Addo National Park is now the third largest national park in South Africa, it has expanded to conserve a wide diversity of biodiversity, landscapes, fauna and flora. Stretching from the semi-arid Karoo area in the north around Darlington Dam, over the rugged Zuurberg Mountains, through the Sundays River valley and south to the coast between Sundays River mouth and Bushman’s river mouth. The Addo covers about 180 000 hectares (444 700 acres) and includes the Bird and St Croix Island groups in the Nelson Mandela Bay and Indian Ocean.
The original elephant section of the park was proclaimed in 1931, when only sixteen elephants remained in the area. Today this finely tuned ecosystem is sanctuary to over 550 elephants, lions, buffalo, black rhino, spotted hyena, leopard, a variety of antelope and zebra species, as well as the unique Addo flightless dung beetle, found almost exclusively in Addo. And their Addo has only just begun, with plans to expand the Park into a 264 000 hectare (652 300 acre) mega-park.
In addition, plans include the proposed proclamation of a 120 000 ha (296 500 acre) marine reserve that includes islands that are home to the world’s largest breeding populations of Cape gannets and second largest breeding population of African penguins.
Addo Elephant National Park offers a range of accomodation types. The list below offers a brief description of what the park offers.
Facilities & Activities
- Guided Game Drives
- Hop on Guides
- 4×4 Trails
- Horse Safaris
- Self drive game viewing
- Alexandra Hiking Trails
- Other activities at no additional charge:
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- Self-drive wildlife viewing in the main game area and Colchester area on 120 km of tourist roads suitable fro normal sedan cars.
- Zuurberg hiking trails: 1-hour and 3-hour trails available in the Zuurberg Mountains.
- PPC Discovery Trail: a short walk in the main camp, one loop suitable for wheelchairusers and visually-impaired visitors.
- SASOL Red Bishop Bird Hide: in the main camp (suitable for wheelchair-users).
- Floodlit waterhole: at main camp (suitable for wheelchair-users).
- Underground viewing hide at main camp (suitable for wheelchair-users).
- Picnic and braai site: at main camp and in the botanical reserve Jack’s Picnic site off the southern access road.
- Swimming pool: at main camp, only for overnight guests.
- Restaurant and curio shop: at main camp. Restaurant Tel: 042 2338674.
- Holiday programmes for children: during July and December holidays
- Marine eco tours
Accommodation & Rates
Addo Rest Camp
The popular main rest camp of the park offers a wide variety of accommodation units to suit all tastes and plenty of activities to keep visitors busy. A unique feature is the waterhole lookout point, floodlit at night, within the camp as well as the underground hide, allowing close encounters with wildlife at the waterhole…
Spekboom Tented Camp
Spend a night in the middle of the bush, listening to the sounds of the wild around you. You may catch a glimpse of nocturnal animals drinking at the waterhole, gaze at the starry skies and enjoy being away from it all. The Spekboom Tents are located in the fenced area of Spekboom Hide in the Park’s Main Game Area.
Matyholweni
Matyholweni, which means “in the bush” in Xhosa is located near the coastal town of Colchester at the Sundays River Mouth, 3km off the N2 highway, Matyholweni is easily accessible and provides a second gateway into the Park. Amenities such as shops, restaurants and a fuel station are available in the nearby town…
Narina
For a secluded experience in magical forest, spend some time at Narina Bush Camp at the foot of the Zuurberg Mountains and on the banks of the Wit River.
The road to Narina is a gravel road of approximately 25 kilometres and even though it is not necessary to have a 4×4, a high clearance vehicle is needed to travel this road.
Kabouga
This section of the park is surrounded by rugged moutains and densely fragrant vegetation…
Woody Cape
Listen for the haunting calls of the rare tree dassie by night and awake to a chorus of birds in flitting through the forest canopy. The Langebos huts are available to hikers on the two-day Alexandria Hiking Trail, as well as those simply wanting an overnight stay in the forest…
Luxury Lodges
Who said anything about “roughing it” in the bush when visiting one of our National Parks? “Indulgence” and “comfort” come to mind when viewing the concession lodges and suites that are to be found in a number of SANParks camps and parks. These lodges form part of a suite of products known as SANParks “Golden Kudus”, where luxury is the order of the day.