Addo Elephant National Park Things to Do

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This is a good educational centre close to the Addo entrance, which is small but worth a couple of hours.

The centre concentrates on reptiles and raptors (formerly known as birds of prey): most of the animals have either been brought in injured or confiscated from unscrupulous exotic pet owners. It has a fairly limited range of animals, but what they have is interesting, and brought to life by the irrepressible Darren who runs the place. You might as well surrender up front to his brand of evangelic enthusiasm, as holding out against his onslaught of raw enthusiasm is nigh on impossible, and once he realises that you're really interested he finds yet another gear (our tour - part of the admission price - lasted nearly twice as long as the scheduled hour, admittedly during a quieter period of the year).

Our kids (and their parents) loved the fact that you are able to touch some of the habituated reptiles: I can assure you that stroking a velvety leopard gecko is infinitely more pleasant than tentatively clutching an African bullfrog (an experience akin to holding a bag of cold vomit).

The restaurant in the Lenmore Centre is fairly good, and we can recommend the self-catering bungalow adjacent to the restaurant, which is practical and affordable family accommodation.

Here at Addo in the Eastern Cape you can find plenty of opportunities to photograph Elephants up close. The elephants here are quite laid back and aren't too bothered by vehicles like some are in Kruger. There are plenty of baby elephants to watch. The one I photographed on the intro of this Page was swinging it trunk around trying to figure out what to do with it.
Here at Addo there is pleny of other big game to see to like Bufallow, Kudu, Zebra, Warthog, Black Rhino, Ostrich, Black Backed Jackal as well as Lion and Hyena (which was just reintroduced very recently).

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The Addo Elephant park is a diverse and an exciting adventure of wildlife and nature, as never experienced before.
The Eastern Cape of South Africa is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world. It is host to the Addo and many other private game reserves. These malaria free alternatives for the Kruger National Park offer the big 5. Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard and due to the enormous expansions now includes a marine section with seasonal whales and sharks, being touted as the “big 7”.

The parks 164 000 hectares stretches over a vast area from the vast Darlington Lake, across the breathtaking Zuurberg mountains, through the pristine dense valley bushveld of the beautiful Sundays River Valley to the lush green forests at the Woody Cape, which hug the largest coastal dune fields in the Southern Hemisphere, ending in the park’s marine area at Bird Island & St Croix Island.
Situated in the malaria free Eastern Cape Province, only 60 minutes from Port Elizabeth, the Addo Elephant National Park is a key destination linked to the famous Garden Route. The Park is sanctuary to a multitude of game species and abundant birdlife, including over 450 elephants, Lions, Black Rhino’s, Buffalo’s, Leopards, Zebra, Spotted Hyena’s, a variety of Antelope species.

There were a number of little one's in the park and this little one did not even look like it was steady on its feet yet. Amazing how the big one's were keeping an eye on it and helping when it could not get out again.

As far as your eyes can wander, you see the Addo park. They have added some great area's to the park which runs right down to the coast. That is why they can offer the great 7. Lion, buffalo, elephant, rhino, leopard, shark and whale.

There are not that many buffalo in the park, so we were extremely lucky to have spotted these two. Unfortunately they were a bit camera shy and did not want to turn around so that I could take them from the front. Be careful, they are dangerous animals and will storm your car without warning.

There is a massive diversity of vegetation in the Park. You will see many aloes, which is very well known in the Eastern Cape. If you go towards Zuurberg, you might come across cycads and other interesting species.
Many different biomes are represented in the Park.

Although I did not have the chance to do these yet, it sounds great.
The following is available:
Guided game drives
Guided horse-back safaris
Walking and hiking tours
4 x 4 Eco-adventure trail
For more info – see website:
www.places.co.za/html/344.html