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Nature Reserves in South Africa Lake Bhangazi near Cape Vidal

Greater St. Lucia
Wetlands Reserve

Malachite KingfisherIn the year 1999 the coastal area between Maphelana in the south and Kosi Bay near the border to Mozambique in the north, including the wetlands around Lake St. Lucia, were declared a World Cultural Heritage Site by the UNESCO. Since then the reserve is called the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park and comprises 328000 hectares. It protects a stunning variety of unique habitats: lagoons, reet and papyrus swampland, mangroves and swamp forests, different types of thornveld and savannah, subtropical coastal forest, dunes and sandy beaches as well as coral reefs off the shore.
The park's centrepiece is Lake St Lucia. Although several rivers feed into the lake, it is not a freshwater lake, but a 60 kilometre long, shallow lagoon with varying degrees of salinity. It runs parallel to the coast and has its mouth south of St. Lucia, which might close up in times of drought.

The confluence of salt- and freshwater provides particularly rich nutrition and so there are innumerable fish species and subsequently an unequalled number of birds. Until today, 526 bird species were registered, among them different types of heron and kingfisher as well as ibis, African spoonbill, saddle-billed stork, turaco, pelican, flamingo and even fish eagle and crowned eagle.

Hippo in St Lucia EstuaryA very popular attraction are the hippos and crocodiles in great numbers. With some 1500 individuals the crocodile stock in the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park is bigger than in all the other nature parks of South Africa. The same applies to the population of hippopotami, about 800 of them are estimated.


Visitor information and accommodation
Two Crocodiles at St Lucia Estuary
Top left: Malachite Kingfisher. Bottom left: Crocodiles in the St Lucia Estuary. Top right: View of Lake Bhangazi near Cape Vidal. Bottom right: Hippo near St. Lucia.

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