
organise safaris in the Addo Elephant Park but the best way to visit is
to go on a self drive with your own vehicle. This gives you a lot more
independance to spend as much time as you want at a sighting and you
will see just as much wildlife as when going with a guide.
I've written
a detailed 248 page book which will help you plan and guide
your own safari in Addo.
The
Kind of Weather to Expect
The climate in Addo is temperate
with rain
falling throughout the year but with the highest proportion in the
winter months. The average rainfall varies from 250mm in the semi-arid
interior regions to over 900mm in the coastal forests.
In terms of wildlife viewing there
isn’t really a best time to visit because it’s good
all year round but during the hotter summer months you will be able to
enjoy the spectacle of elephants visiting and bathing in the waterholes
more often.
If you are planning on camping then winter
might not be the best time because it can get pretty cold at night.
The
History of Addo
The early period in the area which the park
now covers was defined by hunting and agriculture. Between the 1700's
and the 1900's, ivory hunters exterminated most of the elephants in the
area until by 1931, when the Addo National Park was
proclaimed, there were only a total of 11 elephants remaining.
But the park was inadequately fenced and
elephants that strayed onto surrounding farmland were killed by the
farmers to protect thier crops. In 1954, Graham Armstrong, the
park manager at the time developed an elephant proof fence (only
one
elephant called Hapoor has ever managed to get through the fence)
which ultimately saved these gentle giants from extinction in the area.
The first official tourists entered the Addo
Elephant Park
in 1978 and since then the growth in visitors as well as the number and
variety of species found in the park has been remarkable.
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