Isimangaliso means miracle, or the greatest thing you will ever see. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site, offers excellent game-viewing, snorkelling at Cape Vidal and boat cruises on the lake in search of hippos and crocodiles. This is one of the few natural places where you can enjoy a beach, safari and lake experience all in one day!

Centred around Lake St Lucia, the Park offers a mix of lake, lagoon, marshland, papyrus swamp, sand forest and grassland. The wetlands are separated from the tropical coastline by a strip of coastal dunes which tower 120 metres above the beaches. The shallow 36,000-hectare lake averages only one metre in depth. It is home to an estimated 1,500 crocodile and 700 hippos, great flocks of pelicans and flamingos as well as many other water birds. Its exceptional biodiversity has led to an astounding variety of birds. Indeed it is world famous for its spectacular bird life with 520 species recorded.

You stay at the friendly little resort town of St Lucia. You can take a guided game drive in the park, or you can self-drive and spend some hours at the beautiful Cape Vidal beach. The marine habitat is the route used by humpback whales on their northerly migration to Mozambique to calve. In November and December the loggerheads and leatherback turtles come onto the beach to lay eggs.

iSimangaliso offers surprisingly good general game viewing. In recent years, buffalo and elephant have been reintroduced onto the eastern shores of the lake. Leopard can even be spotted on guided night drives. It is also easy to visit Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve as it’s only about 40 minutes drive from St Lucia.