Stray Along The Way | Exploring St Lucia and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park @Strayalongtheway | Uploaded September 2016 | Updated October 2024, 17 hours ago.
Episode 3: The iSimangaliso Wetland Park

iSimangaliso is a park that needs no introduction. It was proclaimed as South Africa’s very first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It was awarded this status for its unique ecosystems, its biodiversity and sheer beauty. This is something to be proud of when one considers that one of the criteria for it being awarded world heritage status is that no other place like it exists anywhere else in the world. That means that the iSimangaliso Wetland Park is totally one of a kind!

There are so many treasures that set iSimangaliso apart from other places. For starters, its southern section is home to Africa’s largest estuary, Lake St Lucia. There are two other lake systems further north in this park too – Lake Sibaya and Kosi Bay. The local Tonga people still practice their 700 year old traditional way of fishing with fish traps in the Kosi Bay lakes. iSimangaliso has eight interlinking ecosystems and is not only home to the Big Five land mammals, but also sharks, whales and the ancient Coelacanth in its marine reserve. The incredible biodiversity of this area includes five turtle species (as well as the last significant breeding grounds for the leatherback and loggerhead turtles), the highest number of frog species in southern Africa, 50% of all of South Africa’s bird species and all five of the country’s remaining mangrove species. And that’s just scratching the surface! It’s easy to see why there’s nowhere else like the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in the world.

Find our more about the iSimangaliso Wetland Park here: http://www.isimangaliso.co.za

So that is a very brief introduction to the amazing iSimangaliso Wetland Park. As for our trip, Jill and I have spent the last few days in St Lucia, which is a small town at the mouth of the St Lucia Estuary, just on the southern boundary of iSimangaliso. This town is a tourism hotspot, and is incredibly well-geared for travellers with its range of accommodation, restaurants and activity operators. It is also the perfect base from which to explore the southern section of the park.

The main attraction of the southern section of the iSimnagaliso Wetland Park is Lake St Lucia, bordered by wilderness game areas on its Eastern and Western Shores. While we have been here, we’ve made it our goal to experience this region of the park in as many different ways as possible.

Read more about our adventure here: wp.me/p7EFkH-4l


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