Addo Outings 2014

[Sharifa]

Looking forward to your Addo Outings PJL

[PJL]

Hi Everyone, thanks for the warm welcome

@Toko - I must admit I haven't seen any of the Kibo clan recently, but that's mainly because I haven't been up at the main camp much to see them on their perch.

Seeing as the park is Addo Elephant NP, let's bounce over to one of the best places for seeing ellies: Hapoor Dam. I've often seen large herds congregating there to quench their thirst - particularly on some of the really hot days where it's not uncommon to see over 200 ellies around the water. Many of the teenagers enjoy a good swim there as well! The parking area is adjacent to the waterhole, so you get to be very close to all the action

Hapoor Dam



Herd Approaching The Water



Fiscal Flycatcher Surveying The Ellies



Scenic Hapoor



Swim Time



Cooling Off

[Lisbeth]

Very

I saw one of the big herds at Harpoor in Genn. 2011 headed by a very handsome tusker

[PJL]

Fantastic Lisbeth

The big tusker is Valli Moosa - he was one of the bulls introduced from Kruger to help improve the genetic diversity of the elephant in the park. He's a fabulous elephant (the biggest tusker in the park) and generally quite tolerant of vehicles, but not seen very often as he seems to enjoy his own space. Here he is at Hapoor on a recent occasion - you'll see that he has since had a collar fitted:

[Duke]

Great pics of Valli Moosa PJL and Lis

Love the scenic hapoor and the large herd of Ellies

[Lisbeth]

I don't like collars much, they make the animals look less wild, but I suppose that they are very useful for research

[Bushcraft]

Fantastic sightings and pics

[Toko]

Impressive guy - this Valli

Cool to see large herds and I like the Scenic Hapoor

Do you know how many elephants there are by now, PJL?

[PJL]

Do you know how many elephants there are by now, PJL?

I'm not 100% sure - I'll try and find out. But I think they must be pushing 600 now. I know that they are trying to calm things down a bit with contraception initiatives to try and bring the numbers somewhat under control.

[Toko]

Thank you, PJL

Interesting Contraception as a management tool in Addo but a very different management strategy for the Kruger population.

Have tried to look up the recent Addo elephant managemant plan, and obviously the latest Addo Park management plan is from 2008 and there is still the talk about optimal denisty etc, basicly what they say it was outdated and old days management to operate with carrying capacity, optimal density or similar concepts.

The application of recommended agricultural stocking rates has provided a rough guideline and since the elephants are seldom actively managed, it has generally led to exceeding these recommendations in specific areas (such as the Addo main camp). Many of these observed changes have taken years to manifest within the ecosystem and the management challenge will be to determine whether these degradation trends are continuing. The ideal elephant density within the park (particularly the main camp) is hotly debated and the previous recommendations of 2.0 elephants/km2 (Hall-Martin & Barrat. 1991; Knight et al. 2002) has been contested by Boshoff et al. (2002) who suggest that for many of the mesic Thicket habitats in the park elephant densities should be an order of magnitude lower (i.e. 0.2 elephant/km2). The density if even lower in the xerichabitats (ranging from 0.02 – 0.16 elephant/km2) while it is highest in the thicketmosaic habitats (0.54 elephant/km2).
It is immediately evident that the current elephant population density of 2.8 elephantss/km2 in the main elephant section could significantly alter the functioning of this ecosystem. Developing and opening new sections of the park (such as the 14000 ha Nyati concession area and 11 000 ha Colchester sections) remains a short-term strategy in attempting to manage these high elephant densities. Further expansion areas are limited (including the Kabouga section) and alternative management strategies need to be investigated now. These include contraception, translocation to other reserves, shifting acceptable levels of change to vegetation communities and ultimately culling, although the latter option is not preferred (Knight et al. 2002).

Addo Elephant National Park Management Plan (2008) - Page 30 Link

Wonder if SANParks will stick to this