​Wildlife & Animals – Addo Elephant NP

Philip Briggs
Expert
By Philip Briggs

Philip lives in South Africa and has authored many guidebooks to African destinations, including the Rough Guide to Game Parks of South Africa.

Philip lives in South Africa and has authored many Africa guidebooks, including the Rough Guide to Game Parks of South Africa.

Philip is the author of many Africa guidebooks, including the Rough Guide to Game Parks of South Africa.

Philip is author of the Rough Guide to Game Parks of South Africa.

Addo's top attraction is the elephant population. All of the Big Five are present, and lion are sometimes encountered early in the morning. Black rhino is very shy and tends to stay in the thickets. Giraffe is absent, as it has never occurred in the area, and hippo are only found in the rarely visited Zuurberg Mountains section of the park.

Abundant
Common
Occasional
Rare
None
ElephantAbundant
GiraffeNone
HippoVery Rare
BuffaloOccasional
ZebraCommon
WildebeestNone
White RhinoNone
Black RhinoRare
LionOccasional
LeopardRare
CheetahNone
HyenaOccasional
Wild DogNone

Wildlife Highlights

Some of the more interesting antelope species regularly encountered are greater kudu, red hartebeest and eland. The endemic flightless dung beetle has right-of-way on the roads and plays an important role in recycling nutrients to stimulate vegetation growth.

Best Time for Wildlife Viewing

While wildlife viewing is always good in Addo, it is marginally better during the drier months of the year (June to September) when animals congregate at the man-made waterholes. However, the weather is more pleasant from October to May.

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