St Lucia Safaris

Centuries ago the Nguni tribes migrated southward along the Mazombique coastal plains to the eastern shores of Lake St Lucia.During their migration they used food from the sea eg oysters and mussels as a protein source. Evidence of this occurs in the form of shell middens which occur periodically along the coastlines in the dunes.

The eastern shores of St Lucia were initially inhabited by a primitive iron-age man. Trees from the dune forests were used to make charcoal for iron smelting and the forests were replaced by secondary grassland. Fire was used to clear agricultural plots and to maintain the grassland for grazing. From this stage on, man has had a profound influence on the ecoological function of the area. These grasslands are suitable for many animals which otherwise could not have inhabited the area.

In the 1500s Portuguese navigators, exploring the African coastline discovered the estuary mouth and in 1576 the lake and estuary were named Santa Lucia.

In 1822 the Royal Navy sent the ships Leven, Barracouta and Cockburn to survey the coastline. The captain of the Barracouta was Lieutenant A Vidal after whom Cape Vidal was named and Leven Point was named after the sloop HMS Leven.

In the 19th century explorers and hunters came to Zululand. At the time the area was teeming with game, including elephant, buffalo and black rhino. Over the next 70 or so years the game was decimated by white settlers in search of ivory, adventure and land. During the latter half of the 1800s many hippos were shot at Lake St Lucia. The first Nyala known to science was recorded near False Bay Park in 1849 by George Angas and is named after him (Tragelaphus angasi).

After the Zulu War the Boers of the New Republic, Vryheid, wanted to acquire St Lucia to use as a port. They were, however, thwarted by the British Authorities. The HMS Goshawk was dispatched to St Lucia to annex the area in December 1884. The following year the St Lucia township was proclaimed. This became popular as a fishing resort and the first hotel was established in the 1920s. It was not until the mid-1950s that a bridge was built connecting the town to the mainland. Prior to this a pont was used.

On 31 January 1898, the ship Dorothea was wrecked on the reef of Cape Vidal. It is rumored that the ship was carrying a cargo of illicit gold bought on the Witwatersrand and smuggled out of the country via Lourenco Marques (now Maputo). Numerous salvage attempts have been made to recover the gold, but none have been successful.

In 1898, the Reverend LO Feyling, a norwegian missionary, established a misson station at Mount Tabor near Mission Rocks. One can still see the old dutch oven used at the misson. The mission continued to function until the mid-1950s when the Forestry Department moved the Zulus and Tonga people out of the area. Other mission stations which have operated for shorter periods were at Cape Vidal and Ozabeni near Ochre Hill.

In 1912 G Challis and D Brodie were granted an area of 100 acres at Makakatana to start a trading business. In 1923 this land was declared a private township and still is to date. The conventional way through the Eastern Shores during that period was across the shallow water of Brodie's Crossing from Makakatana to Mission Rocks.

In 1911 the Umfolozi settlement was established and sugar cane was planted on the Umfolozi flats. Much of the area was canalised and the swamps were drained to increase agricultural land. As a result sediments from the catchments silted up the Umfolozi-St Lucia mouth in 1951. To alleviate the problem of silt deposition a new mouth for the Umfolozi River was excavated in 1953 south of St Lucia Estuary.

In 1943 part of the Royal Air Force 262 Squadron was based on the Eastern Shores to carry out anti-submarine patrols along the coastline with their Catalina flying boats. An observation building was erected at Mount Tabor and has in more recent times been converted into an overnight hut for the Mziki Trails.

The SS Tinavo, an Italian cargo vessel, beached just north of Leven Point in June 1940. It had slipped out of Durban after Italy declared war on the Allies and was forced ashore by the airforce. The wreck can be clearly seen from the beach at low tide.

In the early 1950s the Government Forestry Department started silvicultural operations on the Western shores and a few years later on the Eastern shores.

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park, previously known as the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, is made up of a number of conservation areas proclaimed over the years since 1897. St Lucia Game Reserve, consisting of the water body of the lake and the islands as well as Mapelane, is the oldest game reserve in Africa - proclaimed in 1897. St Lucia Park, consists of a half mile wide border around most of the Lake was added in 1939. The half-mile strip adjacent to False Bay on the west of the Lake was extended in 1944 to become False Bay Park. Sodwana Bay National Park was established in 1950. Due to the inaccessibility, the area was virtually unknown prior to 1945. There were isolated visits to the area by campers but it was not until 1973 when civil war broke out in Mozambique, that utilization of the area increased. The vast area of Tewate wilderness area (Cape Vidal State Forest) and Ozabeni (Sodwana State Forest), proclaimed under the Forestry Act, were transferred to the Natal Parks Board in 1987. St Lucia Marine Reserve, extending 5 kilometers out to sea, was proclaimed in 1979 and Maputaland Marine Reserve was proclaimed as late as 1986.

In 1999 the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park was named as the first South African World Heritage Site by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). UNESCO describes the iSimangaliso Wetland Park like this:

The ongoing fluvial, marine and aeolian processes in the site have produced a variety of landforms, including coral reefs, long sandy beaches, coastal dunes, lake systems, swamps, and extensive reed and papyrus wetlands. The interplay of the park's environmental heterogeneity with major floods and coastal storms and a transitional geographic location between subtropical and tropical Africa has resulted in exceptional species diversity and ongoing speciation. The mosaic of landforms and habitat types creates breathtaking scenic vistas. The site contains critical habitats for a range of species from Africa's marine, wetland and savannah environments.

If you would like to read more please visit http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/914/.

In 1996 the name the "Greater St Lucia Wetland Park" was changed to the "iSimangaliso Wetland Park", which means "Place of Wonder" in the Zulu language. For more information please visit http://www.isimangaliso.com.