The Addo Elephant National Park is one of South Africa’s most visited wild places, and not without reason. The Park has a wealth of habitats and a wonderful array of wildlife, not least of which is the elephants that were the original reason for Addo’s proclamation. Furthermore it is such an easy destination to visit, with an excellent network of roads, conveniences like a shop and restaurant, and comfortable accommodation options for visitors.
During our visit earlier in January I posted a few photographs on a daily basis to give those following along on our travels a glimpse of what we were experiencing. Let’s start this recap with those.
There’s no denying that Addo’s Elephants are the stars of the show – rightly so, considering how close the population were to being wiped out when the Park was proclaimed – but national parks like Addo conserve so much more than just the big, charismatic African fauna. Addo is richly endowed with various kinds of smaller, often less noticeable, plants and wildlife, and visitors who take care to look for them will find their visits endless enriched.
Addo is also a haven for a wide variety of birds – we managed to identify 81 species during our four day visit.
Of course a national park on this continent will never grow famous if it isn’t home to a wide variety of charismatic mammals, and here Addo certainly ranks among the best of the best. Lions, hyenas, jackals, zebras, antelope, buffaloes and warthogs can pop out around any corner and are usually quite comfortable around humans in their vehicles, making for great photographic opportunities.
And then, of course, there’s the elephants. Addo’s elephants are more relaxed than most other populations in the country and, if you are as enthralled with these beautiful animals as we are, you will enjoy the many up-close encounters Addo delivers with the giant pachyderms.
DeWetsWild is proud to be a contracted reservations agent for the Addo Elephant National Park, so whether you’d like us to assist you with a reservation to visit on your own or would like us to include the Park in a guided tour arranged specifically for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
DeWetsWild 
Wonderful gallery of memories!
Addo should definitely be on the itinerary next time you come to visit, John!
What a fantastic array of sightings you had and a lovely gallery of photos.
Thank you very much, Carol!
Beautifull picture story of one of our prestine national parks ! Thanks for sharing
Andre
Addo’s a treasure we love sharing, Andre!
Oe, maar jy het die mooiste foto’s van al die diere in die park (ja, veral die olifante)! En jy doen altyd soveel moeite om die klein diertjies en planteryk ook af te neem. Addo is voorwaar ‘n fees om te besoek … soos jy self sê, daar is meer as net olifante! Pragtige foto’s!
Baie dankie, Corna. Addo verdien beslis sy plek as een van ons gewildste nasionale parke. Ons kom nooit teleurgesteld van daar af terug nie.
Addo looking as wonderful as ever. Love the flowering spekboom
Addo was stunningly beautiful with the vast swathes of flowering spekboom we saw on this trip, Helen!
The spekboom growing in my garden is just beginning to bloom and I have numerous snakeplants flowering now. I am aching to get back to Addo, so your pictures are a marvellous reminder of what I am missing!
I’ve never seen so many spekboom flowering at Addo as on this trip, Anne. I wonder if it is thanks to the good rains following so many years of drought?
I suspect it is the rain – my garden spekboom has a few blossoms on it too.
Wonderful!!!
Addo is such a special place, Kathy!
You know I love the elephants, but the portrait of the spotted hyena and the photo of the scrub hare are wonderful.
No hippos?
You’d be in seventh heaven with all the elephants at Addo, Lois!
Sadly on this trip we didn’t have a chance to venture into the areas frequented by Addo’s hippos, but they are there!