My Addo
My Addo - Accommodation, Information and News from Addo and Kirkwood

www.MyAddo.co.za: From the Finding Beanie Blog:

I visited the Addo for the first time this weekend in anticipation in seeing elephants and bird life. I was not going to get my hopes up on seeing a lion. However, on the road between Marion Baree and the south gate at 10am, we spotted a lioness walking in the road and causing traffic jam. She was walking in a north direction up the road, her eyes shifting to a pair of grazing Kudu not too far off. She was in a down-wind and they obviously had not sensed her yet.

However, it seemed unlikely that she would attempt to take down a kudu on her own. She decided to lazily lie down in the middle of the road, proving good photo opportunities. Then she was on the move again, unperturbed by the vehicles that surrounded her. Her eyes were focused, you could see that she was on the hunt.

We were lucky enough to have her walk right next to our vehicle, and we quickly turned around. She left the road and stood fixated on the bush very close to us. As we got in line with her we saw directly in front of her, was a large warthog. Holding a death stare, she jerked slightly and the warthog was off, crunching of bushes and then the squeals of a little warthog running out of the bush down the road, filled the air with a rush. Everyone waited in anticipation to hear if a successful kill had been made, and a slight pity came over one thinking about the baby who would probably lose its mother.

The circle of life. However, she soon reappeared from the thicket, obviously an unsuccessful attempt. We watched her for a few minutes as she stalked back into the bush leaving everyone enthralled. I tried to identify her with the pictures that were posted, but I just wanted to ask if I am correct in assuming that this is Gina? I also wanted to ask if anyone else thinks that she could be pregnant, as she has a swollen belly and was hunting alone?

Photograph on Finding Beanie

www.MyAddo.co.za: Spring is in the air and there is a brand new mountain bike race taking place in the Eastern Cape: “The Mondi Packaging Addo Mountain Bike Challenge”.

This 1-Day event will be held in the rugged Zuurberg Mountain region of the Addo Elephant National Park, Eastern Cape, on Saturday, 1st November 2008.

This race, billed as the Eastern Cape’s “toughest Mountain Bike Challenge”, offers mountain bikers a chance to pedal through some magnificent scenery inside the Addo Elephant National Park, and includes climbing the historic Zuurberg Pass, hand-built by convict labourers in the 1860’s.

With a total of R50 000 in prize monies up for grabs and a first prize of R15 000 in the 85km race, the event promises a lot of action.

As the main sponsor, Mondi Packaging’s objectives are to create a top quality Mountain Biking event that can feature as an annual event on the national cycling calendar with the potential of becoming a multi-day event in the future. They also hope to create awareness within the local community of the Sponsor’s commitment to contribute to the development of the local community by promoting events that involve the local community and draw visitors to the area, thereby increasing the local revenue.

The Mayibuye Ndlovu Development Trust – a trust comprised of representatives of the communities surrounding Addo Elephant National Park - and a National charity, CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation) are beneficiaries of the event.

The Event Sponsors will also endeavour to assist four Development Cyclists, selected by the Addo Elephant National Park from the local community, by providing them with bicycles and cycling kit to take part in the inaugural event. This will be a long-term project to help develop mountain biking within the local Addo community.

The race is comprised of 3 different routes: an undemanding 30km route over gravel roads and tracks for the social rider and their family members; a 55km trail with a reasonable level of technical difficulty for the avid mountain bike enthusiast, recreational mountain bike riders and sporting celebrities who enjoy a challenge and an extreme route of 85 km with a high level of technical difficulty to attract the country’s professional and top amateur mountain bike riders to the event.

This route includes gravel roads, jeep track and awesome single track. There are also some extremely steep single track down-hills with switch-backs, river crossings and over 1700m of climbing. The event organisers, Leisure Cycle Tours & Adventures have also included a Kiddies Fun Challenge for little ones under the age of 8 years. There will also be a family festival at the start / finish venue with plenty of entertainment, food & drink stands, a beer tent, children’s games and family activities. An overnight campground is provided at the venue with “Fireside Cycling Stories” around the campfire on Friday night.

For more information and to book your place online, visit Leisure Cycle Tours or email info[at]leisurecycletours.com or call Shane on +27 74 114 4811.

www.MyAddo.co.za: Two bouts of fire in August and September have burnt vast tracts of the Zuurberg Mountain range in the Park. The fires burnt some 26 000 hectares of fynbos and grassland on the Zuurberg Mountains. Fire is a natural occurrence in both fynbos and grassland ecosystems and is vital for the proper functioning of these systems.

The first fire, started by unknown causes on a property bordering the Park, burnt from the 10th until the 15th of August, spreading into the Nyathi and Zuurberg sections of the Park.

Rangers battled the blaze for days assisted by Cacadu District fire teams and Working on Fire teams battled the blaze. Extremely dry conditions and strong winds hampered their efforts and the fires were fanned by frequent changes in wind direction.

None of the Park’s tourist or staff accommodation or infrastructure was affected, although visitors were evacuated from Narina Bush Camp on one occasion as a precaution. The Zuurberg Mountain Village, which is a private business located on the borders of the Park has sustained considerable damage, losing 31 chalets to the fire.

The second fire of significance started on Sunday 14 September and burnt until Tuesday 23 September. It was started by lightning and burnt grassland and fynbos in the Zuurberg Mountains from Zuurberg section to Kabouga and almost over to the Darlington side.

Most of the efforts of Park rangers were focused on assisting farmers on the borders of the Park to prevent the fire spreading onto their land. Again, none of the Park infrastructure or accommodation facilities were affected.

Smaller animals such as tortoises, snakes and rodents were probably most affected by the fire. Larger animals such as eland, kudu, red hartebeest and bushbuck are usually able to escape to the forest in the mountain valleys. Forest does not burn very easily so provides some sanctuary to wildlife in times of fire.

Since these fires, the vegetation on the mountain has been slowly regenerating. Fire lilies (Cyrtanthus species) have bloomed in bright reds and grass has sent up new shoots.

www.MyAddo.co.za: The Addo Elephant Park’s achievements and milestones of the past six months (April – September 2008):

• Four spotted hyena and three lion cubs were born. Five cheetah cubs were born in the Kuzuko Contractual Area – the first cheetah ever to be born in the Park.
• Addo Elephant National Park is home to more than half the population of the black rhino bicornis subspecies (or so-called desert-adapted rhino) in South Africa.
• The Coast Care programme cleaned up 4356 kg’s of waste from the Sundays beach area.
• 5 762 children and 611 adults participated in environmental education programmes in the Park.
• The unit occupancy in Camp Matyholweni rose (compared to last year) by 11% to 52.8% while camping occupancy rose by 4% to 52.8%.
• 53 369 people visited the Park from April to September, representing a drop of 8.1% compared to the same period in 2007. This is the result of the Easter weekend – a very popular holiday time - falling in March (whereas it was in April last year) as well as the effect of an increase in fuel costs.
• Only 67.6 mm of rain was recorded in the Addo section of the Park, compared to the long term average (average over 10 years) for April to September of 165.1 mm

www.MyAddo.co.za: Addo Elephant National Park’s Hop-on Guides have received a boost with a donation of two pairs of binoculars from Mr. John Walton of the UK.

The Hop-on Guides are a group of local community members who provide guiding services to visitors in the comfort of their own vehicles. While they run their own business, Addo Elephant National Park provides support in terms of marketing, training and the provision of an operating base.

The Park’s Marine Rangers received a very welcome donation of two pairs of water-resistant binoculars as well as six waterproof cases for storage of equipment during marine patrols. “The binoculars are a very useful addition to our equipment and will prove vital in our efforts to apprehend marine offenders”, said John Adendorff, Addo Elephant National Park’s Conservation Manager, who accepted the binoculars on behalf of the Marine Rangers.

Walton also handed over a pair of binoculars to William Dodo, a community elder who acts as a guide in the Park’s Imbewu programme. Dodo leads groups of high school learners on three-day trips into the Park to sleep under the stars and learn about nature as well as their cultural legacy.

Addo Elephant National Park’s game drive guides received a fourth pair of binoculars. “I hope that this donation will encourage visitors who support conservation to make similar contributions where they have the means to do so”, said John Walton. Walton, who is involved in law enforcement in the UK, recently visited the Park to hand over the binoculars and also to enjoy a holiday with his wife.

www.MyAddo.co.za: Addo Elephant National Park rangers were evacuated from Bird Island in Algoa Bay on Monday the 1st of September when high seas caused the water level to move about 15 meters inland.

The rangers were evacuated by means of a helicopter provided by the SA Defense Force as the Park’s boat could not be mobilized in the 9-metre high seas. Before their evacuation, the rangers reported that the sea water had reached the back of the lighthouse building and the front of buildings that house staff on the island.

The Park’s rangers were able to return to Bird Island on Tuesday afternoon, the 2nd of September, again by helicopter, to assess the damage caused to both infrastructure and the birds that breed on the island.

African penguin chicks, aged between two and four months old, were drowned by waves which flooded their nests. However, the extent of penguin chick deaths is difficult to estimate as their bodies were washed away.

Rangers captured some adult penguins with broken legs which were taken off the island for rehabilitation. The African penguin colony on Bird Island numbers about 2 675 breeding pairs. The Cape gannet breeding colony on Bird Island – the largest of its kind in the world at about 80 000 pairs – was not affected by the high seas except for flooding of some peripheral nest sites by sea spray. Rangers took measures to drain these sites. Black Rocks, which houses a 400-strong colony of Cape fur seals, was completely submerged by the high seas, as were Stag and Seal Islands which lie close to Bird Island.

There was also extensive damage, estimated at up to R1 million, to the newly constructed jetty on Bird Island with gabions broken and washed away. The damage will not affect Park ranger patrols in the marine area.

www.MyAddo.co.za: South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced that with effect from 1 September 2009, an annual rates increase will be implemented, earlier than the usual increase date of 1 November. This is due to the rapidly increasing inflation rate, experienced over the past couple of months.

SANParks sets its rates a year in advance, as per the industry norm. However, due to rapid inflationary increases an earlier adjustment has become a necessity. “We have considered many options, including an additional increase as from 1 November 2008. However, due to the fact that so many of the guests had already booked and in some cases paid for their holidays to national parks, it was decided not to implement this option, but rather to increase the fees for new bookings from 1 September 2009 (which open from 1 October 2008). Conservation fees and activity rates will also increase from 1 September 2009.”

“With CPIX at 13,6% in August 2008 and average accommodation and camping rates increasing by an average of only 7,0% on 01 November 2008, we need to hike rates earlier than normal in 2009 and the accommodation and camping rates will increase by an average of 14,6% as from 01 September 2009” said Mr. Glenn Phillips, Managing Executive: Tourism and Marketing at SANParks. “This will enable us to deal with the reduced spending power and resultant increase in costs of the average basket of good and services in South Africa.”

“We would like to announce though that our customers will experience some relief in that additional person rates in guest houses have now been restructured so that children will be charged at half the adult rate as from 1 November 2008. Children in guest houses were charged full additional person rates in the past and with this change, we trust that it will be easier for family groups to visit national parks” added Phillips.

www.MyAddo.co.za: From cellphones to elephants

FIVE years ago Walter Gwarada was stuck in the office every day, but chance and an impatient American turned him into the “elephant whisperer” of Addo.

Gwarada, who came to South Africa in 2003 after working in information technology at a Zimbabwean cellphone operator in Harare, was hired as a manager for a fledgling private game reserve in Addo, where there was an American brought in to train three tame elephants from Knysna to do safaris.

But after four weeks the American had deserted, saying it couldn’t be done and Gwarada convinced the reserve’s owners to give him a shot.

In three months, Gwarada had the three male elephants, called Mukwa – at four-and-a-half tons the biggest of the three – Duma and Thaba, eating out of his hand, literally.

“With an elephant you’ve got to build trust so you can approach him without fear as he can pick the fear up,” said Gwarada.”

“The best way to build trust is with food – not the whip. Yes, you reprimand them but with reasonable force like you do with children. You say “quit it” if he’s doing something he shouldn’t.”

Gwarada developed a system of food rewards for the elephants – especially fruit such as oranges and apples – to get them to allow people to ride them and follow 15 to 20 simple commands such as “go” and “stop”, “left” and “right”.

“It was very scary when I first got on Mukwa's back. I thought he was going to run away with me,” said Gwarada, remembering a breakthrough moment in 2004.

Soon Gwarada – who has now stepped back from working directly with the three elephants to be the reserve’s marketing manager – needed trained elephant handlers and he turned to Zimbabwe, where elephant safaris were pioneered.

Now there are six trained handlers – mostly Zimbabwean – working at the reserve and it has grown to become an upmarket lodge called Addo Elephant Back Safaris and Lodges that can sleep 20 people.

The elephants can do up to three safaris a day – with no more than two people plus a handler on their backs – and in between they roam around and forage in the 1000-hectare reserve and wallow in two watering holes.

Two handlers must stay with them when they head off into the bush foraging so they don’t lose them and they sleep in an enormous purpose-built hangar at night.

The elephant safaris are done for the lodge guests and day-trippers.

Duma, Thaba and Mukwa also have an interesting tale to tell.

They were born in the Kruger National Park and escaped a cull by being bought by a Knysna private game reserve owner, who is also part owner of the Addo reserve. In Knysna they were tamed and then brought to the Addo area.

They are all between 18 and 21 years, and they will be maturing sexually at about 25, so Gwarada is looking around for two females. If they don’t mate, they will become frustrated and aggressive.

The reserve, however, does not intend to grow its population as one elephant needs between 250ha and 300ha in which to roam and feed.

Gwarada has come to know the three big guys well and says they have distinct personalities.

Duma, for instance, is something of a peacemaker when the other two start getting a bit rough as they are mock fighting.

“I never thought I’d be doing something like this,” said Gwarada, “but I’ve developed a passion for them and now I could never do anything else.”

Source: GILL MOODIE, Daily Despatch

www.MyAddo.co.za: Addo Challenge will be for the little ones as well

THE Mondi Packaging Addo Mountain Bike Challenge, in association with The Herald, promises a day not only for the cyclists, but fun for family and most importantly children; with two worthy charities being chosen as beneficiaries for the inaugural race.

Children will not be left out at the race taking place on November 1, with the hosting of a Kiddies Fun Challenge on race day.

The race will be an informal event that will take place around the Addo Polo Club fields.

The Kiddies Challenge will be divided into two categories, one for the very small children who can have their parents assisting them in the 800-metre lap, and one for children up to the age of eight %u2013 a 2km race around the polo fields.

All proceeds from the Kiddies Fun Challenge will be donated to the Choc (Childhood Cancer Foundation SA).

Each child will receive an energy drink from sponsors Powerade, a medal and a goodies pack with toys, sweets and drinks after the challenge.

During the main challenge the children can enjoy a host of entertainment, with face painting, pony rides, jumping castles and food stalls available for them.

The entry fee for the children will be R20.

Online entries for the Mondi Packaging Addo Mountain Bike Challenge in association with The Herald are open. Enter for the event at www.cylclelab.com</blockquote>

Source: Chumani Bambani HERALD REPORTER