Addo Elephant National Park
IUCN Category II - National Park
F2
The Addo Elephant National Park ( Afrikaans: Addo Olifant Nasionale Park, English: Addo Elephant National Park ) is located in the district of Cacadu, in the western part of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa, 70 km northeast of Port Elizabeth in the Sundays River Valley. The Elephant National Park is 1640 km ², the largest National Park in the Eastern Cape.
History
The national park was established in 1931 to protect the eleven last surviving elephants of the region that had not yet become the victim of ivory hunters or farmers up to this point. The foundation was preceded by an initiated by the government hunt for the locally very Cape elephants, which repeatedly devastated in search of food in the fields and gardens of the resident farmer. After there had been public protests, as the " last great white hunter " Major PJ Pretorius in a year killed 130 elephants, which has since expanded many times, game reserve was established in the Addo bush. In 1954, when there were 22 elephants, the then manager Graham Armstrong Park covers an area of 2270 hectares surrounded by elephant fences. This fence is still used by the Park and is named after its inventor Armstrong fence.
In 2004 lived in the Park about 350 elephants; 2006 just over 400 elephants have already been counted. In order for the National Park reached the ecologically acceptable maximum elephants.
In the long term the Addo Elephant Park is the third largest park in South Africa should be. The park is expected to grow to a size of 3600 km ².
Flora and Fauna
In addition to elephants in the Addo Elephant National Park kudu, African buffalo, eland, South African hartebeest, bushbuck, warthogs, zebras, rhinos, hyenas and leopards. In some outlying areas, such as in the area of Darlington Dam or near the Zuurberg Mountains, live some of the Kapgebiet typical ungulate species such as mountain zebra, wildebeest, gemsbok and springbok. On Sundays River live hippos. 2003 were settled in the park lions, so that you can since the so-called Big Five encounter in the park. Spot hyenas were also located, and also the reintroduction of wild dogs and cheetahs is planned.
The national park is home to over 500 different species of plants from 70 families. One can find mainly small plant species and various shrub species such as Schotia afra afra and Portulacaria.
Tourism
The National Park has about 120,000 visitors annually. Of the approximately 50 percent of foreign visitors is a large part of the park visitors from Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
For visitors to the park, a camp was established. Here you will find a swimming pool, a restaurant, a floodlit waterhole and various accommodations. The main entrance and two tourist roads in the park are paved, while the others are sprinkled with gravel. An additional access road from the N2 highway along the Garden Route leads to the existing tourist roads.
Animals in Addo Elephant National Park
Herd of elephants in the park
African Buffalo
Zebras
Hartebeest
Lion