Watch elephants, black rhinoceros and lions along Spekboom Road

Spekboom Road is one of the most wildlife-rich gravel roads in Addo Elephant Park. Over just under ten kilometres you drive through dense spekboom thicket and open landscapes that are regularly roamed by elephants, black rhinoceros, buffalo and lions. Several waterholes along the route exert an almost magical pull on animals and offer you first-class wildlife viewing.

The route connects the main tarmac road with the Southern Access Road and takes you past Marion Baree Waterhole, where bull elephants, small family groups and also lions from the southern section of the park come to drink. A little further on you reach Graham's Pan, a natural depression that elephants themselves have dug out over centuries. Spekboom Hide at the end of the track offers you a fenced viewpoint right by a waterhole where elephants, buffalo and zebras pass by undisturbed.

The plant that gives the road its name, the spekboom, shapes the vegetation and is an important food source for elephants and rhinoceros. At the same time it binds an extraordinary amount of carbon and is a key species of the Subtropical Thicket. The varied landscape of thicket, grassland and waterholes makes this route a highlight for every self-driver in Addo Elephant Park.