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"... Here, and nowhere else in the world, can one find hippopotamuses, crocodiles and sharks sharing the same waters."
St Lucia Estuary & iSimangaliso Wetland Park The iSimangaliso Wetland Park is one of the jewels of South Africa's coastline, with a unique mosaic of ecosystems - swamps, lakes, beaches, coral reefs, wetlands, woodlands, coastal forests and grasslands - supporting an astounding diversity of animal, bird and marine life.
Formerly known as the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, the Park was renamed on 1 November 2007 to better reflect its unique African identity - and to avoid confusion with the Caribbean island country St Lucia.
Located on the north-eastern coast of KwaZulu-Natal, stretching from Kozi Bay in the north to St Lucia in the south, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park was the first site in South Africa to be inscribed on the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
iSimangaliso's uniqueness lies in its remarkable diversity, particularly its combination of a subtropical coastline and a classic African game park.
It is South Africa's third-largest park, spanning 280 kilometres of coastline, from the Mozambican border in the north to Mapelane south of the St Lucia estuary, and made up of around 328 000 hectares of pristine natural ecosystems.
The park takes in a 60-kilometre river mouth that creates a huge estuary, Lake St Lucia, running parallel to the coast and separated from the sea by the world's highest forested sand dunes. The lake is part of the St Lucia estuarine system, the largest estuarine system in Africa.
The park incorporates the whole of Lake St Lucia, the St Lucia and Maputaland Marine Reserves, the Coastal Forest Reserve and the Kosi Bay Natural Reserve. The 40 000 hectare Mkuzi Game Reserve is also in the process of being incorporated into the park
iSimangaliso's wide variety of ecosystems and natural habitats provides for an astounding diversity of species in the area. With its lakes, lagoons, freshwater swamps and grasslands, iSimangaliso supports more species of animal than the better-known and much larger Kruger National Park and Okavango Delta - from the country's largest population of hippos and crocodiles to Giant Leatherback turtles, black rhino, elephants, hyena, buffalo, leopards, etc. and a vast array of bird and marine life.
According to Living Lakes, more than 530 species of birds use the wetland and other areas of the Lake St Lucia region. "These waters also are graced by 20 000 greater flamingos, 40 000 lesser flamingoes, as well as thousands of ducks. With 36 species, this area has the highest diversity of amphibians in South Africa.
In proclaiming the iSimangaliso Wetland Park a World Heritage Site in 1999, Unesco said: "The interplay of the park's environmental heterogeneity with major floods and coastal storms, and a transitional geographic location between sub-tropical and tropical Africa, has resulted in exceptional species diversity and ongoing speculation.
"The mosaic of landforms and habitat types creates superlative scenic vistas. The site contains critical habitat for a range of species from Africa's marine, wetland and savannah environments."
In 1989, a mining company seeking titanium and other metals sought to bulldoze the dunes along the eastern shore of Lake St Lucia. In 1996, the South African government followed the recommendations of an environmental assessment in barring the mining proposals - and began work on an integrated development and land-use planning strategy for the entire region. Under the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative, the governments of South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique aim to foster sustainable investment and job creation in the area, using the iSimangaliso Wetland Park as the core.
In its justification for inscription the UNESCO states that the St Lucia site consists of thirteen contiguous protected areas. The site is the largest estuarine system in Africa and includes the southernmost extension of coral reefs on the continent.
The site contains a combination of on-going fluvial, marine and aeolian processes that have resulted in a variety of landforms and ecosystems. Features include wide submarine canyons, sandy beaches, forested dune cordon and a mosaic of wetlands, grasslands, forests, lakes and savanna. The variety of morphology as well as major flood and storm events contribute to ongoing evolutionary processes in the area.
Natural phenomena include: shifts from low to hyper-saline states in the Park's lakes; large numbers of nesting turtles on the beaches; the migration of whales, dolphins and whale-sharks off-shore; and huge numbers of waterfowl including large breeding colonies of pelicans, storks, herons and terns. The Park's location between sub-tropical and tropical Africa as well as its coastal setting has resulted in exceptional bio diversity.
The sandy tropical grasslands are also home to some unique reptiles and birds as well as some interesting nocturnal visitors. After dark 1300 hippo emerge from Lake St Lucia to eat tonnes of grass from the coastal plains.
They can be seen wallowing in the warm lake waters by day or lumbering across the darkened landscape in a quest to fill their enormous herbivorous appetites at night. During the day they share the waters of Lake St Lucia with over 2000 crocodiles, tens of thousands of fish, birds and invertebrates, but it is the hippos that are the driving force in the lakes ecosystem. They release tonnes of droppings into the lake which fertilize the warm tropical water creating Africa's most important fish and prawn nursery ground.
A general overview of the Greater St. Lucia system can be reasonably described in five recognised ecosystems, collectively forming the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park:
1. To the east is the Marine System. Here the Park has 280km of Indian Ocean coastline and adjacent marine eco-system.
2. Inland is an area known as the Eastern Shores. This area that lies east of Lake St. Lucia consists of grassy plains, wetland and ancient coastal dune forests which grow on the World famous Sand Dunes, which extend the full length of the reserve. The dunes form a natural barrier between the lake, rivers and the Indian Ocean and are covered by climax forest.
3. Lake St. Lucia is the largest Estuarine system in the world.
This extensive 85km lake is an average depth of 1 metre and home to thousands of crocodiles, hippo, birds, fish and other life forms.
4. Situated on the northern end of Lake St. Lucia are the Mkuze swamps - an expansive papyrus wetland.
5. West of the Lake lies the driest area - the Western Shores - composed of savannah and thornveld.
