Reviews of Addo Elephant (From 12 Acclaimed Safari Experts)

Expert

Philip Briggs –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Philip is an acclaimed travel writer and author of many guidebooks, including the Bradt guides to Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa.

9 people found this review helpful.

Elephants up close and personal

Overall rating

4/5

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This is a difficult park to rate fairly because it can come across as a bit of a one-trick pony. Along with Amboseli in Kenya, I would rank it the best place anywhere in Africa for exciting close-up encounters with elephants – which are wild, but so habituated that they frequently walk within touching distance of cars. Since the park was expanded a few years back, elephants are less densely clustered and conspicuous than they used to be, but on a good day you still might see several herds comprising a total of 100 or more individuals on the reliably rewarding Gorah Loop. The rest of the Big Five either occurs naturally (buffalo, leopard) or has been reintroduced (lion, black rhino), but sightings are far from guaranteed, That said, on our most recent (two-day) visit we had excellent views of buffalo and lion (including a pair of black-maned males feeding on a kill next to Domkrag Dam), and also saw a distant black rhino. Unsurprisingly, we dipped on leopard. I was impressed by the large number of greater kudus, many of which possessed truly spectacular spiraled horns. We also had a few sightings of spotted hyena and back-backed jackal in the vicinity if Domkrag Dam. Conspicuous birds included Denham’s bustard, black-headed heron, pied starling, southern boubou and Cape longclaw. If one bird species is emblematic of Addo, though, it would be the bokmakierie, an endemic, atypically non-secretive and pretty bush-shrike with mostly yellow feathering and a habit of calling loudly from open perches.

9 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Expert

Lizzie Williams –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Lizzie is a reputed guidebook writer and author of the Footprint guides to South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

5 people found this review helpful.

South Africa’s premier park for elephant-watching

Overall rating

4/5

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Thanks to rapid expansion in recent years, Addo is South Africa’s third largest park after Kruger and the Kgalagadi. The total 1640-sq-kms encompass large bush areas as well as fragmented pockets of varied habitats, from woodlands in the Little Karoo to sand dunes along the Indian Ocean. Like most visitors to Addo, I’ve always seen elephants in the principle game-viewing area around Main Camp thanks to flat bush, waterholes and pans—one time a magnificent herd of more than 100-strong splashing around in their morning bath. Main Camp’s underground hide overlooking a waterhole is another great vantage-point too. Cape buffalo, zebra, and antelope are common, lion and spotted hyenas are occasionally seen, and look out for the curious flightless dung beetle. Also explore the other distinct regions for their different habitats and animals – for example black rhino are present in the Darlington area, while the Sundays River in the Zuurberg section is home to hippo. An all-year-round park, Addo is ideal for novice game-watchers and children, and of course all elephant-lovers.

5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Expert

Emma Gregg –

UK

Visited: September

Emma is an award-winning travel writer for Rough Guides, National Geographic Traveller, Travel Africa magazine and The Independent.

5 people found this review helpful.

Huge herds of elephants and much, much more

Overall rating

4/5

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It’s about time that Addo changed its name, not for any lack of elephants (the park started out as an elephant sanctuary, their numbers now exceed 550, and I’d be amazed if you didn’t see several herds during your visit), but because there are so many other species here, too, from endemic flightless beetles to hyenas, black rhinos and leopards.

I love the great variety of habitats and activities on offer here, including wildlife-watching on horseback, and there’s even more more in the pipeline. Already a Big Five park and the third largest protected area in South Africa, Addo is growing – there are plans to expand its coastal section into a marine reserve. That will, of course, make it a Big Seven park, six and seven in this instance being great white sharks and whales.

The fact that Addo lies within a malaria-fee region is a tremendous bonus. If your stay in South Africa includes the Garden Route or Port Elizabeth, you’d be crazy to miss out on Addo, even if you only have time for a quick day-trip.

5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Expert

Lucy Corne –

UK

Visited: April

Lucy is travel writer for a range of publications, including Lonely Planet's guides to Africa, Southern Africa and South Africa.

4 people found this review helpful.

Breathtakingly Close Encounters with Elephants

Overall rating

4/5

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It was grey and drizzling on my most recent visit to Addo, and hopes were not high at spotting much. What followed were the three most exhilarating elephant sightings I’ve ever had. It’s pretty much impossible not to see elephants at Addo. They amble down the dirt roads in herds. They congregate at water holes to frolic and sip. They stop in the middle of the road, halting traffic for a while until drivers pluck up the courage to inch by, passing so close a passenger could easily reach out to touch a wrinkly knee. On paper, the park is home to the Big Five, but realistically you’re very unlikely to see them all. Don’t come here with the goal of checking a dozen species off your list. Instead, come to get the kind of in-depth elephant encounters that you’ve always dreamed of when watching a David Attenborough documentary.

4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Expert

Kim Wildman –

AU

Visited: Multiple times

Kim is a travel writer who authored and updated over 15 guidebooks, including Lonely Planet's South Africa and Bradt's Tanzania guides.

4 people found this review helpful.

Elephants, elephants & more elephants

Overall rating

4/5

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If you have a serious fetish for elephants, look no further than Addo. Close encounters of the elephant kind are an everyday experience here – so much so that you can almost become blasé about it. While parks such as Zimbabwe’s Hwange may boast greater numbers of the lumbering giants, in my experience I’ve spied more elephants in Addo than anywhere else in Africa. In fact, each time I’ve visited I’ve found it near impossible to count the numbers I’ve seen. Beyond elephants, the park is also home to Cape buffalo, lion, black rhino, various antelope species, warthogs and the flightless dungbeetle (which is exclusively found at Addo). However, Addo’s dense bush veld means that you will struggle to see much more than antelope. The elephants though more than make up for this. Each time I’ve visited, I’ve found it practically impossible to count the number of elephants I’ve spied. For anyone interested in the park’s smaller creatures such as insects and birds, a walk along the Spekboom Trail is well-recommended. The trail is set within a fenced-off botanical reserve, meaning you can roam through it freely without fear of being charged by an elephant or rhino or ending up the main meal of a hungry lion.

4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Expert

James Bainbridge –

UK

Visited: Multiple times

James is a travel writer and author of many Lonely Planet guides, including senior author of the guide to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.

2 people found this review helpful.

Elephants Galore

Overall rating

4/5

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Addo is South Africa's third-largest national park, covering 1800 sq km, and a popular stop for both self-drive and guided safaris, situated near Port Elizabeth and the Garden Route. While it can get busy (book well ahead to stay here over Christmas), the park certainly lives up to its name, with over 600 elephants comprising Africa's most concentrated pachyderm population. I experienced my most memorable elephant sightings here: thirsty herds hurrying to waterholes, trunks swinging and cute calves scurrying; and the surly adolescent male who passed our vehicle, his glaring eye sizing up our camera lenses. The sprawling park covers numerous environments, from the Zuurberg Mountains to the coastline; the main section is pleasingly hilly, with viewpoints and ridges to drive along. My hottest tip, for small groups, is the Narina Bush Camp. It's a blissful, electricity-free getaway with a gas-powered fridge, donkey-boiler shower, and an inviting waterhole and terrace.

2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Expert

Dale R Morris –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Dale is a multi-award-winning writer and photographer with more than 500 published magazine articles featured in magazines such as National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa, and CNN Travel.

1 person found this review helpful.

So much more than a bunch of happy elephants

Overall rating

4/5

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Addo Elephant National Park was established way back in 1931 as a tiny, 2,000-hectare fenced-in sanctuary for the region’s last 11 surviving elephants. However, since then, it has grown considerably, and is now home to well over 600 happy, healthy pachyderms.

Currently, the greater Addo National Park is around 3,000km² in size and includes six distinct eco-types within its boundaries: the Cape Floral fynbos habitat, the arid and rocky Nama Karoo, Afromontane evergreen forests, subtropical thickets, a coastal belt, and a huge 1,200km² marine reserve where penguins, fur seals, whales, and great white sharks abound.

I love the self-drive safari options in the popular ‘Main Camp’ and ‘Colchester’ sections, but more than that, I enjoy exploring the many little-known gems in this park. I have stayed up in the mountains in the charming Narina tented camp, and I have explored Addo’s misty forests on my quest to find rare and colorful birds.

I have ventured in my 4x4 over the Zuurberg mountains and seen black rhinos, and I have trekked the 2-day Alexandria hiking trail through desert-like dunes along Addo’s Woody Cape coastal section. In fact, there are numerous places to hike in Addo. Not a lot of people know that.

You can also ride horses among wildlife, stay in a five-star concession, hang out with habituated meerkats, and even go shark cage diving from the nearby town of Gqeberha.

All in all, Addo is bigger, better, and far more diverse than most people realize.