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- Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park -
Jetty on the shores of the St. Lucia Estuary
Jetty on the shores of the St. Lucia Estuary
The 2750 square kilometre Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999. It stretches 220km from the Mozambican border with northern KwaZulu-Natal, near Ponta do Ouro, to Cape St. Lucia in the south, sometimes in stretches as narrow as 1km. The Park also incorporates a marine reserve along 155km of coastline extending 5km into the ocean. The biggest section of the Park, in terms of surface area, is located between Mkuze and Sodwana to the north and the town of St. Lucia to the south. In this area the Park is up to 24km wide.

The Park comprises the last remaining subtropical region on the south-eastern coast of Africa with its original diverse fauna and flora still in tact, and one of the last remaining in the world. The St. Lucia LakeThe main feature of the Park is the huge 360 square kilometre Lake St. Lucia, the largest inland body of water in South Africa.

A unique feature of the Park is that it encompasses five distinctly different eco-systems, they are:
  1. a marine system characterised by a warm waters, the southernmost extension of coral reefs in Africa, submarine canyons, and long sandy beaches;
  2. a coastal dune system consisting of high linear dunes, sub-tropical forests, grassy plains and wetlands;
  3. lake systems including two estuary-linked lakes, St Lucia and Kosi, and four large freshwater lakes, Sibaya, Ngobezeleni, Bhangazi north and Bhangazi south;
  4. the Mkuze and Umfolozi swamps, with swamp forests, extensive reeds and papyrus swamps;
  5. an inland system, which includes ancient shoreline, terraces and dry savannah woodlands.

Incorporated into the Greater Park are: St. Lucia Reserve, St. Lucia Park, False Bay Park, St. Lucia Marine Reserve, Sodwana Bay National Park, Cape Vidal State Forest, Mkuzi Game Reserve and other interlinking areas.

 
Internet resources: Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife* - destinations - lakes | South African Tourism* - about South Africa - provinces - KwaZulu-Natal | KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority*.
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