NEW TOURISM opportunities in the Eastern Cape will be created by a proposed new entrance to the Addo Elephant National Park from the N2 near Colchester. According to the greater Addo Elephant National Park project co-ordinator Michael Knight, the gate will open up the new southern part of the park, which is in the process of being fenced. Addo reached the N2 last year with the purchase of the farm which borders on the national road. The new 20-kilometre road will take visitors to the existing main park, from which they will be able to exit through the Addo gate. The new route will be open to passenger vehicles only, and not to tour buses. Work will commence once an environmental impact study has been completed. If it given the go-ahead, the new gate could be open in two to three years’ time. Knight says the park is continuing to consolidate the land needed to make it into Africa’s most ecologically diverse national park. Areas already under the control of the National Parks are being restocked. Predators like hyena, wild dog and ultimately lion are being introduced through a phase process. The purchase of the farmland bordering on the N2, and through which the new road will pass, is described by Dr Knight as “one of the final pieces of the jigsaw” that will see the creation of a unique African park stretching 250 kilometres from Bird Island in Algoa Bay over the Zuurberg mountains to the Darlington Dam in the Karoo. Funds for the purchase of the farm Oliphant’s Plaat were donated by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The purchase price has not been made known. The farm is described by Dr Knight as “prime elephant habitat,” which has been extremely well managed by the Pearson family and is one of the finest examples of valley bushveld left in the Eastern Cape. Elephants will soon return to the mouth of the Sunday’s River and the beaches of Algoa Bay is his confident prediction. “Addo is taking control of the Woody Cape Reserve, which stretches all the way along the coast to near Colchester. All that is needed is for the elephant to be given access through the remaining tract of privately-owned land and they will move back into the areas they were last seen in over 100 years ago.” The area would also need to be fenced and a road bridge or culvert built to allow the animals to cross under the N2. “Addo has captured the imagination of environmentalists and lovers of the wild around the world. I am sure we will be able to raise the fund s we need to realise the dream of a park with the big seven – the rhino, elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard, Southern Right whale and great white shark,” he says.