Day 11: Ballito - Saint Lucia - What to see in Isimangaliso
The places to see in Isimangalio They will be the protagonists of the day today in which we will arrive in Saint Lucia, one of the essential places to see in South Africa, where hippos are the true protagonists of the town.
After spending the night at the Hampshire Hotel, our accommodation in Ballito when it's 7 in the morning we decided that the time has come to get started loading the luggage in the rental car in South Africa and making our way to Saint Lucia, our new destination that we are separated by 190 kilometers and 2 hours that we do on this occasion with a more cloudy weather than we expected.
South Africa Roads
It is in the first section of the route, leaving Ballito, when we look and are aware of the landscape change that we are living We cannot confirm that it is not a personal perception, but it is at this moment that we begin to see that social inequality is much more evident than what we have seen so far and that it is even visible through the windows of our car, something we are not going to deny, makes us begin to understand many things that we had read so far.
In this section of the N2 between Ballito and Santa Lucia we go through two tolls in which we pay R50 and R44.50 respectively, which we can pay by card, but we take the opportunity to comment (getting ahead of time), which is not always possible to do So, it is advisable to carry cash in local currency, just like us, they won't let us pay by card.
In addition to this change we discussed, as we get closer to Saint Lucia we begin to see how the landscape is increasingly lush and much greener giving us incredible landscapes that warn us that we are approaching the estuary, one of the places that we could not get lost in this South Africa for free.
A few minutes past 9 in the morning when we arrived in Santa Lucia so before going to the hotel and without having breakfast yet, we decided to approach the main street of the town, where many of the most recommended restaurants are concentrated, among which is the Kauai cafeteria, a place with a lot of charm in which we ordered a couple of breakfast bowls, large cappuccino and large American by R137 that give us life to start today with a route through the places to see in Isimangaliso.
Breakfast in Saint Lucia
With the energies already renewed we approached the Lake St Lucia Lodge, our accommodation in Santa Lucia tonight, where after checking in, we sat down with the owner to comment on our plans these next few days, to go to know St. Lucia today , including a tour to see hippos in the estuary and tomorrow make a route through the places to see in Isimangaliso Then start the journey to Suatziland.
Just commenting on the plans, he tells us that just today there are all the complete tours to go to see hippos, so we have to make a quick change of plans, deciding that the best option is to go tomorrow to see the hippos at 7: 30 in the morning and today, instead of staying in Saint Lucia go to meet the Isimangaliso Park.
With these changed plans, which we have to confess in the end, they are much more adequate, when it is 11 am we arrive at Isimangaliso Park, 3 kilometers from Saint Lucia where we pay R191 for two people and a car.
What to see in Isimangaliso
"The St. Lucia wetland park should be the only place in the world where the oldest land mammals, rhinos, and the largest land mammals, the elephants, live in the same ecosystem with the most traveled fish in the world. creation, the celacantos and the largest marine mammals, the whales. " This phrase by Nelson Mandela should be enough reason for St. Lucia and Isimangaliso to become part of the trip to South Africa in 25 days although we, after the experience, want to add some extras, which we believe may be even more attractive not to miss you This area of the country.
The possibility of seeing a few meters hippos and rhinos make Isimangaliso and the estuary a perfect stop for a couple of days in South Africa.
To get into context, you should keep in mind that Isimangaliso Park is a park located in the northeast area of Kwazulu-Natal, a Zulu territory that covers a 280-kilometer coastline.
With 5 differentiated ecosystems, the part that travelers usually visit includes quite limited areas where you can see different wild animals such as elephants, hippos, antelopes, zebras or rhinos in addition to incredible landscapes on a route of about 30 kilometers that lead road from the entrance to the park to Cape Vidal.
What to see in Isimangaliso
With this in mind, we leave you what are for us places to see in Isimangaliso:
- East Section of Isimangaliso: In important to know that the park is divided into two sections, the east and the west, the first being the most visited by tourists as it is where they are more places of interest, in addition to being the best conditioned.
To get there you must leave St. Lucia and at the crossroads, take the road on the left in the direction of Crocodile Center. Once there, you must pass the entrance of this center a few meters later to find the entrance facilities where you must pay your entrance fee and fill in the entry forms.
From here you can take different roads to explore different areas of Isimangaliso or the main road that leads to Cape Vidal. - West Section: This is the least visited section of the park because it is less equipped than the previous one.
It is very important to know that the two sections are not communicated, so to go from one to another you must go to St. Lucia.
Isimangaliso
- Mission Rocks: On the main road 10 kilometers from the entrance on the right is Mission Rocks, a coastal area with beautiful landscapes.
- Banghazi Lake: Between Lake St. Lucia, larger than this and Cape Vidal we find this small lake where it is very advisable to make a stop as it is usually one of the favorite places of animals in the area.
- Cape Vidal: Known for being one of the most famous beaches in the area, this is the most suitable beach if you want to take a bath. There is a parking area, changing rooms, bathrooms and an information office.
Cape Vidal in Isimangaliso
- Lookouts: Along the main road and on some secondary roads you will find different viewpoints where you can get out of the car to enjoy the scenery. In all of them there are cartels with safety regulations, which you must follow at all times.
Viewpoint in Isimangaliso
- Main road and secondary roads: For us the main reason to make a route through the places to see in Isimangaliso is to travel the main and secondary roads in search of some of the animals that inhabit these lands.
Although you can see elephants, rhinos or zebras, in addition to other small mammals, we have read that even, with a lot of luck you can see leopards.
In our case, as we discussed later, we did not see elephants or rhinos this first day, so we decided to return a couple of hours the next day.
We believe, although we do not know for sure, that the reason for not seeing many animals was to start the tour already in the middle of the morning when the sun was quite high and hot.
Zebras in Isimangaliso
Isimangaliso
Unpaved trails in Isimangaliso
- Maps.me: Although the road and secondary paths are very well indicated, we advise you to take some Maps.me type application in which you can go wind the roads you can take, the viewpoints and even the parkings or services of the route through the places to see in Isimangaliso.
Isimangaliso
More practical information to prepare your trip to South Africa
- 10 essential places to see in South Africa
- The best tips for traveling to South Africa
Tips for visiting Isimangaliso in South Africa
- The price of the entrance to Isimangaliso is R191 for two people and a passenger car. You can pay by card and the Wild Card is not valid.
- Here you will have to make a record of the passengers and the car that you will have to deliver later at the time of departure so that the park can keep a security check.
- The schedule is from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. in summer and from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. from April to the end of October. Keep in mind that schedules must be respected and if you leave later you will have to pay a fine of R500.
- It is totally forbidden to drive at night.
- The maximum speed in Isimangaliso is 50 kilometers / hour. Keep it in mind for the departure times, especially if you find a scene that you want to enjoy.
- Keep in mind that some of the secondary roads are one-way and have reduced speed. This is duly marked, so before entering these types of roads, it is necessary to know the rules.
- It is very important to follow the regulations. You will see that in each of the viewpoints or in the park's brochures they are indicated, but it is important to read them as many times as necessary to make the visits safely and above all, so that our presence causes the minimum impact on the life of the animals .
Regulations in Isimangaliso
- In areas like Cape Vidal you can find a bathroom, a small shop and even changing rooms. In the rest of the viewpoints or picnic areas there are usually no services, except for a couple of viewpoints, to which you must always travel while maintaining the rules, in which there are bathrooms.
- If you want to eat inside Isimangaliso, we recommend you take what you need from St. Lucia, since the options within the park are very limited.
- We want to highlight that in addition to traveling the main road, which is paved from the beginning of the park until Cape Vidal, we recommend you to do some of the dirt tracks by car in addition to some of the small trails that can be done on foot to have a more complete experience.
Footpath in Isimangaliso
Route through the places to see in Isimangaliso
- As we mentioned before, it is highly recommended to bring an application like Maps.me, which works offline, to guide you in the park.
- Before finalizing this series of tips to visit Isimangaliso, referring to the animal sighting, we want to comment on some data, to be able to enjoy the safaris with total security:
Always keep the safety distance
In case they are animals with young, observe them and avoid approaching or making them nervous. An animal with young will always want to protect it, so it can be more aggressive.
If on any of the trails you meet elephants, do not chase them or cut them off. In case there is not enough space, try to back off. This case happened to us on a secondary road and being a very large herd of elephants that were on the road, we decided to turn around and get away. We lost the opportunity to see elephants in Isimangaliso, but the safety and protection of animals comes first.
Never feed them. It is strictly prohibited.
Kudu in Isimangaliso
- Taking into account our experience, we leave you a selection of what we believe, are the things to do in Isimangaliso that you should not miss.
We leave you a map of today's route through the places to see Isimangaliso, one of the best known parks in this area of South Africa.
Do not miss on the next day of the practical guide our experience returning to Isimangaliso after the hippos tour in St. Lucia.
A few minutes past 5 p.m. when we left Isimangaliso, after a most complete day, despite not having seen elephants or rhinos at the end, approaching directly to the Ocean Basket restaurant in St. Lucia and only 4 kilometers from the entrance of the Park where we ordered an assortment of prawns and squid for two people plus beer and water for R361 that renew our energy to continue with this incredible trip.
Eating at Ocean Basket
After dinner and take a walk around this area of the town, we decided that the time has come to return with the rental car in South Africa to the Lake St Lucia Lodge where we fall as children, waiting for the hours to pass and tomorrow, have our First encounter with hippos.
We leave you a map of today's route from Ballito to St. Lucia and Isimangaliso Park.
Day 12: Hippo excursion in Saint Lucia - Swaziland Border
