ADDO ELEPHANT NATIONAL PARK TOPS!
26 July 2013
The ceremony is held annually to celebrate the top achievers from the four national parks in the Frontier Region – namely Addo Elephant, Mountain Zebra, Camdeboo and Karoo National Parks.
Addo Elephant National Park was awarded Best Performing Park and its Main Camp Best Performing Camp for excellent achievements in conservation, tourism and people and conservation: SANParks’ three core business areas.
Some of the achievements in the 2012/13 financial year which led to this success included a 15.7% increase in visitors, with bed occupancy the highest of all 21 South African National Parks at 69.3%. In terms of Conservation, the Park’s lion management is of such a high standard that it has been instrumental in paving the way for the introduction of lion in other Parks in the region. Addo also continues to be a leader in the management of mega-herbivores and is seen in high esteem by other conservation institutions. On the People and Conservation side, the Park has had numerous successes, including starting up a beekeeping project which is run by a group from a neigbouring community. The Park also extracts alien fish from the Darlington Dam, harvests and sells it to locals from surrounding townships as a low cost, high protein food source and has assisted with the renovations and refurbishment of a number of schools around the Park, among others.
Addo Elephant National Park’s Main Camp is a favourite among many loyal SANParks visitors.
Addo’s Marine Team also walked away with the Best Ranger Post of the Year Award. The team was honoured for the instrumental role they played in controlling poaching in Addo’s marine environment, making a number of arrests along the way. They have also been key with regards to the preservation of the endangered penguin species on Bird and St Croix islands.
Author: South African National Parks (SANParks) Frontier Region Communications
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