Lake Saint Lucia Things to Do

Cape Vidal is more of resort area than a park. It has beautiful beaches where people like to sun themselves, kick the football around, fish, and snorkel. The dunes here run all along the coast and are 150 m high. The dune forests are facinating and have an abundance of interesting life in them. Look out for the rare Samango Monkey. There are also plenty of vervet monkey so look out for them. They will steel your food.

There is accommodation at Bhangazi. Camping, log cabins, and dormitory beds are all available and are located in the Tewati Wilderness Area located up the dunes a bit off of the beach.

This is also the trail head for the St. Lucia Wilderness trail (4 days)

Cape Vidal is about 30 km north of the Croc Centre and main gate to St. Lucia Game Reserve. The road is all paved. Look out for wildlife along the road. We saw two black rhino just off the road. This is also leopard territory. Most people speed on this road just to get to the beach.

Hluhluwe (shlo-shlo-wee) is apart of the Kwazulu-Natal Park system and is located 15km West off of the N12. You can rent a car at Imperial rent a car and use St. Lucia Resort as a base to explore the park. If you don't like this cheaper and better option there are full day and half day tours of the area that can be booked at the backpackers or many of the travel agencies in town.

Hluhluwe is really one park with Umfolozi to the South. Both are connected by a corridor so the animals can move freely between both parks. Here you kind find wildlife in a beautiful landscape. The best part about thereserves in Kwazulu-Natal are the game hides. They are the best in South Africa and quite possibly the best in Africa (Quite a daring statement I know).

These parks are particulary known for their populations of white rhino and wild dog.

See my Hluhluwe Page for more detail information.

Umfolozi is apart of the Kwazulu-Natal Park system and is 50 Km North North-West of Mtubatuba and about 80 from St. Lucia. It is really one park with Hluhluwe to the North. Both are connected by a corridor so the animals can move freely between both parks.

You can rent a car at Imperial rent a car and use St. Lucia Resort as a base to explore the park. If you don't like this cheaper and better option there are full day and half day tours of the area that can be booked at the backpackers or many of the travel agencies in town.

Here you kind find wildlife in a beautiful landscape. The best part about the reserves in Kwazulu-Natal are the game hides. They are the best in South Africa and quite possibly the best in Africa (Quite a daring statement I know).

The park is particularly known for its large populations of white rhino. They can be found just about everywhere, but always seem to swing by the water holes late in the day and hang out for a long time. Hluhluwe-Umfolozi was one of the last bastions for white rhino and now many other parks get their rhinos stocked from here.

See my Imfolozi Page for more detailed information.

Mkuze is apart of the Kwazulu-Natal Park system. It is really an extention of the St. Lucia Greater Wetlands park. You can rent a car at Imperial rent a car and use St. Lucia Resort as a base to explore the park, although it is a bit far. You may want to camp at Mkhuze as it is a great option and cheap. Animals are free to move into both areas. Here you kind find wildlife in a beautiful landscape. The best part about the reserves in Kwazulu-Natal are the game hides. They are the best in South Africa and quite possibly the best in Africa (Quite a daring statement I know).

There are no lion or buffalow in the park. However, leopard and hyena are here as well as elephant (which are now in the northern part of the park and can be difficult to spot). This is a great place for birders. The varied terraine, the shallow lake system as well as the location makes Mkuze a great place for resident and migratory birds.

The Kumasinga Hide here is one of the most amazing hides I have ever seen. You can sit by the hours and watch the animals. No driving! It's great, it really is.

There are no tours to Mkhuze that I am aware of. Go to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserves if you want a tour.

Check out my Mkuze Page for more detailed information.

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The St Lucia Wetlands Park is heaven for bird watching, you will see and hear birds where ever you go, they are everywhere, by the sea, lake and in the forest, not always easy to catch them on camera but here are few nice one I did manage to catch.

You can take also a boat cruise into the big wide ocean and go on a whale watch cruise. This is no fun cruise, this is an adventure, a fast boat will take you in a high speed into the deep ocean and will hunt for you the whale, the chances in St Lucia for seeing a whale is very good and so we did and it wasn't a disappointment. Just be prepared to get socking wet, go with light cloths and sandals for this trip, but maybe also something to keep you warn from the sea wind.

It seems fishing is rather popular here, I saw many do so, in this photo you can see well equipped vehicle going fishing by the sea. Did he get anything? At the time I was watching I didn’t see anything coming up.

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Compare to many other places in Africa, in some of the areas here it is perfectly safe to hike and take a walk in the wild. Actually there are even guided 4 days Wilderness Trail if you wish including overnights stay in a camp.