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Elephant Hide of Knysna Guest House

Knysna - South Africa

Email Elephant Hide of Knysna Guest House Reservations: booksa@madbookings.com

"You'll find colonial luxury at Elephant House, just beyond the citrus groves in the Sundays River Valley. Feel right at home with all the family photographs, Africana art and antiques.
Hop on a Land Cruiser and head for the Addo Elephant National Park. For the adventurer why not take a guided "Walk with the Elephants" safari in a remote valley in the Zuurberg Mountains?"- Condé Nast June 2006.

Elephant Hidge Accommodation

Elephant House has 9 spacious fully air – conditioned and heated en suite rooms (one of which is a family suite) with private verandas, room facilities include:
- Air- conditioned & heated
- King Size beds - extra length
- Telephones and dial-up internet access
- Hairdryers ,Bathrobes & Safes
- 24 hr room service

Lodge Facilities:
- 2 Swimming Pools set in the lush gardens
- Dining – light lunches on the terrace or beside the pool and delicious three course candlelit dinners served daily – superb country cuisine complimented by a selection of great Cape wines!
- Game drives into Addo on open 4X4 Land Cruiser
- Varied list of other activities including Day trips to nearby Private reserves, Elephant Back safaris, Horseback safaris, Canoeing on the river, Helicopter trips as well as Cultural, Historical and Agricultural tours in the valley
- "Club Room" for guests' use with DVD library, games and laptop with complimentary internet access
- Laundry/Valet
- Transfers arranged
- Baby sitting facilities available
- Helicopter Landing Facilities (33:30:50 S 25:41:50 E)

Facilities Nearby:
- Addo Elephant National Park
- Addo Polo Club (tennis & squash courts available) 3km
- Kirkwood Golf Club (picturesque 9 holes) 25km
- Bushman Sands Golf Course (championship, 18 holes 45min)

Elephant safaris:
Rathambore for tigers, The Virungas for mountain gorillas and ADDO FOR ELEPHANTS!
Elephant House is situated 8 km from the main gate to Addo Elephant National Park our guests have great opportunities to view these magnificent animals, for instance, The Elephant House Safari Co has an excellent daily guided game drive into Addo – in addition to this, the more adventurous can go on a horseback safari through Addo NP.
Addo Elephant NP is busy building a state of the art info centre (completion March 2009) where one can learn more about these gentle giants.
In addition to this one can also get up close and personal with an elephant if you join an elephant back safari.

Addo elephant park:
Addo Elephant National Park is one of the world’s great conservation success stories and embraces one of the highest concentrations of big game in Africa and thus offers some wonderful game viewing opportunities. In addition to the famous elephants of Addo there are also lion, buffalo, black rhino, hyena, jackal and a variety of antelope species.
Of the smaller animals the surricates and the flightless dung beetle are of great interest. Over 150 species of birds have been recorded in the area.

The vegetation that one encounters in the area is known as “Valley Bushveld” – this is a biome unique to the river valleys of the Eastern Cape. The plants are tough and drought resistant (Addo’s average annual rainfall is 385mm) with a high proportion of succulents much loved by elephants, black rhino and kudu.
Per cubic meter, Valley Bushveld is able to support more animals, birds and insects than any other biome on earth, in addition, one of the dominant plant species here, the “Spekboom” is one of the worlds best carbon converters!

Area of interest:
Addo is situated in the beautiful Sundays River Valley, only 40 min from Port Elizabeth airport. The accessibility of this area coupled with its close proximity to the Garden Route and Cape Town makes the Addo Elephant Park and its surrounding areas an extremely desirable destination that is already very popular with international visitors.
The Addo Elephant National Park was proclaimed in 1931 and today this finely tuned ecosystem is home to over 400 elephants.

This makes the Addo Park the most concentrated elephant reserve in Africa thus giving one a good chance of experiencing some of the best elephant viewing in the world. Apart from elephants there are also lion, hyena, black rhino, buffalo and various antelope species.

After widespread hunting in the 1800's and an extermination program in the 1920's the Addo National Elephant Park was proclaimed in 1931 as a sanctuary for the remaining 11 elephants.
This herd has build up to over 400 making it one of the densest populations of the giant herbivores in the world. The reserve is also home to a wide range of other species including lion, buffalo, black rhinoceros, eland, kudu, red hartebeest, zebra, other smaller antelope species, more than 165 bird species as well as being the last refuge of the flightless dung beetle.

Addo is one of the world's greatest conservation success stories as the South African National Parks have successfully formed long term partnerships with donor organisations one being the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
With these funds they are busy buying additional land and recreating key migratory corridors and expanding the Park to a proposed area of approximately 400 000 hectares including a 60 000 hectare marine reserve - this will make it the most biologically diverse park in Africa conserving 6 of this country's 7 biomes, a total of 12 vegetation types and South Africa's second largest elephant and black rhino populations.

The Sundays River Valley is world famous for its citrus fruit production - the Sundays River Citrus Co-op alone exports an excess of 12 million cartons of fruit to Northern Hemisphere Countries every year. The valley is reputed to produce some of the finest quality lemons in the world.

Two kilometres away from the Elephant House is the Addo Polo Club where Polo is played in the cooler winter months and cricket in summer. Kirkwood, which has a beautiful golf course, is a 30km drive through the valley.

Relax and be pampered:
After a safari, retreat back to the colonial luxury of The Elephant House – order an ice cold cocktail (we recommend a Bombay Sapphire G&T with Angostura bitters or another house specialty in Pimms No1!) and take a dip in one of the two swimming pools alternatively you may simply want to find a quiet corner in the gardens or one of the courtyards to put your feet up and relax with a good book. (After all, you are on holiday!).

The kitchen prepares lovely light lunches on the terrace or beside one of the pools, and in the evenings, after a sundowner, sit down to a delicious three course dinner prepared by our chefs using the very best of local produce.

The Elephant House is a 45 min drive from some great golfing experiences:
KIRKWOOD:
Sandwiched between the mountains, citrus groves and the charming country town of Kirkwood (only 20 min drive from EH) is the Kirkwood Golf Club – very picturesque 9 hole lay out – friendly staff and great caddies and a superb 19th hole!

ALICEDALE:
A 40 min drive from us past Addo Elephant Park and Shamwari gets one to the village of Alicedale – here is the GARY PLAYER designed Bushman Sands Golf Course – 18 holes excellent greens , good caddies, golf carts available for hire AND while you are playing golf your partner may enjoy a spa treatment at the adjacent hotel.
PORT ELIZABETH:The coastal city of Port Elizabeth (45 min drive from EH) has several golf courses the two best being:

1. PE Golf Club – pretty parkland lay out in the Mill Park area 18 holes – golf carts for hire, good caddies, nice halfway house and pub at the end.
2. Humewood Golf Club – it has been said that if the British open ever had to be played outside the British Isles Humewood would be the place.

Indeed this is one of the most famous golf courses in Africa- challenging links course, often windy, wonderful traditional club house – some of the worlds best golfers have all plied their skills here, hosts many championships including SA Open on several occasions – They also have a very well stocked golf shop.
Obviously, if you would like to play at Humewood it is advisable to pre book your t-off times well in advance. We can do this for you.

Social & Environmental Responsibility:
We are very involved with the local community, our policy is to only employ, empower and uplift people from our community and to support their enterprises (for transfers, laundry, fresh food supplies, local artisans etc)

In addition to this, we sponsor and support the following:
1. The children displaced by the AIDS pandemic in the Langbos community
2. Nomathamsanqa Educare Centre
3. Noatasanqua Cricket Club
4. Ajax Addo Football Club
5. The Wilderness Foundations "Umze Whethu" project
6. The Mayibuyu Ndlovu Development Programme
7. Paterson Cultural Group

Location:
· Elephant House is a rambling colonial farmhouse with thatched roofs, and deep verandas filled with comfortable sofas, Persian Rugs and a private art collection, built around courtyards and lush gardens.
· Situated in the Sunday’s River Valley, 8km from main entrance to Addo Elephant National Park, an easy 45 minute drive from the historic Indian Ocean harbor town of Port Elizabeth in the malaria-free Eastern Cape.
· (GPS: 33:30:50 S 25:41:50 E )

The Elephant House is only 45 minutes from Port Elizabeth Airport. Road transfers can be arranged from Port Elizabeth Airport and air transfers in light aircraft can be arranged from Plettenberg Bay.
From Port Elizabeth:
· Take N2 (Direction Grahamsown)
· Left onto R335 (Sign posted Motherwell / Addo)
· Continue from +/- 43 km to Addo Village
· Straight through Addo Village in Direction of Elephant Park, Elephant House is 5km from Addo on the left hand side
By Helicopter: Land in Horse Paddock in front of Elephant House GPS: 33° : 30' : 5" South 25° : 41' : 5" East

Email Elephant Hide of Knysna Guest House Reservations: booksa@madbookings.com