Where to see the Wild Olive in South Africa

Hosts on Spekboom have recorded the Wild Olive at stays in or beside Kruger National Park, Gondwana Game Reserve and Table Mountain National Park. A record means a host has seen it on the property or nearby, which makes these the places to base yourself; it is never a guarantee of a sighting on any given day.

The Wild Olive is most recorded in Western Cape (46% of records), Gauteng (20% of records), Eastern Cape (15% of records), based on 7,215 iNaturalist observations. 16 places to stay on Spekboom in South Africa have recorded the Wild Olive on site or nearby.

The Wild Olive is recorded throughout the year, so no month is the wrong month to look for it. For the parks where hosts record it most, these are the best seasons they give. Kruger National Park: Apr-Sep; Gondwana Game Reserve: Sep-Apr, flowers Aug-Oct; Table Mountain National Park: Sep-Apr, flowers Aug-Oct. In the dry months animals concentrate at water and the grass is short.

The olive, known by the botanical name Olea europaea, meaning "European olive", is a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae, found in the Mediterranean Basin from Portugal to the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and southern Asia as far east as China, as well as the Canary Islands and Réunion.