The Addo Elephant National Park Eastern Cape South Africa ... News & Stories Directory

The Addo Elephant National Park is 1 hour by car from my holiday home at Kenton-on-Sea in the most marvelous province of the eastern cape.
Over the last few years Lions and Hyaena have been re-introduced into the Park where they used to roam freely until shot out many years ago.
The Lions have already started to breed and a new line of Addo Lions based upon Kalahari Lion stock has begun.
We visit the Addo every time we stay at KOS. The National park is one of the major wildlife and nature conservation projects being undertaken in South Africa. In fact the Addo is now being marketed as the home of the Big 7 since recent extensions to the Park include the coastal belt where Southern Right Whales and Great White Sharks swim close to the Alexandra Dune Fields and Bird Islands … major sanctuaries for Gannets, Seals and Penguins.
This whole area is becoming one very large wildlife sanctuary with smaller game reserves springing up continuously. The area ia malaria-free unlike parts of the Kruger National Park.
The waterhole just outside the admin centre at Addo is floodlit giving wonderful night-time views of animals coming down to drink. I also read recently that there were plans to make an undderground viewing point at the waterhole but have no further details at this stage.
It is now possible to access Addo from 2 sides with the recent opening of the sand road close to Colchester. This is in addition to the entrance off the main Paterson to Addo tarred road.

GM South Africa has given support to the Eastern Cape conservation challenge by recently winning the tender to supply Isuzu vehicles to the Addo Elephant National Park.

Twin elephants have been born in the Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape. This is only the third time in the history of the park that such an event has been recorded. Elephant cows usually give birth to one calf after a 22-month gestation period and the occurrence of twins is relatively rare. All three sets of twins have been born into the same family herd, to closely related females. At the time of my latest visit in 2005 I learned that only one set of twins remained alive.

Elephants and Cape Cobras ... we were lucky enough to see a Cape Cobra cross the road directly in front of us today. This si the second Cape Cobra we have seen Addo.

Addo Elephants in Herds of Hundreds ... Addo is a place where you can see Hundreds of Elephants gathered together to drink and frollic in the water holes close to the road.

Field notes on the Black Rhino ... 'Swart renoster' 'Umkhombe'  You would be very lucky to see one in daylight, but you may see signs that they are around.

Field notes on the Meerkat 'Igala' ... Never far from Its Addo home   Meerkats never stray too far from their warren. They need their burrows for protection from predators and from cold. Good places to spot meerkats are the open areas near Domkragdam and Woodlands.

Field notes on the South African Addo Elephant ' Olifant' 'Indlovu'   These are the best places to see elephants, especially when it is hot and dry. Elephants spray water over their bodies to keep cool and drink about 100 litres of water every day - that's equivalent to 600 cups of tea!

Field notes on the African Buffalo 'Inyathi' ... disease free strain of buffalo   You are unlikely to see at Addo during the day. In the past, buffalo's were hunted by local farmers, so they became nocturnal. Look out for the hoof-prints on the road instead-evidence that they are round, somewhere. Since the lions were re-introduced to Ado the buffalo are now being seen far more often during daylight hours.

Field notes on the Flightless Dung Beetle | ' Miskruier' ' Inkuba- bulongo'   You will see these large black beetles on the road as you drive through the park. They are especially easy to see after rain.