In 1930, there were only 11 African elephants left in the East Cape, the others having been killed by farmers or hunters. South Africa established the Addo Elephant National Park primarily to protect the remaining elephants and increase the herd. Today, there are over 400 elephants in the 120,000 hectare park, and the government is rapidly buying the surrounding land to expand the park.
On our Silver Wind Africa cruise, we did a half-day trip to the Addo Park while the ship was docked in Port Elizabeth. As with all wildlife-viewing excursions, the park guides could not guarantee we would see anything except scenery. However, we were very lucky during the two hours we were in the Addo Park, seeing dozens of elephants, along with numerous wart hogs, tortoises, kudus, and even a pair of young lions lying five feet from the road in the brush. It was quite an exciting morning, and I was thrilled that you could see so many wild animals in such a short period (even if it was just luck).
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