Orange Elephant Backpackers

This little gem of a place is such good value and so well-located and easy-to-find.||The property is on the main road, just outside Addo village and only a 10 minute drive from Addo Elephant Park.||The accommodation is all contained within the former home of the family that run it and who still live on the property. Our bedroom door was marked "Josh's Room" and we met Josh on our first night, as he was at the braai at the onsite bar. It was here we were introduced to "braai pizzas" an ingenious way of serving food during load-shedding.||The room we had was large and comfortable and the bathroom, while shared was clean and everything worked. The kitchen was well-equipped and it's possible to boil water in a pan on the gas hob for morning coffee of there's no power.|

A lovely little backpackers set in a pretty wooded garden with plenty of shady seating areas. All the family were very welcoming, and made me feel more a friend than a guest. They made me great vegan food for breakfast and for my safari lunch, and even called the bar man in so I could have a couple of beers when the bar was closed. I thoroughly enjoyed my totally chilled full day safari with John - he knows his stuff and happily shared all sorts of amusing stories. Much appreciated! And the dogs are absolutely adorable! I loved my little relaxing stay here.

The rooms look exactly like on the pictures shown. They were clean, they had power sockets to charge my phone and they have a key so I could lock them up even if it did not feel dodgy at all. I felt really safe! The owners are really friendly, even oragnized me a fan. They provided the best information to get into the addo elephant national Park. It saved me really lots of money as I didn't had to book a expensive full day tour online. There is cheaper options if you just go to the park and book a tour there. You will see the same, even if it always depends on a bit of luck. don't know if there is a closer option to the park. Would go there again!

A rustic but feel-at-home incredible hostel. Friendly staff, awesome pub, great vibes...one of my favourite stay in the region! Highly recommended. There is a coffee shop on site too! Wifi does not work in the room but plenty of it by the pub/lounge area, with fast access.

What an special place I don’t even know where to start. Amazing people, brilliant atmosphere and lots of loveable doggies! John, his family and staff are more then accommodating and go the extra mile leaving you with unforgettable memories. Definitely get breakfast at Marley’s cafe and the pizzas at the pub are delicious. I will never forget this place and highly recommend it to anyone passing through Addo.

We stayed two nights and took the tour inthe park with their guide. ||||The rooms are simple but good, are clean and the service is very good, you have barbacues (Braai) for cook and a kitchen. The breakfast is good and you there is a pub where you can drink a beer and eat pizza.||||The Wifi it is only avaible in the pub.

Left OE this morning after a days safari and an over night stay . My parting thoughts as we left Addo and OE were that I wished I had booked a longer stay . ||John and team have created a wonderfully welcoming and authentic friends holiday atmosphere. We felt welcome from the moment John picked us up to the time he dropped us off . ||The customer service is impeccable - Katlin and the restaurant team put the customer first. ||Our Guide (Malan) was brilliant and has an incredible knowledge of the animals, birds and vegetation. If it’s in Addo - he will show it to you on safari ! ||Really enjoyed my stay .

We were travelling as a couple through South Africa. We booked the 2-day safari a few weeks before arriving in Port Elizabeth. We had two brilliant days. Everything worked out as planned and we did not had to worry about anything. The included pick up in Port Elizabeth was on time, the food during the stay was extremely good and on the safaris we had more awesome sightings than expected.|To see not only one but two animal National Parks in two days is an experience which I can highly recommend because of the fact that the parks are so different. The Addo with its very dense vegetation is a whole different thing than mount zebra with its wide open spaces and the mountain areas.|We also had a very nice mix of animal sightings because there are not many overlapping animals in the two parks. |The included cheetah walking safari was the absolute highlight of the trip as we are big fans of these creatures. It was an amazing experience to drive through the park and find the area where it was (This drive was another nice game drive of 1,5h through the park) and then go on by foot and hike towards the cheetah for about 30 minutes to see it from just less than 10m.|After that John (our guide and driver) to Mount Zebra offered us to make another drive through the park instead of immediately hitting the road back to Addo, in which he showed as the part of the park we did not see on the cheetah tour.|The accomodation during the whole trip was also excellent. We always had a big double room with our own bathroom, which was more a small apartment than just a room and always very clean.|The orange elephant backpackers itself is very good place to stay with a nice pub 100m away from the hostel.|So all in all we could not complain about anything during our stay there and would love to come back. The secret tip is Mount Zebra, which is beautiful national park with many different animals, a stunning landscape and not very crowded.|And the best thing about it is that its really cheap if you compare it to offers like this in the Kruger National Park for example!!|So If you are searching for an affordable safari on which you do not have to worry about anything and just concentrate on seeing beautiful animals in their natural habitat, this is the place to come.