Pools & Elephants in South Africa

This is something I feel so incredibly lucky to have tried, and the crazy thing is that it’s available to anyone who is willing to do a bit of research on where to go! But that’s where I’m here to help, at your service spilling the beans! Entabeni game reserve, Mantabeni lodge - you’re welcome! This camp was one of 3 or 4 that we stayed at, and it was definitely the one with most animal activity out in the front yard! There is a commonly populated watering hole in the sight of the pool, where you will almost always be spotting elephants, wildebeest, Buffalo, and a ton of other animals at any given time of day! (Even more so in the dry months)

During our 3 night stay, I think we saw 10 different types of animals drink out of this watering hole, at one point even a lioness was there, drinking away, in harmony with other wild animals - it’s crazy to see! But more importantly, these elephants at the pool right? That’s why you’re reading this in the first place! Right so every day we were there, there was between 1 and 5 elephants at the pool having a sip of the salty water, at least 3 times a day! How crazy is that?! Wild elephants approaching and drinking out of the pool that you might be chilling in! It’s a beautiful experience I promise you!

insane moment

A lot of people also want the photo and not just the experience right? So how to do it?

Stay prepared, wear swimshorts at all times, and ladies wear a bikini under your clothes, because when they come up to the pool, it’s not easy to quickly go get changed in your room, as often the elephants won’t be too happy with you trying to pass that pathway haha. When you get in the pool, stay quiet, it’s all about slow movement and keeping it cool with these guys. You don’t wanna scare them with a loud noise or stressed energy, just stay calm and they’ll keep doing their thing 🤙🏼 ask someone to take a photo of this 100% surreal magical moment and there you go, goals accomplished!

This is all very specific to Mantabeni Lodge in the Entabeni Reserve. The other option we experienced, which is definitely a notch up on the luxurious side, is Mhondoro Lodge in the Welgevonden game reserve, so quite a while from Mantabeni lodge! It is equally epic but in a different way. Here the elephants showing up is more of a rarity, we experienced it twice over the course of 3 days where it came for a while, but still nowhere near as frequent as the other location. We also “only” saw 1 elephant at a time here, so it all really depends on what you’re looking to experience and get photos of! At Mhondoro it seems a bit more exclusive and wild, because there is absolutely nothing separating the elephant from the pool, where at Mantabeni there was a little dipping bath in front of the pool seperating them a bit!

photo i took at mhondoro lodge of my my friends marie and jake

Either way - both are insane experiences and it’s definitely not something you get to say every day - “I was chilling in the hotel pool and an elephant came up for a sip of water!” Not a bad story to bring back home from a South Africa experience!