{"id":1134,"date":"2013-03-15T03:26:25","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T07:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ragastal\/?page_id=1134"},"modified":"2013-07-05T04:17:50","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T08:17:50","slug":"addo-elephant-park","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ragastal\/travels\/south-africa\/parks-reserves\/addo-elephant-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Addo Elephant Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OLYMPUS<\/a>The story of elephants in the Eastern Cape is one of tragedy and triumph. In the early part of the 19th<\/sup> Century, the great herds of elephants and other species had been all but decimated by nomadic Xhosa hunters.\u00a0 Although the herds that remained were small in number, British and Afrikaaner farmers began colonizing the area around the park by 1831, stressing the populations as they competed for water and crops.\u00a0 The conflict culminated in 1919 when the government was called upon to exterminate the remaining elephants; a Major Pretorius shot 114 elephants between 1919 and 1920, leaving less than 12 animals in this part of the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/a>When the South African public learned of the extermination of these animals, public opinion changed, and legislation was proposed to establish the park to conserve them.\u00a0 The park was dedicated in 1931 with just over 2,000 hectares (4950 acres) and\u00a0 22 elephants.\u00a0 Conflicts continued between elephants and farmers because of the inability of the park to keep the animals within the park boundaries.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until 1954 when the park manager at the time, Graham Armstrong,\u00a0 created an elephant-proof fence using tram rails and lift cables.\u00a0 This Armstrong fence solved the conflict with escaped elephants, and is still used around the park today.\u00a0 The park has grown, a bit, and now encompasses about 180,000 hectares (444,700 acres) with a mandate to conserve the provincial biodiversity.\u00a0 Addo, now, is South Africa\u2019s third largest conservation area and park.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/a>Addo Elephant National Park is located in the dense Eastern Cape Bush of South Africa, a malaria free part of the country.\u00a0 Currently, there are somewhere near 550 elephants within the confines of the park\u2019s boundaries, and very few of these ever have been able to breach the Armstrong fence.\u00a0 There is one infamous bull elephant, Harpoor, who wasn\u2019t fond of humans and, on occasion, forced the park staff to run to safety when Hapoor made an appearance.\u00a0 Harpoor \u2018s dominance stretched from 1944 to 1968, and was the first to escape the park in 1968 at which time he was shot. You still can see him in the park\u2019s visitor\u2019s center; his elephant head is mounted in the restaurant.<\/p>\n

\"Addo_Elephants_APR13\"<\/a>Driving back from the Northern Cape after a week of field work, the R342 crosses through Addo Elephant Park.\u00a0 Normally, though, few animals can be seen from this roadway.\u00a0 We were lucky in early April of 2013, late in the afternoon, to experience a “poor man’s game drive” and see a herd of approximately 30-40 elephants\u2014adults, juveniles, and babies\u2014grazing in a field with zebra, on our return to Grahamstown.<\/p>\n