By: PujaPosted on

Our Addo Elephant National Park guide sets out the best things to do in Addo, along some useful tips to help you plan your Addo itinerary, Addo accommodation and enjoy your visit to this beautiful scenic region. On our South Africa road trip, we decided to add Addo into our Cape Town & Garden Route itinerary. We drove our rented car from Tsitsikamma to our Addo Elephant National Park Accommodation Addo Riverside Villa & Spa which almost took 2 and half hours to reach(230km).

Addo Elephant National Park guide | | Addo itinerary | Addo accommodation | Things to do in Addo | Addo Elephant National Park Accommodation


Addo Elephant National Park is situated north east to Gqeberha(Port Elizabeth) which is less than an hour drive. This park currently houses more than 700 elephants and other mammals in an enclosed area of 680 hectares. However Addo Elephant National Park is relatively smaller and you can easily take a day trip too( if you don’t wish to stay) here and definitely can cover most of the areas spotting the animals.
Addo Elephant National Park is one of the easiest parks to access in South Africa which is also home to the ‘Big Seven’, interesting! We all know about the African ‘Big Five’(elephant, buffalo, lion, rhino and leopard) but they also have Southern Right Whales and Great White Sharks in their list, from the marine world.

We would suggest you should at least spend 2 days here in Addo if your itinerary allows, so that you don’t have to rush on things & to understand the diversity of this beautiful park which is packed with Safari and game drive thrills and adventures. However we only stayed for a night.
Read the detailed blog below and click here to get your Wild Card

How to reach Addo Elephant National Park?

From Cape town, Johannesburg, Durban directly fly to Port Elizabeth International Airport(also the nearest airport) and from there to Addo it is less than an hour drive.

Best time to visit Addo Elephant National Park?

While Addo Elephant National Park is an excellent destination to visit all year-round, its best during dry season (May-Sept) when the wildlife gather around the waterholes to quench their thirst making it the perfect time to spot maximum animals. If you get lucky you may even spot all the big five.

Is Addo Elephant Park Safari In South Africa worth visiting?

Definitely yes!
There can be nothing more exciting and fascinating to be surrounded by the wild animals. Definitely an experience of its kind. Visit and see by yourself we loved it and hope you will love it too.

Where to stay in Addo Elephant National Park in budget? Addo Elephant National Park Accommodation

We booked our stay here at Addo Riverside Villa & Spa (R830 per night) which is just 10 min outside from Addo Elephant National Park main gate(Matyholweni gate).


Our super host were extremely welcoming and helpful, 100/100 for their hospitality and service. We had a comfortable time staying here and would definitely recommend it to you guys!

Also there are two private lodges inside the park. You can even check those if you wish to stay inside.

  1. River Bend Lodge
  2. Gorah Elephant Camp

You can also decided to stay at Addo Rest Camp a great option under SAN Park(South African National Park).

Which car to drive inside Addo Elephant National Park?

You don’t need a 4*4 wheel drive car for Addo tracks if you don’t have one, we drove hatchback car which was equally comfortable. The roads are partially concrete even the rural roads inside the park are decent for regular
cars.

Our One Day Inside Addo Elephant Park

We reached Addo by 1pm in the afternoon and after checking-in and freshening up a bit, decided to go for the evening game drive by 3pm. The park was open from 7am-6.30pm while we were there, the timings aren’t the
same for every month. So keep a time check on the month of your travel.
Note: If you don’t have a wild card, entry charges for international visitors is R360 per adult and R180 per child & for SADC nationals its R180 per adult and R90 per child.
Most national parks have a validity of entry tickets purchased once for 24 hours but here its not the same(if staying outside the park). You have to pay this fee multiple time if you exit and wish to re-enter the
park, even we found it very strange! So would recommend please don’t go out again for meals, instead carry some packed meal or avail the restaurant inside the park. We already had our wild card so our entry was free.

For more information, check the official site here.

We went inside the park and in less than 10min encountered with herd of elephants blocking our way. We settled at the same spot for almost 50min before the giants gave us an escape way, eh that was a crazy time.
Please try not to overtake the elephants, if on your way they might act violent or even chase you.
Later in the evening we saw few Red Hartebeest, Burchell’s Zebras(make sure you don’t confuse them with mountain zebras), Eland, Flightless Dung Beetle and Kudu.

It was already dusk by than we could not follow the entire trail, so decided to reach the main gate before the closing hour as we already knew we would be coming here the next morning again before we catch our flight to
Johannesburg.

The very next morning entered the gate by 6am. We witnessed the beautiful sunrise while a Hyena crossed our way. The morning inside the park was calmer with less cars around and more animals surrounding.
We spotted(buffalo’s, giraffes, scrubhare, warthogs, bushbacks, elephants etc) all around who came outside near the pathways from the bushes for breakfast. However we could not spot any lion or leopard, let us add its very-
very difficult to spot one on your own, so don’t get disappointed.

Here are some tips for spotting wildlifes while in Addo Elephant National Park:

  • The very first thing is to get a map from the reception, which would direct you with the roads and plan your driveways where the spotting zones are marked.
  • Try to go around the waterholes and lookout points, its likely you can spot more animals there and don’t forget your binoculars.
  • Try to get in touch with other approaching cars and ask them if they had spotted somewhere already. Because there are no ranger vehicles around to guide you with radio transmissions.

Things to keep in mind For A Great Addo Elephant Park Safari

  1. Do not try to get out of our car to approach any animals(except at specified locations), it might trap you with serious penalties.
  2. Try to maintain a distance from the wilds and also maintain silence. If noisy the animals might get scared and run away before you even notice them, and you don’t want that right?
  3. Maintain your speed limit to 40kph.
  4. Do not try to injure, feed or encourage the wilds.
  5. Don’t drive over the elephant dung you see in the road as endangered flightless dung beetles breed there for food and reproduction.
  6. Do not throw any trash outside from your car,as wild animals might consume those and suffer.
  7. You may only drive on guided trails, and not drive off-roads with boards bearing no entry sign.
  8. Entry of pets and drones are restricted inside the park

Other amenities inside the park :

  1. Toilet
  2. Restaurant
  3. Petrol Station
  4. Jack’s picnic site Botanical Reserve

Envisioning the lovely end to this amazing time at “Addo Elephant National Park”and now we would head towards our next destination Johannesburg.
So guys hope you find this blog helpful planning yours, and if you have any queries please write it down in the comment section below. We would try to help with the best of our knowledge.

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Categories: South Africa