Elephant Overlook

Read blog posts about elephants...

Room to move

There are lots of ways to view elephants these days. You can travel to Africa, of course, but the easiest way to observe these mighty creatures is to come to the Wild Animal Park! We have a large exhibit area for our African elephant herd.

An elevated walking path called the Elephant Overlook takes you out alongside the exhibit area to see what our pachyderms are up to. You can also view elephants next to Tembo Stadium.

Most elephants enjoy a dip in a pool of water, or at least like to get their feet wet. The 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 the exhibit's elephant barn and holding yard, where the elephants go in the mornings when the keepers are cleaning the spacious main yard and hiding treats for the elephants to discover.

Fun facts

• Our Asian elephant herd of four moved to the San Diego Zoo's Elephant Oydssey exhibit May 2009. We hope to expand our existing African elephant exhibit into the area where the Asian elephants lived.
• 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.
• 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...