A luxurious and late start to our day, we packed our lunch and headed off to iSimangaliso Park - South Africa’s first World Heritage site. With grey laden skies we followed the tarred road from the Bhangazi Gate entrance stopping to take the turnings to viewpoints along the way. Unfortunately, many of these were closed and we can only assume, by the number of labourers in the park, they are having works completed.
Mission Rocks gave us our first sighting of the Indian Ocean. Today the sea was rough with large waves crashing on to the rocks but the low tide revealed a strange crater landscape of rock pools teeming with their minute eco systems. The weather closed in and began raining and we dashed to the car to continue our drive to Cape Vidal.
Through the drive across verdant pastures we encountered several new types of antelope with identification helped by Elfie’s guide to animals in the Park. We now know our Kudu from our Blue Duiker but today there was little else in the park for us to spot with the exception to wildebeest, not the most exciting animals to watch.
Elfie had suggested we time our arrival at Cape Vidal for low tide so we could snorkel in the shallows protected by a rocky outcrop as the coral reef was very colourful. Unfortunately, today the weather was windy and rainy and the sea was too rough for us to paddle in. We did enjoy a windswept stroll along the beautiful beach watching the crabs make a dash back to their pristine round holes in the sand and we admired the highly vegetated sand dunes which make a stunning backdrop to the sandy beach. In typical English style we ate our sandwiches in the car watching the rain but on this occasion the air was lovely and warm. Monkeys are a real nuisance to picnickers and as we ate in the security of the car, a few gathered menacingly stalking us around the car.
We had anticipated taking a loop road back following the course of the estuary but this was closed and disgruntled we had to take the same road back to the gate. The rain cleared and we drove back admiring a brilliant red sunset lighting up the remaining clouds and made it back to St Lucia town just before darkness.
We stopped at the local liquor store and chose at random a couple of bottles of wine eager to educate ourselves on South African wines ready for our wine tasting jaunts later. This relaxed us sufficiently for an early night as we have a ridiculously early start tomorrow for the game park.
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| Mission rocks |
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| A duiker |
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| Two distant hippos |
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| Kudo |
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| Cape Vidal |
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| Inland view |
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