The original section of the park was founded in 1931,[1] in part due to the efforts of Sydney Skaife,[2] in order to provide a sanctuary for the eleven remaining elephants in the area.

The original park has subsequently been expanded to include the Woody Cape Nature Reserve that extends from the Sundays River mouth towards Alexandria and a marine reserve, which includes St. Croix Island and Bird Island, both breeding habitat for gannets and penguins, as well as a large variety of other marine life.

[3] The park is home to more than 600 elephants, 400 Cape buffaloes, over 48 endangered south-western black rhinoceros' (Diceros bicornis occidentalis) as well as a variety of antelope species.

Since the AENP's original mission was to reintroduce certain megaherbivores, like the African bush elephant and eastern black rhinoceros,[4] primary ecological efforts were made to preserve mammalian species.

Some biologists argue that it is not herbivorization[7] alone that is threatening the flora, but a number of other ecological factors including zoochory and nutrient cycling.