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A glimpse at what our guests have to say about their visit and stay: “The Highlight of my tour of South Africa!!While researching what to do and where to stay along the Garden Route, we came across Knysna Elephant Lodge. The website doesn't do this place jusctice. We arrived thinking that we would get to see a few elephants, sleep, and get out the next day. What we got instead was the most memorable experiences of our lives. We arrived just in time to run out to see the elephants during their late afternoon walk to the watering hole. We were immediately welcomed by the staff to come closer, pet them, take lots of pictures and video...it was amazing. Then they were led back to the Boma for the night and we were allowed in to watch them eat their "multi-vitamin slop" (watch out! It gets messy!), and then get ready for bed. My younger nieces were allowed to feed the babies their bottles, and Greg answered the endless questions we had. This was all before we even got to see the wonderful accomodations! It really is an amazing set up. There are not very many rooms, so it is definitely an intimate feeling. We had a double and a triple with doors leading directly to the common living area that is open to the elephants sleeping quarters! It was AMAZING to spend the night able to run into another room at any moment to see what they were doing. I don't think my husband slept at all because he was so eager to run to the living room to see what they were up to. |
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"When you plan your holiday via the internet, you never know what you are going to get. What a wonderful and elegant suprise. The rooms were pure elegance with white percale linen and surprise after wonderful surprise. Then the open "double volume" lounge area! What a wonderful privelege to be part of the elephants 24 out of 24! No earplugs needed! When in Rome... But of course, the most wonderful experience of our trip was to be "touch and hug" close to the most lovable, elegant and family orientated animals ever. A true lifetime experience. Thank you to every member of the team and a special thanks to Simon who spoiled us with his gourmet burgers!!" Lance, Dalene & Sabrina Bailey, Underberg, KZN “Never thought elephants would be so soft!” Basti, Spain “Once again we would like to say THANK YOU for the wonderful stay we had at your place. THANK YOU for your hospitality. You and your elephants made our holidays to Africa a special one, with a special experience. Knysna Elephant Park belongs now to one of the highlights of our trips we made to SA. ................ We are looking forward to visit you and our friends Harry, Sally, Shungu, Thambile, Keisha, Namib, Tosha, Thandi, Shaka and Nandi again. Ngiyabonga kakulu!” February 2008. Petra Kruschina and Ulrich Bungert, Germany “What an amazing place and amazingly dedicated people. We visited Knysna Elephant Park during our holiday to Cape Town and the Western Cape in October 2007. The Park is dedicated to the protection of this wonderful creature. Having had an already fantastic time we found the Elephant Park to be the highlight of our holiday. We had booked to spend the night sleeping with elephants in their luxury Elephant Lodge and what an experience this was, the lodge is simply gorgeous, all you would want from African accommodation, beautifully decorated and furnished in African fabrics and furniture with obviously an elephant theme. The lounge area overlooks the elephants' boma where they sleep, oh my goodness what a lovely sight when you come out of your rooms, most of which open onto the balcony lounge area and your first sight in the morning is the elephants. Of course they have noises all of their own and these go on throughout the night, so if you don’t want to hear them (but why go if you don't?) take some ear plugs. “Recently I was invited to breakfast at the Knysna Elephant Park. My Tuesday mornings will never be the same again! Breakfast was simple and well presented … Sitting outside made sense … The smells of the earth, the increasing heat of the day, animal noises, the unobtrusive waitrons, made for a perfect setting … The finest moments were spent feeding the elephants and I had the good fortune of getting up real close and personal to one in particular. Many a photograph was taken and I can imagine that many a souvenir was bought on return to the shop inside the complex. The store itself is very well stocked and reasonably priced. The staff are friendly and efficient to say the least. But I digress …. Feeding an elephant is like trying to fill a well. There is so much to fill and they are quite cheeky about getting as much as possible from the bucket. We had lots of laughs and that is most probably the wonder of animals. They don’t speak, they just react!” August 2008. As published in the local rag, What’s New in Plett “One of the most exciting experiences! Makes me love Africa even more.” Kerry Devlin, US. “… In store: a walk around the park and a close-up into the ellies’ natural habitat. Our expert and guide, who knows each by name, would firstly pre-empt their moves, and then explain the psychology behind it. But the most intriguing part of our park-meander: when Harry decided to mount! The mating process, an act usually never witnessed and therefore unique in its rarity, was phenomenal; and needless to say, took a due amount of time. “Enthralled at the beauty of these majestic animals.” Lukan family, Germany “Thank you so much for allowing us the opportunity to stay at the Knysna Elephant Park and experience your majestic ellies. We learnt so much and really enjoyed our special visit with you. “Wonderfully friendly and extremely knowledgeable staff. Had a fantastic time.” Kirsty Ainsworth, UK “Just felt I had to let you know just what a wonderful visit we had to the Knysna Elephant Park recently. We run a small B&B here in Sedgefield & regularly promote your Elephant Park to our visitors & must add, receive fabulous feedback from our guests. (We remember well the excitement of the arrival of young Harry & Sally way back in the 1990's & have followed your Park's progress with keen interest over the years.) So, when our own children & grandchildren came out from overseas to visit us last month, we decided that a visit to the Elephant Park was a must. We then went one further & decided that, as we only see one another every few years, that this would be an ideal opportunity to celebrate "all" our Birthdays & so we booked for your Elephant Rides (a huge treat indeed!) “Had the best time of our lives! I will never forget it.” Oosthuizen family, South Africa “In November, when we have been in Joburg, we found by chance a flyer of the Knysna Elephant Park, and we thought, it would be something new for us to see. And, after we were there, we are very thankful for this chance. We planed to stay two nights and started with an inquiry by email which was, responded immediately and the booking was done without any problems. Our room's size was bigger than what we have experienced throughout our trips. There was a writing table, fridge and even the possibility to make coffee or tea (complimentary). And there was also space for a comfortable sofa. Our bathroom was with a shower but there are also rooms with whirlpool available. Equipped with lotion, shower gel, and many fluffy towels we were very satisfied with that. But, the rooms were not that much important to us, we wanted to see, smell, hear and feel (being touched by an elephant) the elephants. The Manager personally welcomed us and invited us to several walks to and with the elephants and left us in care of the very well educated and competent guides. So you could talk to them and learned a lot about elephants while watching them and taking breathtaking photos. It was fantastic how easy it was to come close to the elephants (skin to skin, face to face), but also getting aware how sensible they are, and not to forget the size, that let you being realize what small creature you are. The experience that the elephants came to you, you talk to them, you gave them some grass, to feel how calm they are .... it is not possible to explain, it is an experience you have to do on your own. Even the behaviour among the herd itself is amazing, the playing youngsters Shaka and Keisha, Harry the calm bull who doesn’t care what the chief Sally (a cow) wants, Shungu the one year old baby who is happy when chasing the guinea fowls away and proudly waves his ears and trunk. We couldn’t get enough from that. “It was the highlight of our honeymoon! Very interesting. Thanks for the great work.” The Vassens, Netherlands “We arrived unannounced at dusk one evening in January well after closing time, and making for the only light we could see found Clarah who was very welcoming and helpful. She sorted out a room and settled us in straight away so that we could make the most of the rest of the evening which we spent first in awed silence watching the Eles as they prepared to bed down for the evening, then driving into Plett (which isn't far) to grab a bite to eat at the Dolphin (excellent food) before driving safely back (in the dark) and settling into the lounge again to watch the Eles preparing to sleep - that is when little Shungu would allow them to! “Just magical! My girlfriend and I stayed at the Lodge for one night and bitterly regret not staying longer. The experience with the elephants was just wonderful, the service was superb, the food lovely, the lodgings stunning and the people just so friendly and helpful. I am not one for gushing and being sentimental but we truly had a great time. Just visiting the park is rewarding but I urge you to stay there and have an elephant walk too. You then get to feed the babies, see the adults train and get to marvel at just how intelligent and beautiful these creatures are. If you stay in one of the boma lodges, it is noisy as you sleep within 30ft of the elephants themselves but you will be transfixed by them. The accommodation and food in their own right are worth the stay but then you'd be missing the joy of being with the ellies.” December 2008. Posted on www.tripadvisor.com “Once in a lifetime experience!” Burke Family, UK “I really enjoyed this visit. It was the first time I was close to elephants and they were adorable. They drive you to a safe area where you have the opportunity to feed, touch and take pictures of the elephants. They provided you with a big bucket full of veggies, it was really fun to feel your hand sucked by their trunks. They offer the option of rides and walks with the elephants but unfortunately we did not have enough time for this. They were very well organised and I really loved the mutual displays of affection between the elephants and the caretakers. Elephants are amazing animals and it was a real spiritual experience.” October 2008. Posted on www.cosmotourist.com “The real thing!” Juanita Loots, South Africa |
