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Write a User ReviewA great day/overnight trip for those doing the Eastern Cape
The best thing about Addo is that it’s so accessible – you can fit in a real safari experience while road-tripping between the beaches of Jeffrey’s Bay and the scenic beauty of the Wild Coast. It’s well worth the detour if you’re not going to be safari-ing anywhere else or if, like me, you’re an elephant fanatic whose idea of heaven is to park up by a waterhole and watch the herds come and go for hours on end. The eles are the main attraction, although the park has lions, hyenas and myriad varieties of antelope too.
The top-priced self-catering accommodation here is quite gorgeous for a special occasion, and I loved the chance to eat my picnic at the floodlit waterhole within the campground, which also has an underground hide. Avoid weekends and school holidays, when lots of families make the campgrounds rather noisy and the roads crowded.
Expanding Addo
Most visitors mistakenly concentrate all their time in the main game-viewing area, which is choc-a-bloc full of elephants and home to the rest of the Big Five. The elephant sightings are superb and I’ve seen a couple of lion kills here too, but the area lacks a sense of wilderness and starts to feel very small and contained after a couple of days of exploring. As such, I would recommend all visitors escape into the quieter Zuurberg section of the park, or take a walk along the Alexandria hiking trail for a chance to forget the people and rediscover the wilderness vibe.
With plans well-underway to expand Addo into a 360,000 hectare mega-park including a large marine component,
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penguins, sharks and whales will soon be added to Addo’s already impressive species list. Tourism infrastructure is currently being developed in the coastal region, which will allow for southern right whale and great white shark viewing opportunities. So, when you combine these marine mammals with the traditional Big Five already found in the park, Addo will shortly be the first conservation area in the world to proudly boast a Magnificent Seven safari option.Elephants and more elephants in Addo
Addo is also a very accessible park, situated near Port Elizabeth and along the popular Garden Route. Inside the park there are plenty of tar roads and you can self-drive your way around. It’s a popular family choice and can get busy along the main thoroughfares, but it’s big enough that you can generally escape the crowds where necessary.
I’ve been lucky enough to stay at the secluded Gorah Elephant Camp, which sits on its own private concession of Addo and has beautiful views across the green rolling hills that characterize this park. But I’ve also enjoyed
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staying at the more basic South African National Parks camp by the main entrance, and at excellent accommodations just outside the park, where you’ll often get more privacy and better value for money.Giants of the Bush
Addo Elephant National Park lives up to its name – and then some. With roughly 700 elephants and counting, it offers some of the best elephant viewing in Africa. What makes it unforgettable, though, is how close they come. On my last visit, I had a very scary moment when a massive bull casually brushed past my car.
Elephants are, of course, the stars, but the park has plenty more to offer. Greater kudu bulls with their spiraling horns stand proudly above the bush, while buffalo, plains zebra, red hartebeest and eland are often easy to spot. Predator sightings are less reliable due to thick vegetation, but heading out early increases your chances of seeing lions or spotted hyenas on the move. Black rhinos are present too, though notoriously shy, making even a glimpse a special treat. Even the smallest inhabitants of Addo are fascinating. The park’s flightless dung beetles are almost as celebrated in Addo as the elephants whose dung they roll.