Addo Elephant Park, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Addo Elephant National Park is one of the notable conservation success stories of South Africa - one of the foremost malaria free game reserves in South Africa, only 40 minutes north-east from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The Addo Elephant Park offers excellent close-up elephant encounters as well as black rhino, lion, hippo, unique Cape buffalo, many species of antelope and of course the endangered flightless dung beetle! Sizeable elephant herds are partly due to the unique Addo Valley bushveld - the dominant plant is the pink flowered Spekboom, which is a favourite food for elephants.

Being a National Park, visitors are free to enjoy safaris in Addo on a self-drive basis but we recommend taking the guided safaris in open 4x4 game vehicles  which are offered by the nearby country lodges such as Woodall or Elephant House. Alternatively stay at one of the private game lodges within Addo Elephant Park such as Gorah Elephant Camp, Riverbend Game Lodge and Nguni River Lodge. Many of these lodges encourage family safaris given Addo’s malaria free status.

The Addo Elephant Park has an interesting and somewhat sad history. In 1919 a celebrated big game hunter, Major Jan Pretorius, was asked to exterminate all the elephants that were demolishing the crops of local farmers. In one year he shot 120 elephants until only 15 terrified elephants remained in the densest bush. In the face of a national, and international outcry, the hunt was called off and the elephants' survival was assured when Addo became a National Park in 1931. The numbers of elephant have grown dramatically and there are now well over 400 elephant in Addo.

The Greater Addo Elephant Park has recently been enlarged to encompass the Zuurberg Mountains only 25 minutes from Addo. Horse riding safaris are offered in the main park area as well in the beautiful  Zuurberg Mountains. (40 minutes drive). The Zuurberg hiking trail (4 to 5 hours) is a great morning alternative to game-viewing and is set in the predator-free Zuurberg mountains. Other activities nearby include canoeing in the Zuurberg mountains and visits to Schotia Private Game Reserve. Camp Figtree is located in the Zuurberg mountains.

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