St Lucia Wetlands Park, KwaZulu-Natal.

The 260,000 hectares covered by the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park (also now known as the iSimangaliso Wetland Park) is home to a diverse number of habitats and wildlife.  

Coastal beaches and sand dunes, wetlands, bushveld, coastal forests and mangrove swamps are all here, as well as South Africa's most southernmost coral reef off the Sodwana Bay coastline, a diving  and snorkelling paradise and home to an extremely large number of colourful tropical fish species.

Further north along the KZN coastline, on the border with Mozambique, is the Kosi Bay Nature Reserve. Where seawater and fresh water mix, there is an abundance of nutrition for countless species of fish and an equally impressive variety of birds.

The Areas Covered

The Park stretches along the coast from Sodwana Bay in the north to the Mapelane Nature Reserve in the  south.

It incorporates the 38,000 hectare Lake St Lucia, a vast expanse of lake, estuaries and islands.

The Park also includes many other nature and game reserves including False Bay Park and the St  Lucia Game and Marine Reserves, and the Mkuze Game Reserve.

Malaria is present in this area of South Africa, so precautions should be taken. 

Wildlife

Swimming in the lake is prohibited due to the presence of over 1,500 crocodiles, the largest population in South Africa.  Boat trips and cruises are a popular way to sight these formidable creatures, swimming or basking in the sun on the lake shores. 

There are also nearly 1,000 hippos in the lake as well, and occasionally black fin and Zambezi River sharks can be seen.

Leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles lay their eggs on the ocean shows of the eastern peninsula.  The turtle breading season starts October the one year until April the next year while whale watching season is from June until December.

Springbok Atlas offer a St Lucia Turtle Tour, and we are delighted to be able to book this for you. Please click here to read more about this wonderful experience.

Other wildlife includes rhino (both black and white), elephant, buffalo, giraffe, kudu and other antelope species. There are also over 450 species of birdlife, including fish eagles and colonies of pelicans and flamingos. Here, and nowhere else in the world, can one find hippopotamuses, crocodiles, and sharks sharing the same waters.