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Elephant Overlook

 

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Room to move

There are lots of ways to view elephants these days. You can travel to Africa or Asia, of course, but the easiest way to observe these mighty creatures is to come to the Wild Animal Park! We have two large exhibit areas for our elephant herds: one for our Asian elephant group and another one for our African elephants.

An elevated walking path called the Elephant Overlook takes you out between the two exhibit areas to see what our pachyderms are up to. You can also view elephants next to Tembo Stadium or along the road next to the Asian elephants' enclosure.

Most elephants enjoy a dip in a pool of water, or at least like to get their feet wet. Each elephant exhibit offers a large pond, shaded with trees, for the elephants to do just that. There are also shade structures made of simulated rock and plenty of room to roam. From the elephant overlook you can even view each exhibit's elephant barn and holding yards, where the elephants go in the mornings when the keepers are cleaning the spacious main yards and hiding treats for the elephants to discover.

Fun facts

• A herd of seven African elephants, scheduled to be culled in Swaziland due to overpopulation, safely arrived in San Diego on a truly "jumbo" plane in August 2003. They are one of the most genetically valuable African elephant herds in North America.
• One of the Park's Asian elephants, Carol, became famous in the 1970s for her ability to "paint." Her paintings were used as fund-raisers.
• An African elephant named Hatari starred in a 1962 motion picture of the same name with John Wayne before arriving at the Wild Animal Park.
• In 1989 the Wild Animal Park began a "protected contact" system for handling elephants. In this system, keepers work with elephants from a shielded position, usually behind a barrier with openings that allows access to the elephant. We now work with other animal species in the same way.
• It's not a UFO! The round, yellow object in the background of our Elephant Cam is the Park's Balloon Safari ride.

Project Elephant Footprint

Project Elephant Footprint is a unique opportunity to step up and involve yourself in our African elephant conservation efforts! We are protecting and studying Africa's largest remaining elephant population—more than 220,000 animals strong—in Botswana and neighboring countries. This is nearly half of the elephants left in all of Africa! Three radio-collared elephants are peddling their footprints to raise money for this crucial conservation project. Find out more...