The Elephant Sanctuary – Plettenberg Bay

Tourism attractions - Plettenberg Bay

The Elephant Sanctuary is situated in a beautiful part of The Crags near Plettenberg Bay, in the scenic and famous Garden Route of South Africa. This is one of the main Tourism attractions in the Plettenberg Bay area. The Elephant Sanctuary is directly adjacent to Monkeyland and the Birds of Eden sanctuary, giving you three world-class experiences in one stop.

Elephant educational programs in South Africa

The Elephant Sanctuary hosts a unique and fully guides educational program that sets itself apart from anything else that South Africa has to offer in terms of elephant interaction. Guest numbers are limited to ensure personal attention and maximum elephant interaction for each guest, making this a truly memorable and enriching experience.

Learn about elephants

Visitors can learn more about elephant habits, behaviour, different personalities and anatomy through up-close and personal interaction.

Touch Elephants

ONE-HOUR TRUNK-IN-HAND ELEPHANT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
An experienced guide introduces you to the elephants, sharing with you their backgrounds, behaviours, personalities and more. You can touch, feed, interact and walk trunk-in-hand with the elephants.

Elephant back riding

ELEPHANT-BACK RIDE
This includes the full trunk-in-hand educational program followed up by a ride of approximately 10 to 15 minutes – a privilege historically reserved for kings! The Elephant Sanctuary conducts their elephant back riding program in a controlled environment to make it a safe yet exciting experience. Elephant rides are done bare back to enhance your contact with the animal. Long pants and closed shoes are recommended.

Elephant Training Programs

EARLY MORNING ELEPHANT BRUSH DOWNS
During this very special interactive program you take part in the morning or afternoon grooming and brush down of the elephants. Afterwards you join the training- and stimulation program the handlers do with the elephants every day. This is followed by the educational trunk-in-hand program.

Elephant experience in the Garden Route

AFTERNOON SUNDOWNER ELEPHANT EXPERIENCE
This program includes all the other programs for the full elephant experience in the Garden Route: the trunk-in-hand educational program, and the elephant back ride followed by the elephant brush down program.

The Elephant Sanctuary - Plettenberg Bay

For contact details and more information on the The Elephant Sanctuary at the Crags near Plettenberg Bay click here

The Market Square Shopping Complex - Plettenberg Bay

The Market Square is a shopping complex of choice located within the coastal town of Plettenberg Bay. The layout is in the form of a strip mall with a wide selection of shops and restaurants. There are two supermarkets stocked with food and fresh produce, clothing and home-ware. Another 53 shops offer a comprehensive range of quality goods to satisfy the most discerning shopper.

For more information on and contact details of The Market Square click here.

The Elephant Sanctuary - Plettenberg Bay

The Elephant Sanctuary provides a safe haven for our elephants and offers a unique platform for guest education and interaction.

All the programs are guest and elephant driven, which means the most important part of our operation is to ensure happy elephants and satisfied guests. The close encounter with elephants you experience at The Elephant Sanctuary truly is one of a kind.

Their elephants are African Elephants (Loxodonta Africana) whose trust they gained through their unique reward based training. They believe in forming bonds between humans and elephants. To this end, all our elephants are exercised and stimulated daily, which provides a firm foundation for trust.

The Elephant Sanctuary is a family orientated operation catering for both young and old. The focus is on education through interaction, so you will not only learn a lot about elephants, but also get to touch, feel, feed, walk trunk-in-hand and even ride these magnificent animals. Elephants are highly intelligent and delightful – when meeting them you will discover that each one has a different character, personality and temperament.

They have three operations: in The Crags, near Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route, at the Hartbeespoort Dam, only an hour's drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria, and in Hazyview, a 10-minute drive from the Kruger National Park.

For more information on the Elephant Sanctuary in the Grags near Plettenberg Bay click here!