News

Addo Elephant National Park’s (AENP) well-known Hapoor Dam is the biggest in the Park.  It is frequented by dozens of elephants and other species daily for both drinking and cooling down purposes.

Park Management’s regular monitoring and management processes recognised that the dam is no longer ideal for usage by animals due to clay substrate constructs.  This tends to pose difficulties, especially in terms of mobility of smaller, younger animals. It has been concluded that the best and most lasting solution would be the construction of a concrete structure.

A 45 x 30m dam of about two metres deep, more or less the size of Hapoor, would cost in the region of R3.5 million to construct.  The SANParks Honorary Rangers (the official volunteer organisation of South African National Parks) in the Addo Region is mobilising required resources for this project to be realised.

When required resources are acquired, the new dam will then be built on the opposite side of the road to the current water hole.  Once complete, Hapoor Dam will then be rehabilitated and fenced off to prevent access for animals.

To contribute to the project please use the following Payfast link, https://www.payfast.co.za/donate/go/sanparksvolunteers using ADDO DAM PROJECT as the reference in the message field.