Addo Elephant National Park

[Klipspringer]

Elephant Management

South African national parks are managed as natural systems in which conservationists try as best as possible to mimic natural processes. Nowhere in a natural system would one find water holes dispersed evenly across the landscape. Nature has a way of avoiding this at all costs to prevent the homogenous use of vegetation which ultimately will lead to the extinction or degrading of species.

Hapoor is a good example of what could potentially happen at water holes if limitless water is provided. The habitat is altered significantly. We have to try and avoid the same thing happening around all the other water points.

For the park to be sustainable into the future, we try to mimic nature as closely as possible. For this reason the Park has a water gradient in place that has been around for a couple of years now. AENP’s imaginary river is represented by the line from Marion Baree via Spekboom, Hapoor, Rooidam, Ghwari, Woodlands, Nyathi and Domkrag, where large amounts of water are provided. The remaining water holes in the Park are there to meet the needs of the other species.

In this way elephants are forced to not homogenously use the landscape. In times when there are good rains elephants will be found across the park when all pans and dams have water. During drier periods, elephants move back to the main water sources, thus protecting the Colchester thicket from being over-browsed during dry periods. The water holes in the Colchester section are purposefully limited in number as well as the quantity of water available.

Stress is part of nature and it is vital that everyone understand this. Drought times are supposed to induce stress which affects the elephants’ inter-calving intervals. Conservationists need to mimic this or else our elephants will keep up a growth rate of between seven and nine percent per annum. This is not a sustainable model and the very elephants we are trying to protect will become the biggest threat to our precious national park.

Currently AENP is experimenting with elephant exclusion water points. This is to ensure that elephants don’t out-compete other species, especially the rare and threatened species. These exclusion waterholes will be in the vicinity of Lismore and Peasland. The hope is that the general, loyal visitor will understand. Resources must be managed in line with the needs of all the animals in the park.

The structure is rectangular in shape, with four telephone posts in the corners. An electric strand is suspended at two metres in height and has vertical one metre strands hanging off the main strand at 800mm intervals. These strands are electrified to stop elephants from walking in. They will soon realise that the water point is not available to them and proceed to areas with water that is able to sustain them. Other game is then able to use these water points without having to compete with elephants.

Some may think this is cruel, but the alternative requires the reduction in elephant densities. This approach buys time and protects the Park from catastrophic homogenisation of the landscape.

AENP hopes to extend the elephant home range in the near future. The completion of an elephant proof fence in the Darlington section will see the introduction of elephants from Addo into a 50 000 hectare area around the Darlington dam. It is planned to erect a suitable fence around 29 000 hectares of land in the Kabouga section which will allow for the removal of another large number of elephants across to this area.

In an endeavour to manage the elephant numbers in the Nyathi and Kuzuko areas, contraceptives are being used on the elephants. This is an expensive method but works very effectively.

Source: SANParks Guide for field guides operating in the Addo Elephant National Park (AENP)

[Lisbeth]

On the paper, it sounds reasonable and also correct in the sense of conservation, but does it work in nature? How long does it take for the elephants to "obey" to the new rules and the disappearance of water where they have been drinking for many decades It would be nice to have a report on the results of this new elephant politic.

Is this a recent thing, Klippie?

[Klipspringer]

from 2017

[Lisbeth]

Then somewhere there ought to be results of the above

[Peter Betts]

Fencing the Kabouga Section not good ..means the tiny remote unserviced unfenced campsite on the Sundays river will be fenced ..Progress

[Klipspringer]

Yeah, there are everywhere leopards on camera traps

[PJL]

There have been a few sightings of leopard on the Nyathi side... the main game area is a different story. Very few and far between 'glimpses' such that they are almost impossible to verify

[Peter Betts]

About 13 yrs ago there was a sighting of a leopard near Jacks Camp one evening in rain on a SANParks game drive ..It had a collar on ..They had been looking for this leopard for years as its collar had stopped working ..As far as I know it hasnt been seen since and must be deceased ..Age

[Richprins]

phpBB [video]

[Klipspringer]

Very interesting read here:

https://www.ajhtl.com/uploads/7/1/6/3/7 ... unizul.pdf


From game camps to landscape conservation: The evolution and development of the Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa