Addo Elephant National Park

Founded In 1931 To Save Eleven Surviving Elephants And Now Holding Well Over Six Hundred, In The Only Major South African Reserve That Is MALARIA FREE And Within An Hour Of A City Airport Thick Spekboom Thicket That Makes The Game Harder To Spot And The Sightings Better When They Come, With The Big Five Present And A Marine Section Offshore · Addo, Eastern Cape

Addo was declared in 1931 to protect eleven elephants - the last survivors of a population that farmers and hunters had shot to the edge of extinction - and it now holds well over six hundred. That recovery is the park's whole story, and it has produced the most reliable elephant viewing in South Africa. Two other things make it unusual. It is MALARIA-FREE, which puts it in a different category from Kruger for anyone travelling with young children or unwilling to take prophylaxis, and it is an hour from Port Elizabeth's airport, so a safari can be bolted onto a Garden Route trip without a long detour. The bush is thick spekboom, which makes the game harder to spot than in Kruger's open lowveld and the sightings better when they come. The big five are all present, the park runs down to the coast with a marine section, and the waterholes in the dry months are where absolutely everything happens.

In the Sundays River valley 70 km north of Port Elizabeth, running south towards the Alexandria coast, Addo, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Gates open at first light and close at dusk, with the exact times moving through the year, so get them at the gate and treat them as absolute. Entry is the daily SANParks conservation fee or a Wild Card. The main southern section around the Addo and Matyholweni gates has the tarred network and the main camp; the northern Darlington and Colchester sections and THE MARINE SECTION ARE A SEPARATE PROPOSITION AND ACCESS VARIES, so ask rather than assuming. Guided sunrise, sunset and night drives are booked at Main Camp reception and are the only legal way to be out after dark. Off-road driving is prohibited. Camps book out in South African school holidays. Port Elizabeth is 70 km south with the nearest airport, and a saloon hire car is entirely adequate on the main roads.

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