Addo Elephant Park Full Day Tour

On this full day tour you’ll explore the Addo Elephant National Park, approx. an hour’s drive from Port Elizabeth. The tour departs ±09:00 daily from hotels in Port Elizabeth’s Summerstrand region. Tour duration is ±8.5 hours, of which most will be spent on game drives inside the Park. Lunch at a Park restaurant will be for your own account.

Addo was founded in 1931 to rescue the then dwindling number of elephants. Historically the region featured thousands of elephants, but numbers were drastically reduced due to hunting for ivory in the 19th century. Today the Park is home to more than 550 elephants, which is its main feature. Addo includes the “big seven” - the usual big five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino) as well as southern right whales (in season) and the great white shark. The latter two species occur in the Park’s marine conservation area.

The Park has been expanding rapidly over the last two decades. The main fenced area of the Park has doubled in size, while outside of the fenced-off area large amounts of land has been acquired and placed under the Park’s management. In time more of this additional land will be incorporated into the main wilderness area and will result in more grazing and territory for the Park’s wildlife - including its elephant population. At present the greater conservation area covers over 3 600 sq. km. This includes a marine reserve and two tiny islands - St. Croix and Bird Islands.