Imagine standing at the centre of a 180 000 hectare (444 700 acre) park of unspoiled nature; the colourful sights and sounds of over 150 different bird species, canoeing down the lush Sundays River Valley today, and going around the semi-arid, Karoo stretch on horseback, tomorrow. Imagine standing at the centre of the Addo Elephant National Park.

Now the third largest national park in South Africa, the Addo Elephant National Park spans down the serene, malaria-free Karoo in the North, around the Darlington Dam, over the rugged Zuurberg Mountains, through the Sundays River Valley, across the African coast of sandboarding heaven between Sundays River mouth and Bushman’s River mouth, to include both the Bird and St. Croix Island groups, that are home to the world’s largest breeding populations of Cape gannets and the second largest breeding population of African penguins.

With all this fantastically fertile land, it comes as no surprise that the Addo Elephant National Park hosts around 600 different plant species, that make up the habitats of Africa’s finest wildlife, including Cape buffalo, black rhino, zebra, antelope, lions, elephants and even the endangered flightless dung beetle, found almost exclusively in Addo. But it was not always this way.

When the original elephant section of the park was proclaimed in 1931, only 16 elephants remained in the area. Now there are over 550, and whether you are cruising around the park in your own vehicle, or embarking on a guided game drive, you are very likely to have close encounters with them. You can even ride one!