Previously known as the St Lucia Wetland Park, iSimangaliso Wetland Park lies in the region known as the Elephant Coast.
The beaches, coral reefs, lakes, swamps, wetlands, woodlands, coastal forests and grasslands that stretch all the way from Kosi Bay, on the Mozambican border, to Cape St Lucia in the south collectively form one of eight South African UNESCO World Heritage sites. A considerable part of the park centres on the huge estuary, Lake St Lucia – part of the largest estuarine system in Africa.
The bird and animal life in the Park ranges from whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and waterfowl - such as storks, pelicans, terns and herons - to the Nile crocodile, South Africa’s largest hippo population, elephant, black and white rhino, giraffe, buffalo and a range of antelope that includes waterbuck, impala and kudu, as well as over 500 South African bird species including the Madagascar fish eagle.
