History is being made in the Eastern Cape, elephants have been relocated to an area of the Addo Elephant National Park where they last roamed 150 years ago. Twenty-seven elephants have been moved to Darlington, a northern area of the reserve.
Addo Elephant National Park is the third largest national park in South Africa. The park has one of the highest concentration of the African Elephant in the world.
Over 600 of the gentle giants call Addo Elephant National Park, home. There are seven family groups in the park. The group that will be moved consists of 10 adult cows, 3 adult bulls, 3 sub adult cows, 7 sub adult bulls, 4 calves.
and finally the matriarch who will lead them in their new home.
The Darlington section of Addo is mainly covered by karoo vegetation. It has a low rainfall, supplementing the dry area is the massive Darlington dam which will be the elephants’ new watering hole.
Although the vegetation is different elephants are known to adapt to their surroundings.
The area will be protected by over a hundred kilometres of predator proof boundary fencing and will have dedicated rangers on patrol 24/7.
“Our wildlife is under threat, our natural heritage is under threat, if it weren’t for the rangers and work that they do we would be a much poorer nation,” said senior section ranger in Addo, Arban Padayachee.
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