St. Lucia - iSimangaliso - Cape Vidal

[Lisbeth]

The whole village is concentrated in McKenzie street. Shops, Restaurants and a few Guesthouses, B&Bs and a hotel. The rest of the Guest Houses B&Bs and private houses are in the roads behind.

It is nice place, peaceful ( apart from 31st December, when hell broke loose) and pleasant. No decent haidresser though and they don't know how to iron a shirt, but those are minor problems, when you are on holiday. On the other hand, there was a good super market and an excellent "Ocean Basket" Restaurant.

The first thing you notice in the main street is a market with local handicraft and fruit under beautiful flowering trees.





To be continued.....

[Bushveld Jock]

Hi Lisbeth,

We visited the park in 2009 and stayed at Cape Vidal. We had great sightings of rhino and buffalo and a lovely boat trip on the river. Just need to twist PRWIN's arm to process a few pics and will add a few.

Just love KZN parks. I grew up in Pinetown about 20 km from Durban and as a child mostly visited KZN parks.

[Lisbeth]

There are all those beautiful trees that I love so much all over the place.

Papaia









Our bungalow



The swimmingpool full of swedes :roll:



We went on a visit to a zulu village.

Our guide, a very nice intelligent and knowlegable young lady. We learnt a lot about the AIDS problem, the school system (there was a lovely new school), the too few visits of a doctor etc.





There was a mix of all kind of "houses" from shacks to small houses with two cars parked outside (it was on a holiday) and all the in betweens. Some well kept with small gardens other a dirty mess. A kind of mini world in all its differences.

We saw the hut of the Sangoma and were told how difficult it is to make it understood to the inhabitants how much is only superstition.

A group of boys danced for us





Another spectator



Afterwards a well deserved meal at "Fishy Pete's"



A must is a tour on the lagoon/lake

The reeds at the pier











Goliath heron



A fish eagle taken from too far away







Sunset on the lake



To be continued.....

[Mel]

St Lucia/Cape Vidal is really worth a visit.

We go there often, the only problem is the road getting there, Piet Retief - Pongola is like an obstacle course. Via Ulundi is not too bad and via Nongoma also terrible.

Once there everything changes.

Everything is green and colourful the bird life is excellent.

Driving up to Cape Vidal is relaxing and also very rewarding, Buffalo, Kudu, Samango Monkeys, Crested Guineafowl, Trumpeter Hornbills, Kingfishers, Barbets, Coucals, Purple Crested Louries ( Turaco) are plentiful, as well asa Nyala, Impala, Blue Wildebeest, Zebra and Grey Duiker.

Both species of Rhino are present.

Hippo and Crocodiles at Catalina Bay.

Red Duiker are seen close to Cape Vidal. We had our only sighting of an Oribi at Eastern Shores ( if you sight a Steenbok with a black tail, you are lucky, it is an an Oribi).

Cape Vidal has a beautiful beach with a clear unpolluted blue sea, with nice warm water.

Plenty of sea gulls frequent the area.

Whales may be sighted during the winter months up to October.

Turning off to Mission Rocks is worth your while Turtles are frequently seen here as well as whales from the high ledges.

Staying at st Lucia also offers the opportunity to visit the Hluhluwe - Imfulozi Game Reserve, use your Wild Card, you will not be disappointed, my reckoning is that it one of the most rewarding Game Reserves as far as game viewing is concerned. Very high game viewing per km driven.

At Hluhluwe Village there is a there is Resort where one can view Cheetah, Serval, African Wild Cat and Caracal, also worth visiting, remember to take your camera.

[Lisbeth]

We made a long queue to get into the park. It was during the end of the year holidays and with a limited number admitted and being in the morning, everybody wanted to get in and nobody came out. It took hours :roll:

A few pics from the Wetlands Park and Cape Vidal.

























Trumpeter hornbill








and that was it.............

[Mel]

I forgot to mention the largest congregation of Reedbuck in Southern Africa is in the Eastern Shores area.

I recognise everything except no 11 from the top.

Will have to go again and see if I could find the spot . . . . .

[flying cheetah]

Here is a pic of a Narina Trogon I took during a morning walk in the forest and a Heron at the beach.

[Mel]

News From Isimangaliso

iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority is delighted to announce the culmination of three years' creative excellence, with a groundbreaking exhibition at the renowned Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) publicly showcasing the kind of talent that has been unlocked by this programme.

The exhibition which runs from 2 August - 30 October 2011, is entitled 'Ugqozi lwentembende... Spirit of the Long Rope from iSimangaliso', and showcases nine sculptures created by selected artists who, along with 41 other artists living around the Park, have been receiving training in visual art at the iSimangaliso Art Programme, funded by the MTN SA Foundation.

As part of the programme a number of eminent South African artists ran seminars, workshops and mentoring sessions including Dumisani Mabaso, Andries Botha, Sam Nhlengethwa, Usha Seejarim, Hannelie Coetzee, Thembinkosi Goniwe, Nontobeko Ntombela, Les Cohn, Nandipha Mntambo, Lawrence Lemaoana, George Mahashe, Cedric Nunn, Andre Croucamp and the Artists Proof Studio.

Participating artists Samuel Mtshali and Nelisiwe Msweli explain the title of the exhibition: "We chose the isiZulu idiom Ugqozi lwentambende because it reflects the process of learning and succeeding through perseverance".
Andrew Zaloumis, CEO of iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority said, "We are proud to be a part of a programme that has discovered and enabled local talent to access creative thinkers, and move from the fringes of the art circuit to the centre.

These sculptures are an edgy and innovative representation of our culture and embody the values of world heritage. It is significant that this work has its roots in iSimangaliso, where conservation has taken its place alongside art, as an agent for change and social transformation. iSimangaliso, meaning miracle, is a place of healing and rebirth where people and nature connect. We are motivated to continue creating a lasting legacy for future generations."

Rain Brings Relief to St Lucia

The current eight year drought is one of the worst in recorded history with below average rainfall having occurred since 2002. This has negatively affected the functioning of the Lake St Lucia system. For nearly a decade, very little water has flowed into Lake St Lucia from the five rivers that normally feed the system. Due to the artificial separation of the St Lucia and Mfolozi mouths in the late 1950s, the significant benefit of the Mfolozi water to the Lake St Lucia system, especially during this drought, has been lost.

Salinity data and bird counts give an indication of the health of the system, and are closely monitored.

Salinity

At St Lucia a total of 1430.6 mm of rain was measured in the nine months from the start of October 2010 to the end of June 2011. In last four days 156 mm of rain fell. Although the St Lucia mouth area had the highest rainfall, the rain was well distributed throughout the lake system and there have also been good rains in the catchment areas. The overcast weather and frequent rainy days reduced evaporation losses over this period. The warm to hot dry days resulted in evaporation loss and a drop in the water levels. Lake St Lucia can lose about a billion litres of fresh water across its 30 000ha surface to evaporation on a hot windy day.

The St Lucia system experienced good rains in early summer and poor rains in late summer. During most of the period the Mkhuze River has flowed into the Lake, thus significantly increasing the water volume in Lake St Lucia.

The Mfolozi mouth closed on the evening of the 26 May 2011. Approximately 100 000 cubic meters of fresh water from the Mfolozi is now flowing into the St Lucia estuary each day. This water enters the Narrows of the estuary via a channel excavated many years ago and through which relatively silt-free water flows when the Umfolozi mouth is closed.

This inflow of fresh water has lessened the impact of the ongoing drought conditions. As a result of the good rains, the salinity (or salt content of water) has been significantly lowered in the lake. Salinity is measured in parts of salt per thousand parts of water (ppt). Sea-water has a salinity of 35 ppt. For example, at Charter's Creek in January the salinity of lake water dropped from 55ppt to10 ppt and has remained reasonably low since then.

The bi-annual national Coordinated Waterbird Count for 2011 recorded significant flocks of flamingos, pelicans and wading birds, at Lake St Lucia. 17 000 waders of different species were recorded. The bird numbers are dominated by waders because of the large areas with suitable shallow water and wind-exposed mud-flats.

There also large numbers of flamingoes as the lake has extensive shallow areas and there is an abundance of food available for them.

(Oktober 2011)

[Magic Guarri]

okay here my first ones - a beautiful Sunset and our favourite place to have a Sundowner in iSimangaliso



...and thats me - busy working with my Canon at Cape Vidal :D

[Magic Guarri]

We have a really sh...weather today! Rain, cold and windy!

So I need some pics to warm me up

Cape Vidal three years ago.....

Oh I LOVE these animals!!!