Elephants in Herds of Hundreds at the Addo Elephant National Park

 "Deep within the shadows of the dense valley bushveld of the Sundays River region of the Eastern Cape lies the Addo Elephant National Park. Here, the evenings are punctuated by the strident howl of the black-backed jackal, and the francolin's call heralds each new dawn. Safe from relentless persecution in the past, the grey leviathans of the bush now roam in peace." .... SANParks

We have a holiday home at Kenton On Sea, Eastern Cape in a beautiful coastal area between two rivers (Kariega River and Bushmans River) and luckily are able to visit the Addo Elephant National Park every time we go to our house (normally 3 times per year). It takes a short drive of 1 hour to get there.

The original Elephant section of the park was proclaimed in 1931, when only eleven elephants remained in the area - today this finely tuned ecosystem is sanctuary to over 350 elephants, 280 Cape buffalo, black rhino, a variety of antelope species, as well as the unique flightless dung beetle, found almost exclusively in Addo. But the Addo story has only just begun. Plans to expand the 125 000 ha (309 000 acre) Addo National Elephant Park into a 492 000 ha (1,2 million acre) "Greater Addo" park are moving forward at an exciting pace. This expansion is transforming Addo into the ultimate tourism destination.

Some of Addo Elephant National Park unique features will include:

• Unrivalled natural diversity, with five of South Africa's seven major vegetation zones (biomes).
• The Big 7 (Elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo, leopard, whales and great white sharks) in their natural habitat. Lions were reintroduced to the Addo Elephant National Park in 2004. During our visit in December 2004 we saw the first signs of a lion kill ... the remains of a giraffe lying by the side of the road
• A 120 000 ha (296 500 acre) marine reserve that includes islands that are home to the world's largest breeding populations of Cape gannets and second largest breeding population of African penguins.
• Rich heritage of archaeological and historical sites.
• A wide variety of accommodation and activity options.

While all the standard SANParks information can be found on this site Addo has its own independent website giving a fuller exploration of its wonderful bounty. Go to www.addoelephantpark.com and discover more about this incredible conservation initiative.

The mission of the Addo Elephant National Park is to conserve the faunal and floral assemblages and ecological processes that characterise the unique Eastern Cape region, and to actively present this for the appreciation by visitors.

http://www.sanparks.org/parks/addo/images/maps/addomap2.jpg to see map of Addo Elephant National Park