Cathy studied Nature Conservation and completed her degree at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, after which she did her experiential training at AENP. Here she worked closely with South African National Parks (SANParks) Veterinary Wildlife Service Unit which is based in Kimberley. After completing her experiential training year she joined the game capture team on a permanent basis and worked with them for 12 years, capturing and relocating a wide variety of species throughout Southern Africa and Africa.

In 2012 she left SANParks and took up the position of Conservation Manager at the Great Fish River Nature Reserve, managed by the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency. Five years later she returned to SANParks as the Black Rhino Surveillance and Monitoring Co-ordinator for Kruger National Park.

She now heads up conservation in Addo Elephant National Park, home to the “Big 7” – elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, leopard and the southern right whale and great white shark in the marine section of the park. Addo is the third-largest national park in the country and is comprised of a 182 000ha terrestrial component and 116 000ha Marine Protected Area. It’s been a busy two weeks in the Park for Cathy, who spent her first week participating in her first aerial census as well as being involved in an elephant contraception exercise.

Cathy says the highlight of her career was being awarded the Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa in London in 2016. She was the first South African recipient of the award and the first female to have won it. The Tusk Conservation Award is given to an individual who has been judged to be an emerging leader in conservation in Africa and in recognition of their outstanding contribution and considerable successes in their chosen field. The award was presented to Cathy by Sir David Attenborough. She says meeting him was one of the most memorable experiences of her life.

About her role as Addo’s first female Conservation Manager, Cathy says, “I am looking forward to supporting the Park’s terrestrial and marine conservation efforts and feel incredibly privileged to be a part of such a passionate, dedicated and committed team of rangers.”

Addo Indlovu Spa has been operating in the Park since October – providing guests with the opportunity to unwind even further in the comfort of their rooms or a private outdoors massage in their gazebo near Reception at Main Camp. Day visitors need not feel excluded as the treatments are for both overnight and day guests.

The treatments include foot massages and pedicures as well as head, neck, shoulder and back massages, as well as full body massages. There is also a kiddies’ spa menu for little hands and feet.

“The name ‘Indlovu’ means elephant in isiXhosa, which is the local language spoken in the Eastern Cape. These are also the people whose lives we want to enrich through training and job creation,” says Managing Director, Tania Rossouw. She says as she is from the Eastern Cape, her love for the area and passion for training brought together the concept of Indlovu healing.

All four massage therapists are previously disadvantaged ladies from the local Addo community who Tania has trained and nurtured with the necessary skills. She says she came up with the concept about 18 months ago when she went for a treatment at another spa in the area and came across a cleaning lady she had previously trained up as therapist. This made her want to nurture and improve these women’s capabilities and employ them to make full use of their skills and training.

Addo Indlovu Spa’s aim, says Tania, is to deliver five-star customer service which also offers value for money for their guests and at the same time respect the environment. Only natural products with natural ingredients are used. They make their own foot scrub with salt and essential oils, including spekboom bought from a local entrepreneur. The spekboom is crushed as the juice from the plant is exceptionally healing and hydrating to the skin.

As a special treat, all guests are offered African face paint after their treatments.

Entry tariffs to Addo Elephant National Park outside Port Elizabeth are scheduled for an annual increase from Thursday 1 November 2018. All funds generated from conservation fees are used with the primary mandate of South African National Parks which is to oversee the conservation of South Africa’s biodiversity, landscapes, seascapes and associated heritage assets through a system of national parks.

This will see the daily conservation fees for South African citizens set to increase to R77 and R39 for children under the age of 12. Children under two enter for free.

Visitors from SADC countries will pay R154 from 1 November whilst those from all other foreign countries may expect to pay R307. The rate for children is always half the price of the adults – at R77 and R154 respectively.

Fees at Mountain Zebra National Park for South African citizens set to increase to R53 and R27 for children under the age of 12. Children under two enter for free.

Visitors from SADC countries will pay R105 from 1 November whilst those from all other foreign countries may expect to pay R210. The rate for children is always half the price of the adults – at R53 and R105 respectively.

At Karoo National Park daily conservation fees for South African citizens set to increase to R53 for adults and R27 for children under 12 years old. Children under two enter for free.

Adult visitors from SADC countries will pay R105 from 1 November whilst those from all other foreign countries can expect to pay R210. The rate for children is always half the price of the adults – at R53 and R105 respectively.

Conservation fees are discounted for South African citizens in view of the financially disadvantaged status of the majority of people and the contribution by taxpayers to government funds.

Together with partners Total South Africa and FNB, SANParks makes this opportunity available to all South African citizens during Tourism month. The free access is meant to cultivate a sense of pride in local residents in South Africa’s natural, cultural and historical heritage. They can do this by experiencing and enjoying all that the parks have to offer. It should be noted that the free access does not include accommodation or paid-for activities.

There is lots to keep day visitors to Addo Elephant National Park busy – with its closest entrance gate at Colchester only 30 minutes outside Port Elizabeth. A self-drive game drive allows guests to explore the main game viewing area of the Park at their leisure – meandering through the Park along its many loops and stopping at waterholes to view game along the way. A pit stop at Jack’s picnic site is a must. This fenced-in area is the perfect spot for a picnic or braai, about halfway towards main camp. While elephant sightings are practically guaranteed, be sure to also keep a look out for the rest of the Big 5 as well as the more elusive animals like hyena and jackal.

At main camp, visitors can explore the underground and bird hides, walk the PPC Discovery Trail and visit the Ulwazi Interpretive Centre for interesting, interactive displays about the Park and its inhabitants.

The Zuurberg section of the Park is for those who enjoy experiencing nature on foot – with a number of trails to choose from – varying in length and difficulty. There are more walking trails in the Alexandria forest in the Woody Cape section near the town of Alexandria.

Other parks in the region who are also participating in the campaign include Garden Route National Park, Mountain Zebra (near Cradock) and Camdeboo National Parks (outside Graaff-Reinet). Addo Elephant will not be extending their free entry outside of 10 – 14 September, while Mountain Zebra will allow the first 100 day visitors through their gate free access on both Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 September and free entry is extended in Camdeboo throughout the weekend after SANParks Week.

The hike, which departs from the Zuurberg permit office and was initially three hours long, has been extended to five hours, or approximately 12km in length. The circular route includes a picnic spot along the way and passes “Otto’s pool” – in which hikers may choose to cool off on hot days. Drinking water, a sunhat and sunblock are essential, especially during summer.

The Zuurberg mountains are home to four of the Park’s five biomes – fynbos, grasslands, forest and subtropical thicket (also known as valley bushveld). The area is special as three cycad species and two yellowwood species – all endangered – can be found here. A total of 1 100 plant species have been recorded in the area.

Animals to look out for along the route include mountain reedbuck, red hartebeest, bushbuck and other small buck species, monkeys, baboons and dassies. Bird life is also prolific in the Zuurberg mountains.

There is no charge for doing the hike. Only conservation fees are charged for entering the Park (SA citizens – adults R69 and children R35). Only cash payments are accepted at Zuurberg, or a valid permit from one of the other sections of Addo. Operating hours are from 07:00 to 12:30 and 14:00 to 16:00 daily. Hikers need to undertake the activity by 12:00 so that they make it back in time for gate closure at 17:30.

Other activities which can be undertaken in this section of the Park include a shorter one-hour hiking trail and one-, three-, five-hour and overnight guided horse trails.

Slightly over half of these were international tourists – 158 162 (52%), with 146 091 South Africans (47%) while 1 257 visitors from SADC countries made up the minority. Dissected into day/overnight visitors, 82% or 250 232 were day visitors, while the remaining 18%, or 55 278 were overnight guests.

The majority of South African visitors to Addo Elephant National Park originated from the Eastern Cape – 101 374 which represents 69% of the total, followed by 21% or 30 448 from the Western Cape.

Germany, Netherlands and United Kingdom were the Park’s top three overseas markets, which represented 87 146 (55%), 15 391 (10%) and 8 361 (5%) of the international market respectively.

Addo Elephant National Park Manager, Nick de Goede, says “We are elated with these statistics. Not only does it tell us that the Park is a destination of choice for so many people, but that confidence both in the area and in the country is also picking up.”

“By putting best practices in place on the conservation front, we are able to provide top quality game viewing and a myriad of other activities all centred on our core function of nature conservation. The amount of day visitors, who made up 82% of our visitors over the past 12 months, tells us that the majority of people passing through our gates do so to enjoy the Park’s fauna and flora,” de Goede continues.

There are a number of activities guests to Addo Elephant National Park, just outside Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, can participate in. These include self-drive game viewing, guided game drives, bird viewing, walks and hikes, horse trails and a 4×4 trail. For others wanting to spend more time in the Park by overnighting, an array of accommodation options varying from camping and caravanning, to chalets, rondawels, tented camps to more luxurious four-star options is available.

Meanwhile, Mountain Zebra National Park welcomed over 30 000 visitors through its gates over the past financial year. The increase from 27 965 to 31 210 visitors between 1 April and 31 March over the previous year accounted for a 10% increase in guests to the Park.

A total of just over 81%, or 25 302 of these were South African. Dissected into provinces, visitors from the Eastern Cape made up the majority – 65% or 16 411, followed by the Western Cape’s 4 013 or 16%.

There was a slight difference between the numbers of visitors who went into the Park only for day visits compared to those who chose to stay overnight. Overnight guests accounted for 53% of the total visitors – 16 563, while the remaining 14 647 came in as day visitors.

Mountain Zebra’s top three overseas markets last financial year were Germany, Netherlands and France. They represented 44%, 11% and 7% of the international market respectively.

Park Manager, Roland Januarie, says they are excited to see an increase in the popularity of the Park, especially among South Africans.“One of the stand-out qualities which makes Mountain Zebra unique is our cheetah tracking activity, during which guests get to experience getting close to these unique creatures on foot, in their natural habitat. The smaller size of the Park and the variety and number of species almost always guarantees good sightings, coupled with our magnificent views, also gives us an edge.”

He added that the park’s accommodation offering product was expanded last year, adding an additional eight units to the rest camp. The six cottages and two four-star rock chalets were added to the Park’s existing family cottages, which now provides guests with a variety of options from which to choose. Added to these the park will also have camping and caravan sites in the rest camp and the Doornhoek guesthouse and two mountain cottages inside the game area.

The Park, located just outside the town of Cradock in the Eastern Cape, offers visitors a number of activities to choose from. These range from self-drive game viewing, to guided game drives, cheetah tracking, a visit to San cave paintings and a number of walks and hikes.