Lake St Lucia
St. Lucia Lake and its estuarine system is the largest estuarine system in Africa. On the beach by the village of St. Lucia is the mouth of the estuary.
The mouth was closed by man after Jolly Rubino’s shipwreck in 2002 when oil threatened the coastline. It remained closed for five years before it was opened by nature again. Like other estuaries, the level and salinity of the lower reaches of Lake St. Lucia varies. A narrow, 15 km long channel connects the main part of the St. Lucia estuarine system with the Indian Ocean. With a maximum width of 20 km and a length of about 65 km, Lake St. Lucia covers an area of about 38 000 hectares. The very shallow lake is in spite of its large area only a couple of meters deep at its deepest.
Seawater from the Indian Ocean enters the estuary via mouth and freshwater from the Mkhuze, Nyalazi, and Hluhluwe rivers flows into the lake. A large peninsula to the east separates the lake from the Indian Ocean. Over the last 25,000 years wind and other natural forces created the beautiful forested sand dunes that rise to between 50-170 meters.
The estuary is very rich on fish and shrimps it is a popular spot for fishing both among the locals and tourists. It is also the home of the largest single Hippo population in Africa, about 700 of them. The Nile crocodile population is over 1500 and they share the waters with Zambezi sharks (Bull sharks) that live of the rich fish life. There are very popular boat trips on the estuary leaving from St Lucia. They will give you a close look at the Hippos, Crocs and the fantastic birdlife. The Mangrove trees provide a safe environment for small fish and baby crocs and are essential for the balance of the marine life. The northern part of the lake is off limits to tourist and commercial boats and it is part of the big wilderness area. That area stretches all the way out to the coast and there are no roads going out there. One way of experience it is on horseback and there are day rides and overnight horse safaris in the area.
St. Lucia Lake and its estuarine is of course also a birders paradise. The very diverse birdlife with more than 500 species which is 60% of the South African total, about 200 of which are water birds for which the Park is an important refuge. There are more than 335 breeding species. There are four species endemic to South Africa and 47 endemic or nearly endemic to the region. iSimangaliso is an important breeding area for the pinkbacked pelican, white pelican, African fish-eagle, Caspian tern, goliath heron, rufous-bellied heron, yellowbilled stork, pygmy goose and many more. The Park is also habitat for major South African populations of greater and lesser flamingo, osprey, Neergaard's sunbird, Woodward's batis, Natal nightjar, blackrumped button-quail just to mention a few. 62 species are listed in the South African Red Data Book and 73 species are listed in CITES appendices.
St. Lucia Lake and its estuarine system is something you simply must not miss if you are even close to the place. It is worth a journey on its own.
