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Destination: Isimangaliso Wetland Park

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iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa's third largest park, is located in Northern KwaZulu-Natal and encompasses eight interlinking ecosystems and a huge range of habitats. The core of iSimangaliso, Lake St Lucia, was declared a game reserve more than 100 years ago - Africa's first protected area.

The park now consists of 220 kilometres of coastline and beaches (one third of KwaZulu-Natal's coast) as well as huge swamp forests, three large lake systems (Kosi Bay, Lake St Lucia and Lake Sibaya), linked game reserves and the world's highest density of black rhino.

It's startlingly beautiful and a treasure trove of creatures, with more than half of South Africa's bird species (526), around 2000 flowering plants, all of South Africa's mangrove types, the top frog count in the country, massive vegetated coastal dunes (among the highest in the world), 110 butterfly species, five turtle species and 700-year-old fishing traditions which continue to this day. It's not... read more

Places to stay

Features and Blogs

Birding tips for iSimangaliso Wetland Park

iSimangaliso is one of those unusual places in Southern Africa where the birding is remarkable all year round. Here are some tips for what birds to look out for at different times of the year.
 

Sand between your toes - South Africa's best beaches

Beaches are about baring all to the blazing sun, leaping through waves like a dolphin, mouthfuls of ice cream and rafts of memories.
 

KwaZulu-Natal's Coastline - from the South Coast to Maputaland

Cathy Hofmeyr finds out why KwaZulu-Natal has it all.
 

Things to do

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