Kruger National Park often claims the spotlight when it comes to the ultimate safari, but there are other corners of Southern Africa where elephants are the star of the show.
Four locations—Addo Elephant National Park, Tember Elephant Park, Chobe National Park, and Gonarezhou National Park—offer a cross-border experience that highlights conservation, cultural heritage, and wildlife moments that will be treasured for a long time.
Addo Elephant National Park
Addo Elephant National Park/Tobin Rogers/Unsplash
In the Eastern Cape, a few hours outside Gqeberha, Addo Elephant National Park stands as one of South Africa’s greatest conservation success stories. When the park was proclaimed in 1931, only sixteen elephants remained in the region after decades of hunting. Today, more than 600 elephants roam freely across Addo’s rolling hills, thicket valleys and coastal plains.
Visitors often find themselves surrounded by these animals at waterholes, their trunks splashing and curling in greeting. Addo’s unique vegetation of spekboom and thicket provides a lush backdrop for close encounters, and the park’s malaria-free status makes it ideal for family travel.
Addo’s story is not only about wildlife recovery but also about people. Local guides share how the park’s growth has created opportunities for nearby communities, linking tourism with heritage and environmental stewardship.
Travel tip: Addo lies about an hour’s drive from Gqeberha. Stay inside the park or at nearby lodges like Kuzuko Lodge for a blend of comfort and conservation.
Tembe Elephant Park
Elephant spotted at Tembe Elephant Park/SAPlants/Wikimedia Commons
Further north, tucked into the Maputaland region near the Mozambique border, lies Tembe Elephant Park – a reserve co-managed by the Tembe community and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. It is home to some of Africa’s largest elephants, known as tuskers, with ivory that can weigh over 45 kilograms each.
Walking or driving through Tembe’s ancient sand forests, you’ll notice a hush that seems to slow time. Elephants emerge quietly from the shadows, their tusks gleaming pale against the dark-green vegetation. It’s a place where you feel both awe and respect, reminded of how rare such giants have become.
Tembe’s model of community ownership is one of its greatest strengths. The Tembe people have protected this land for generations, ensuring that tourism directly benefits the local population. Staying at Tembe Safari Lodge allows travellers to engage meaningfully with the park’s conservation efforts while supporting sustainable tourism in rural KwaZulu-Natal.
Travel tip: Tembe is about a five-hour drive from Durban or a short hop from Kosi Bay. It forms a natural link between the KwaZulu-Natal coast and Mozambique’s southern reserves.
Chobe National Park
Elephants in Chobe National Park/Ed Wingate/Unsplash
Cross into Botswana, and you’ll find yourself in Chobe National Park – a place that defines abundance. Chobe is home to one of the largest elephant populations in Africa, with over 120,000 elephants spread across its 11,700 square kilometres.
The Chobe River is the park’s beating heart. As the dry season deepens, herds gather along the water’s edge to drink, bathe and cross between the islands. Boat safaris offer an extraordinary vantage point to watch elephants swimming, playing and socialising. The sunsets here are a spectacle in themselves, the water turning gold as the herds silhouette against the light.
While Chobe is famed for its elephant numbers, it also tells a larger story about cross-border conservation. Together with Namibia’s Caprivi Strip, Zimbabwe’s Hwange and Zambia’s Kafue, it forms part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area – one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to reconnect fragmented ecosystems.
Travel tip: The Chobe Riverfront near Kasane is the most accessible section of the park and can be reached by road from Victoria Falls or Maun. Lodge stays and boat cruises book up fast during the dry months (May to October).
Gonarezhou National Park
In the southeast corner of Zimbabwe, Gonarezhou National Park stretches across red cliffs, wide rivers and miombo woodlands. Its name means “place of elephants” in the local Shona language, and true to that name, more than 11,000 elephants roam its rugged landscapes.
This is one of Africa’s most remote parks, where wildlife still behaves as if the world were vast and wild. The Runde and Save rivers carve through dramatic sandstone gorges, creating striking photo opportunities and quiet spots for contemplation. Elephants move in steady lines along the floodplains, often pausing to drink beneath the towering Chilojo Cliffs.
Gonarezhou is also a story of renewal. Once affected by poaching and isolation, it has become a model for collaborative management between the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority and the Frankfurt Zoological Society. This partnership has restored the park’s wildlife and brought local communities into the conservation process.
Travel tip: Gonarezhou is best accessed from Chipinge or Chiredzi, or via the Kruger-Limpopo crossing. It’s ideal for travellers seeking solitude, photography and true wilderness.
Planning your gentle giants’ route
Travellers can begin this journey in South Africa, starting with Addo’s thickets and moving north through Tembe before crossing into Botswana and then Zimbabwe. For those flying, it’s possible to connect the route via regional airports in Gqeberha, Durban, Kasane and Harare.
The dry season (May to October) is generally the best time to travel, offering clear sightings and comfortable conditions. Addo is malaria-free, while Tembe, Chobe and Gonarezhou fall within low- to moderate-malaria zones where precautions are advised.
Self-drivers can plan multi-park routes, while organised safaris often include cross-border itineraries. Each destination offers options ranging from affordable camps to luxurious lodges, all with excellent guiding.
More than a safari
This route is more than a wildlife checklist. It’s an invitation to see how elephants shape the landscapes and communities around them. From Addo’s restored herds to Tembe’s community-owned reserve, from Chobe’s mighty river gatherings to Gonarezhou’s untouched wilderness, each stop tells a different chapter in Southern Africa’s elephant story.
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