Addo travel guide
What to know before you come: when to visit, how long to stay and what the park is actually like.
The park
Addo Elephant National Park
Addo is best known for its elephants. It is the third-largest national park in South Africa and, importantly for many travellers, it is malaria-free.
There are two main gates. The North Gate is the one most of our drives use and is about thirteen kilometres from the Homestead. The South Gate sits closer to the N2 and to Colchester, which makes it the practical choice for anyone breaking a Garden Route drive.
Sightings vary from day to day. Elephant encounters are frequent and often remarkable; lion, buffalo, black rhino and leopard are all present but far less predictable. Anyone who promises you the Big Five in an afternoon is selling something.
See the safarisWhen to come
Addo through the year
There is no bad season. There are differences worth knowing about.
Hot, green and busier. Excellent birdlife, including the migrants. Early-morning and late-afternoon drives are the comfortable ones.
Mild days, thinning crowds and good light. One of the easiest times to travel and a favourite with photographers.
Dry and cool, which concentrates animals around the waterholes and makes game viewing more predictable. Mornings are properly cold in an open vehicle.
Warming up, new growth and calves in the park. A good balance of comfortable weather and quieter roads.
How long
Two nights is the honest minimum
One night
Enough for a half-day drive and a good night’s sleep. It works as a Garden Route stop, but you will leave feeling you saw a fraction of the park.
Two nights
The minimum that lets you do a full day in the park without it being a rush. This is what we suggest to most people.
Three nights
A full day in Addo, an afternoon at a private reserve, and a day that is not about driving. The version of the trip we would book ourselves.
Four or more
Room for the night drive, the cheetah reserve and a few days at Boknes on the coast afterwards.
Practical
Getting here and getting around
The questions we answer most often before people arrive.
