Addo Elephant National Park

	Environmental Education
	Environmental Education Activities and Ongoing Projects
	Environmental education involves a range of processes, which support environmental learning, in all learning areas. Environmental learning involves developing an understanding of the environment and its issues, and values and skills that will help learners to contribute to the protection and improvement of environments. Part of this process is teaching ecological literacy, creating sustainable human communities designed in such a manner that their ways of life do not interfere with nature's inherit ability to sustain life. For communities to grasp this ecological literacy, a great deal of awareness is necessary. There are many forms of awareness that can be presented to communities in order to achieve this. The forms of awareness are tailored to the age group targeted, the youth being the most effective target group of a community as they are impressionable and opinions are open to new concepts. Slide shows and role plays are presented at local schools and various school groups led on guided tours in the Park. To present the Park as a learning centre for schools, learners on educational trips are given free entrance to the Park. Future plans involve the establishment of an environmental education centre and environmental education programme as part of the World Bank project. Through this project, a bus has been acquired, giving a boost to EE initiatives. This vehicle will be used to transport learners from local community schools to the Park, where they can use the Park as a learning centre. Imbewu Imbewu, a joint project between South African National Parks and the Wilderness Foundation, was created in 1996 in the Kruger National Park. In the first two years of the project, 200 high schools involving 900 youth experienced our programme of environmental learning and youth empowerment, through a direct experience of wild areas.
	School Visits
	SANParks encourages the use of national parks as learning centres where young South Africans can learn about their natural and cultural heritage. Special discounts are available for educational visits. Download form for school visits (Word Format - 308 Kb)
	Student Volunteers
	Opportunities exist for interested young people to gain first-hand experience of conservation in a National Park. A four-week or eight-week experience allows the student to take part in the day-to-day conservation work of a Big Five national park. No prior experience is necessary, only a keen interest in nature and a willingness to be involved in all aspects of this work. Further information
	Development Programmes
	Mayibuye Ndlovu Development Programme An effective liaison structure between the Park and the local communities is a vital aspect of People & Conservation work. The current structure of the Mayibuye Ndlovu Development Programme ("Mayibuye Ndlovu" means "let the elephant return" in Xhosa) had much humbler beginnings in the early 90s when a Community Forum was formed as a result of conflicts between the Park and Nomathamsanqa community. This later developed into the Mayibuye Ndlovu Arts and Craft Project, with crafters selling their craft at the park entrance gate. In later years, the structure became more representative of all the local stakeholders with the formation of the Mayibuye Ndlovu Development Programme. Represented on this forum are: the Addo Elephant National Park, Local Government, the Sundays River Valley Tourism Forum and eight communities namely, Bersheba, Enon, Nomathamsanqa, Valencia, Joe Slovo, Moses Mabida, Paterson and Colchester. This forum meets regularly to discuss issues and plan for benefit for stakeholders.
	Research and Monitoring
	The Addo elephants are probably the world's most comprehensively recorded elephant population. Elephant research began in earnest in 1976 when Dr. Anthony Hall-Martin researched the Addo elephant population. In this study he built up a complete photographic identification file for the population (a total of 96 elephants in May 1978), documented the sex, estimated age, and developmental status of all individuals, and kept records of births and deaths within the population. Additionally, notes were kept on observed association patterns and social behaviour.>>> Recent Published Literature Contact details/Enquiries: Dr Ayanda Sigwela Tel: +27(0)41 508 5411 - E-mail: asigwela@upe.ac.za