For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to visit Addo Elephant National Park. I grew up in Cape Town and read about the elephants of Addo as a teenager. I was fascinated: The park’s founding story is epic, rooted in a desperate effort in 1931 to protect the last 11 remaining elephants in the area. (That’s just one cricket team…) These elephants, along with the last surviving herd of buffalo in the Cape, hid out in the thicket veld and they were so aggressive that game drives were not permitted in the park until 1980.
Today, the park has a population of 650 elephants, most of which roam the 240 km2 Main Camp and Colchester sections, making Addo one of the densest elephant populations in the world. Herds have also been introduced into two other sections of the park, Nyathi and Darlington. Thankfully, Addo’s elephants are also now considered some of the most relaxed in Africa.
Other iconic animals have been reintroduced to the park, like hippo (1992), black rhino (1994), zebra (1996), and lion and spotted hyena (both 2003).
The park consists of seven different sections (see map on page 29) and this fragmented layout makes it quite hard to understand what’s going on if you’re a first-time visitor. Don’t worry - that’s what we’re here for!
Good, better, biome
Besides elephants, oneyour chances are much better at seeing a narina trogon in an Afrotemperate Forest, while you’re bound to see an ostrich in Grassland - and that’s why Addo’s biome bonanza is great for biodiversity.
