Jumbos have a new home in the Eastern Cape

For the first time in 150 years, and the culmination of an 11-year study, 28 elephants are roaming the Darlington Dam area in the Eastern Cape once again.

Nestled against the formidable and craggy Zuurberg mountain range, the Darlington Dam area at first glance seems to be rock filled, arid, and covered in Suurnoorsdoring (Euphorbia caerulescens).

Lift your eyes towards the Zuurberg, however, and while the area is still hard going for almost any creature, the prickly euphorbia makes way for pricklier Acacia trees, and the scrubby bush rangers say is perfectly suited to Addo’s elephants.

The 28 elephants were moved from the original Addo Park to relieve environmental pressure caused by more than 600 of the large pachyderms, and consist of family groups to maintain social cohesion.

The biggest difference between Addo elephants and others is that, although of the same genus – Loxodonta africana – the cows are generally tuskless due to past hunting wiping out tusked females and leaving only tuskless ones to breed, which furthered the genetic trait.

Tuskless or not, it remains an imposing animal at between 3.5 tons to 7 tons, and moving them was never going to be an easy task for rangers, no matter how much frustrated journalists present hoped the first batch would reach the Darlington Dam before sunset – a journey of up to 150km from Addo.

The elephants had to be sedated just enough to make them docile to herd them into their transport containers.

With elephant calves in the mix, herding, corralling, darting, loading and then transporting the uncooperative animals proved, at first, an elephant does what it wants to because it can.

It was only as journalists were already on the road that the first truck inched its way past, covering its attendant convoy of handlers, vets, rangers and more in layers of dust.

The first elephants to be released were a cow and two calves, which according to a supplied SANParks video quickly disappeared from the spotlights and into the dark of night.

They join recent additions of rhino, lion and leopard to Darlington.

Addo is SANParks’ third largest park, and is fragmented by roads, farms, and game ranches. The park was proclaimed in 1931, to protect the Eastern Cape’s 11 remaining elephants.

In its entirety, including the marine protected areas, the Greater Addo National Park is the only place in the world to boast the “Big Seven” – the great white shark, the southern right whale, rhino, lion, elephant, leopard and buffalo.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

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