Spending the day checking fences at ADDO elephant national park

After the exciting weekend at PE, it was perfect for some downtime and checking fences at main-camp at ADDO just did this. Meeting at 7 am, it was once again back to the routine at the park. Today's agenda was to change one of the devices that maintained the electricity charge on the fencing as well as check the fences for power. The electrical fences were maintained by means of devices that emitted electrical pulses at fixed intervals and the rangers would be heading down to change one of these which were malfunctioning.

Once changed, the rangers walked along the fences, using a current measuring instrument to check the strength of the fencing. Fence patrols for volunteers were basically a time to experience the park more so then the actual act of checking the power since we did not know how to use the devices used to check power. Some times we would aid in clearing the bush or walk along side the rangers but most times was spent standing at the back of the bakkie enjoying the wind and sights.

Checking through the water supply, we chanced upon an elephant standing by the water hole and the rangers stopped by awhile to let us have a closer look at him. Since we carried our cameras almost all the time, the rangers had told us that if we did want to take shots along the way while the vehicle was moving, all we had to do was to tap on the hood and they would stop. I particularly found this a rather kind gesture.

Moving on, we decided to check out the carcass of the dead elephant which had been lying there for about a week now. The rangers had told us that the smell would attract the natural carrion clearing crew at the park which were the hyenas. Vultures had been spotted at the park many years ago and it was hoped that they would come back in time.

Hyena print

Knowing the carcass was close did not take much effort, since the smell was so strong that even from several hundred meters away, it was so predominant in the hot afternoon. It was definitely a relief that the carcass was far away from the tourist paths and hence could be left as food for hyenas. Hyena prints were visible and it could be seen that they had been hard at work with parts of the elephant being dragged out far away from where the carcass was.

Evidence of hyenas at work

For us, this was definitely something interesting since we had never been near such a carcass, neither experienced the after-effects of death of the animals in a natural environment. Watching the carcass decompose after a week, we got a glimpse of a side of life rarely experienced. Life wasn't always about bounding animals and beautiful scenes but death as well.

Thanking the rangers for their kindness in allowing us to see this other side of the park, we made our way back at the end of the day having a new perspective of life.