Addo and Kirkwood News
Accommodation and Other News from Addo and Kirkwood

TWO volunteers from America have started a programme that allows parents to make a quilt depicting the dreams they have for their children’s future.

Eileen Kugler, 59, and her husband, Larry, 60, organised the quilting programme at Addo’s AV Bukani Primary School in a bid to increase parent involvement at the school.

Eileen said: “There is a lot of research showing that when parents are actively involved in a school, pupils do better.

“When a parent is involved, the child tends to pay more attention and do homework more often.”

She said it was a worldwide problem that parents had little contact with schools. Only if a problem arose would the parents be contacted.

In cases where the families did not have had a good education themselves, or worked long hours, there was often no connection felt with the school, Eileen said. “So they tend to stay away from the school ... they think it is the teachers’ job to educate their child.

“Creating the quilt is a non-threatening way of getting parents involved.”

A parent, or grandparent in some cases, of each pupil has made a square, with the squares then being sewn together into a quilt that will be presented to the school.

The squares illustrate the hopes and dreams the parents have for their children. “On many there are children with graduation caps, to say they want their child to graduate.

“Some have specific careers depicted, like a medical doctor. Others are very personal and are decorated with things that are important to the families.

“One parent wants her child to become a social worker. So she put on a hand, saying we must always be willing to help someone and that a social worker must have a good heart.”

So far there have been seven meetings where parents work on the quilt and discuss ways of bettering their children’s school performance and future. At the end of each meeting, the parents receive a full meal, prepared by several mothers in the community.

Eileen said she and her husband had picked Addo’s Nomathamsanqa township because it was a rural area where they felt they could make a difference. This is their second visit here and they look forward to coming back next year. “The quilt is only the beginning, ” Eileen said.

The quilt will be presented to the school at a farewell for the Kuglers later today. It will then be hung at the school.

Source: Esté Coetzee, HERALD REPORTER

www.MyAddo.co.za: The area of Addo, Sunlands and Kirkwood is referred to as "The citrus route"

With the annual Kirkwood festival a massive success, "The citrus route" has proved to all visitors from far and wide that the area of Addo, Sunlands and Kirkwood can stand proud as one of South Africa’s top visitor’s destinations.

Addo, Sunlands and Kirkwood boast with South Africa’s "Big 7". Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, Lion, Buffalo, Great White Shark and Whales are all viewed from this area. The citrus route also offers other attractions and wild life, such as;

• National Addo Elephant Park
• International Class accommodation
• Worlds best citrus, local and export
• Annual Rose festival
• Bird watching
• Adventure Sports and team building
• Lion cub handling
• Top Class restaurants
• Crocodile Parks
• Beautiful view of the majestic Sundays River Valley
• Warmest Hospitality

The ever exciting crocodile and lion farm specially catering for big school and educational groups. Get up close and personal with lions, tigers and crocodiles. Or treat your employees to team building like river and mountain safaris, quad biking or even a guided tour through the Addo elephant park.

The area really delivers on most of the attractions that makes South Africa one of the worlds most traveled countries.

Submitted by: Roy Booyens, PowerShot Marketing, 079 740 1879

Avid birders should hurry to make their bookings for the Sasol Addo Birding Weekend which will be held in Addo Elephant National Park from 23 to 25 October 2009.

The weekend of birding will offer a wonderful opportunity to experience the diverse biomes of Addo Elephant National Park and the chance to spot over 400 bird species. Birders might have the chance to see the Cape Vulture and Marabou Stork which have returned to the Addo area since the introduction of lions at the park.

Organised by the Addo Honorary Rangers, birding activities will feature a choice of excursions which include trips to the marine area of the Park around St. Croix Island and the arid Karoo area around the large expanse of Darlington Dam.

Birders will join groups birding in seven different areas of the ecologically diverse Addo Elephant National Park. A 4x4 excursion will explore the Nyathi area of the Park while another group will visit the Sundays River estuary and adjacent coastline with its good tern and wader sightings. The group visiting the marine area around St. Croix Island by boat will view the African penguin colony on the island as well as pelagic birds such as skuas, petrels and shearwaters.

Birders based in the Park's main game area can count on thicket species such as the Southern Tchagra as well as Denham's Bustard and Blue Crane in the grassland patches. Fitter participants can explore the forests and fynbos of the Zuurberg Mountains on foot to sight birds from African Crowned Eagles to Longtailed Wagtails. Those based in the Park's Woody Cape area near Alexandria will explore the indigenous coastal forests which are home to Trumpeter Hornbill. Birders visiting the Park's northern-most Darlington area will look for birds such as the Namaqua Warbler on the arid land and Spoonbills and Lesser Flamingo on the vast lake.

Prizes will be presented at an evening braai function and there is an optional afternoon training session on birding and identification. A variety of accommodation units, as well as camping facilities will be made available in the Addo Elephant National Park.

Sasol has provided sponsorship for logistics and prizes while Glendower whisky has also sponsored some prizes. Funds raised by the Honorary Rangers birding weekend will go towards funding conservation support work, research and upgrade of facilities for the benefit of all visitors to the Park.

Bookings for the birding weekend close on 31 August 2009.

For more information, contact Judy Bower on judy[at]gctrials.co.za or cell 083 610 1090.

Set a Reminder.

www.MyAddo.co.za: Cake decorating will never be the same! The "wildest" cake decorating competition in the Eastern Cape is taking place at the eighth year's Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival in June.

Hosted by Sugar Dreams and the Dolphin Coast branch of the South African Cake Decorators Guild (SACDG), the competition is set to bring out the "wild side" of local sugar-art enthusiasts.

There are six categories for both children and adults, from beginners to the more advanced decorators. The category for the children is "My favourite wild animal," whilst adults will be inspired by the "Take a walk on the Wildside" theme.

Cake Icing According to organiser of the event, Belinda Kretzmann of SugarDreams, judges will be looking at the general impression, presentation, covering and texture, creativity, degree of difficulty and execution of the techniques of the decorated cake.

Festival goers will also be treated to one of the biggest "sugar-art" displays in the Eastern Cape. "We will be bringing over 60 cakes with us for exhibition," says Kretzmann. "We will also be hosting several demonstrations throughout the festival."

In 2008, over 35 000 visitors attended the Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival, which is a unique blend of wildlife, arts, crafts and live entertainment. There will also be hundreds of creative flea-market stalls and delicious food stalls with a wildlife theme. The festival, runs from June 26 to June 28, so bring your friends and have a "jol" at the wildest festival in the country!

For more information on the "Wildest Cake" competition, visit the Kirkwood Wildlife Festival Website.

www.MyAddo.co.za: Kirkwood's record-breaking annual wildlife auction will again be offering prize animals from the South African National Parks and other top reserves around the country.

"We are expecting 20 white rhino and 22 disease-free Addo Elephant National Park buffalo as the most prized game at the Kirkwood auction," says auction organiser, Jan Pienaar. "This is probably the largest choice of buffalo than any other auction in the country."

Record prices have been paid for white rhino, kudu and eland at previous auctions.

This auction has grown to be the biggest in the Eastern Cape and the second biggest in the country according to Pienaar.

This year, a full spectrum of game animals are to be auctioned including red hartebeest, wildebeest, impala, blesbuck, Burchell's zebra, bushbuck, eland, kudu, giraffe, gemsbok, waterbuck, reedbuck, sable and many more.

The main sellers of the animals, Steyl Wild, Bushveld Game Capture and South African National Parks, assure the animals on sale are of great condition and breeding.

"All animals are disease-free and well sorted to provide game farm owners with ideal breeding stock to introduce new blood into their herds," says Pienaar.

The auction, held in association with Addo Elephant National Park with support from the South African National Parks board, attracts game farm owners from around the country and overseas. These buyers plough millions of rands back into the Eastern Cape economy through this auction, with R11,2 million raised in 2008.

Buyers have the opportunity to view the animals before the auction in bomas or in catalogues. According to Pienaar, both Shamwari's and Riverbend's bomas will be full of standing game for buyers to inspect.

Buyers have the unique opportunity to bring the whole family along with ample activities available for everybody including shopping, wine-tasting, paintball, live entertainment and much much more. Adding to the fun and entertainment of the auction will be "the famous and charismatic" auctioneer Roy Hayes.

The auction will be held on 12pm on Saturday 27 June at the Absa Kirkwood Festival grounds. Buyers are urged to pre-register on the website: www.wildsfees.co.za

MyPE and BayFM will also be at the Wildlife Auction and running a Live Blog of the proceedings - images of the animals, prices, auctioneer videos and audio.

www.MyAddo.co.za: Kirkwood’s annual Absa Wildlife Festival is toasting the signing of another major corporate sponsor – Brandhouse Beverages, distributors of Windhoek and Heineken beers, and a range of premium spirit brands in South Africa.

“The three-year contract with brandhouse is a major achievement for the festival in these challenging economic times. It shows that the festival has proven itself, and is a firm fixture on the South African festival calendar,” says Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival director Jenni Honsbein.

Absa became the naming rights sponsor of the festival in 2008.

“This sponsorship is part of our commitment to the Eastern Cape and the Sundays River Valley. Our approach is to help festivals like the Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival grow over the long term,” says Carel Hoffman of Oppikoppi Productions, which evaluated the festival on behalf of Brandhouse and brokered the sponsorship.

brandhouse is also sponsoring the Grahamstown Arts Festival and Oppikoppi Festival held in August.

“These are all multiple-year contracts, which include brandhouse promotions of Windhoek and other brands,” says Hoffman.

A whisky tasting is planned for the Absa Kirkwood Festival, as brandhouse distributes a full range of premium whiskeys.

Honsbein says this year the Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival organisers are promising an even wilder celebrity line-up including the Bala Brothers, Mean Mr Mustard and the ever-popular Steve Hofmeyr.

Over 35 000 visitors attended the 2008 event, which is a unique blend of wildlife, arts, crafts and live entertainment.

As usual, this year in addition to wall to wall entertainment on the stage, there will be hundreds of creative flea-market stalls and food stalls with a wildlife theme.

“What makes us different is that we have something for everyone included in the entrance fee at the gate – live performances on stage, specialist stalls, a kiddies entertainment area, one of the biggest vehicle displays in the Eastern Cape, a small agricultural expo, cooking demonstrations, the province’s biggest wine fair, whiskey tastings and more,” says Honsbein.

The festival, which will run from June 26 to June 29 this year, also hosts the second biggest game auction in South Africa.

www.MyAddo.co.za: Firefly Writes:

This past weekend we went on a trip to Addo Elephant Back Safaris in the Zuurberg Mountains. I took some great photos of elephants, spiders, mountains and all kind of things. Today I want to show a bit of what we did there and over the next couple of days I'll show off some of my other photos.

On the day of our arrival we took it easy and only went on a guided walk through the reserve. The next morning was the big event. We met the three elephants and their handlers at the reception area and the damselfly and I got to ride on Mukwa. Now we all know elephants are big, but you don't really know how big until you actually sat on one. It is a long way down. The ride took us through the bush and was quite hard on our posteriors, as you sit bareback and not on a saddle or blanket.

See the rest of the Addo Elephant Back Safaris post and Images.

www.MyAddo.co.za: "Bring us your really 'wild, wild, wacky and unusual' products for the Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival" is the challenge thrown out by festival director Jenni Honsbein.

With most of the 300 stalls already taken up, she says the last few have been reserved for "something special and unusual – something that will have everyone talking and will add to the fun of the festival".

Now in its eighth year, the Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival has grown into one of the biggest in the Eastern Cape, attracting some 35 000 visitors in 2008. It runs from June 26 to June 29 this year.

Many of the store-holders have become firm favourites at the festival, and book their places a year in advance.

There is careful selection of the products that will be on sale to ensure that the Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival is different to most of the others. "Which is the reason that every year we reserve space for 'out of the box' items," she says.

The Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival is an ideal place to launch new ranges and to test the market," she says.

Stall holders can find out more by going to www.wildsfees.co.za or contacting Natasja van Greunen on 042-2300066.

Browse and Book Kirkwood Accommodation HERE

www.MyAddo.co.za: Pat and Bob are on a journey from Cape Town to the Garden Coast, the Winelands and a Safari in Addo. They say:

Addo is a national conservation project intended to re-create the environment as it was before Europeans came to Africa. Counting additions to the original tract established in the 1930's Addo has grown to the 3rd largest game park in South Africa after Kruger and Kalahari and the intention is to increase it to be the largest.

See More of Pat and Bob's adventures in Addo here:

# Last impressions of an Elephant Park before moving...
# Scenes at Nguni Lodge
# Addo Game Drive - More animals

Melissa G. in her blog, Study Abroad in the Rainbow Nation wrote the following about her recent trip to Addo:

On Sunday we all went to Addo Elephant National Park and Scotia Game Reserve to finally see wild (or as wild as we are going to manage to see) African animals. We had to get up early to catch a bus that would take us to the parks. Our tour guide, Bradley, was absolutely amazing. He knew information about everything we were passing: townships, dinosaur fossils, plants, elephants, everything. Hands down, the best tour guide I've ever had. Anyway, at Addo we stayed in the bus and drove around keeping our eyes out for animals. The dung beetles are absolutely huge and illegal to run over with your car in the park. We did see an elephant. It was an exciting time. Everyone rushed over to the right side of the bus, hung out the windows, and tried to get a decent shot of the animal (considering its head was in a bush I don't think anyone got a great shot.

www.MyAddo.co.za: Natalie from Leicestershire in the United Kingdom wrote; "The park is VAST, covering 164,000 hectares and houses the big 5. We only saw elephants out of the 5 today, but boy did we see a lot of them. Must have been at least 40."

Hello! South Africa

www.MyAddo.co.za: Photographer Fiona Ayerst recently did a photographic shoot with a production company from Dubai about the animals of the Addo Elephant Park. Fiona writes; "The gorgeous presenter Danyah was so easy to shoot."

Images of Danyah

www.MyAddo.co.za: Lindy Greaves wrote recently about her families' trip to the Addo National Elephant Park (see extract below).

The animal viewing was stunning. We thought we'd struck it bad because we hit an unusual heat wave and had been told the animals would be hiding in the bushes. Well, maybe we could have seen other species, but we saw elephant aplenty. It was beautiful. The park is well set up with drives around water holes for good viewing and then also hidouts at various spots were you can get out in safety and take a closer look. We never saw lion or caracal, but we did see jackal. We also saw and heard a variety of birds: different barbets types, plovers, dikkops, weavers, red and yellow bishops, and larger birds of prey which I am not great at identifying. We also say Kudu, male and female, lots of warthog, some with cute little babies, and tortoise.

Full Article and Images: Addo Elephant Park

www.MyAddo.co.za: Bigger, better and wilder entertainment is in store for you this June, when the 7th annual Wildlife Festival is held at Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape. Over 35 000 visitors attended the 2008 event, which is a unique blend of wildlife, arts, crafts and live entertainment. This year, organisers are promising an even wilder celebrity line-up.

In addition to wall to wall entertainment on the stage, there will be hundreds of creative flea-market stalls and delicious food stalls with a wildlife theme. The festival, which runs from 26 to 29 June, also hosts the second biggest game auction in South Africa. So bring your friends to Kirkwood in June and have a "jol" at the wildest festival in the country! The latest information is available at Wildsfees.

Book Your Kirkwood Accommodation HERE

www.MyAddo.co.za: Space is being reserved for craftspeople, artists and entrepreneurs who have something "unusual and different" to offer at the 2009 Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival – but the stalls are selling out fast, says festival director Jenni Honsbein.

"With over 35 000 visitors this year despite the economic downturn and high fuel prices, the majority of the more than 300 stallholders at this year’s Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival booked for 2009 before they left," she says.

With the stalls being an important ingredient in the mix that has made the eight-year-old festival one of the most popular in the Eastern Cape, every year brings the exciting challenge of finding new exhibitors, she says.

"We are looking for people who specialise in hand crafted goods which have a wildlife theme – be they décor items, clothing, food, or camping and hunting gear. But, we welcome any "out of the box" products and ideas. The Absa Kirkwood Wildlife Festival is an ideal place to launch new ranges and to test the market," she says.

Stall holders can find out more by going to www.wildsfees.co.za or contacting Natasja van Greunen on 042-2300066.