A fence-cutting ceremony has taken place to mark the start of the expansion of the Addo Elephant Park in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It will see the reserve grow from its current 12,000 hextares to 24,000. It was attended bu officials from the local government as well as from the National Park service.

Addo is a popular spot for safari on our Garden Route tours , as well as our self-drive itineraries. It is unique in boasting the "Big 7" - the traditional big five of Lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and Rhino, plus the great white shark and whale.

The removal of the fence will merge the two areas stretching from the Addo Main Camp down to the park’s Camp Matyholweni rest camp near Colchester on the Algoa Bay coastline. Elephants, lion, hyena and other species will now have more space to roam across to the Colchester area of the Park. Buffalo, zebra and antelope species have already been introduced to the area.

“Addo is one of Nelson Mandela Bay’s biggest tourism draw-cards, we are ecstatic that they are making headway on their expansion plans, and that their elephant population wins in the process by getting a little more breathing space,” said NMBT Marketing Manager Titus Chuene.

In preparation for the extension to the park, the Colchester area has been developed to the tune of R45m which includes roads, fencing, wildlife introduction, construction of the rest camp and removing old fence lines and invasive alien vegetation. The development of the area formed part of a joint collaboration with SANParks, the Department of Environmental Affairs’ Poverty Relief programme and Infrastructure Development Programme as well as the World Bank.