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

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.