Addo Elephant National Park is a malaria-free wildlife conservation are in the Sundays River region, close to Port Elizabeth in South Africa and 15 minutes drive from Kudu Ridge Game Lodge. The Big 5 safari park offers sanctuary to over 600 African elephants, numerous lion, a healthy population of Cape buffalo and a variety of antelope, birds, reptiles and insects.

Due to the size and ecological diversity in the park, there are many things to discover and we love to share our knowledge with our guests, particularly on our guided Addo safari tours.

Here are 5 facts about Addo Elephant National Park that we hope you will find interesting. We have lots more facts to share with you if you book a stay with us at Kudu Ridge Game Lodge.

5 Facts: Addo Elephant National Park

  1.  ADDO BEES: Some trees in the Addo park have strategically placed bee boxes to help protect them from being eaten by elephants. Elephants generally avoid bees as they know that they can sting them. Bees smartly hone in on the elephant’s thin skin on their huge ears, around their eyes and the end of their trunks. Research has shown that elephants are more likely to avoid eating trees with bee hives
  2. ADDO SAND DUNES: There is a large and pristine dune field in the Addo park called the Alexandria Dune Field. This is in the Woody Cape section of the Addo Elephant National Park where the park meets the sea. The dunes cover 142 square kilometres, some are 2.5km wide and reach up to 140 meters high. Some dunes are covered with vegetation and some are bare. This area is home to small animals such as the dune gerbel and the bush pig.
  3. ADDO LION: The Addo Elephant Park is home to black-maned lions that originate from the Kalahari. These lions were introduced to Addo over ten years ago. They are the closest match to the extinct Cape lion that used to live in our region.
  4. ADDO AFRICAN PENGUIN PROTECTION: The Addo Elephant National Park stretches to the sea and protects marine ecosystems, including those around the islands St Croix and Bird Island in Algoa Bay. These islands are home to important colonies of African penguins, about 50% of the total African penguin population. African penguin numbers are dwindling at a rapid rate and some conservationists estimate that if this continues, they may be extinct in less than 30 years. African penguins have distinctive black and white beaks and a black stripe that runs from the base of their beaks over to their foreheads to their tails. Above each eye, they have a white stripe that rounds their heads and continues down each side of their bodies.
  5. HAPPY ADDO ELEPHANTS: If you love with elephants, then the Addo Elephant National Park is the place to go! The park is rated as one of the best places in Africa to see these gentle giants up close. Addo’s elephants are known to be some of gentlest in the South Africa and they mostly don’t show concern around cars. However, visitors should never get too close and always give elephants space to move around freely. Many of the female African elephants in the park do not have tusks. This is thought to be an adaptation to the significant hunting that killed all but 11 elephants by the time the park was created in 1931. Four of the eight surviving females were tuskless. Many are now born with tusks as they are now protected from hunting and poaching.

Do you have any other interesting facts to share about the Addo Elephant National Park? Please email them to us on stay@kuduridge.co.za or post then on our Facebook page, via Instagram or on Twitter.