There are no elephants to be found in the Australian wild and your only chance of spotting one is within a controlled environment. That is to say, elephants can only be found within zoos and other commercialized wildlife reservations.
As elephants are not native or indigenous to Australia like the wallaby or kangaroo, your chances of spotting one freely roaming the parched lands of Australia are nil.
Why Aren’t There Elephants In Australia? (As A Native Species)
Elephants are only considered native to Africa and some southern Asian countries while there have been no records of the members of the modern-day elephant ever roaming the lands of Australia.
Even if you dig up the entire Australian elephant history, you’d see that Australia is not a place of natural origin or evolution of the elephant.
The only remaining elephants in zoos were ones imported from elephant-native countries.
From its origins in Africa nearly 20 million years ago, there was no way for these beasts to have migrated to the landmass that we now call Australia.
Another reason may be the sheer incompatibility between the grey beast and the country’s topography.
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Where Can I See An Elephant In Australia?
Elephants in Australia are very few and far between and limited to a very small distribution, mostly in zoos and reservation forests.
If you’re craving to catch a glimpse of this rare cold beast, your best bet would be the Taronga Zoo in Sydney and the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo where the Asian Elephant is nurtured, cherished and housed with a strong commitment to conservation.
Special breeding programs organized by the Zoo as a counter-measure to the endangerment of the Asian elephant have increased their numbers and now the entire herd can be viewed with a single visit.
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A walk down this zoo can offer you everything from a phenomenal view of the Sydney Harbour to delightful daily bird and seal shows and aboriginal discovery tours. With nightfall, if you’re in for a bit of classic camping adventure the ‘Roar and Snore’ tour is just for you.
Additionally, if you’re an independent visitor who is bad with directions, Taronga has a way out for you with an interactive iPhone app that guides you to both native and outlandish creatures.
The zoo also prioritizes the convenience of its guests and therefore has a Mandarin-language map as a walking guideline to finish the sightseeing in a measly 60 or (at most) 90 minutes.
So even if you’re horribly direction-blind, this zoo will be a walk in the park (quite literally!).