Western Shores open to the public

AFTER a long wait, the Western Shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park will open its gates to the public on Saturday, just in time for the festive season holiday makers.

Offering different vistas from the Eastern Shores section of the wetland park, Western Shores is home to three herds of elephant, giraffe and nyala. Visitors can peruse a craft shop just inside the park’s entrance before entering the reserve.

‘We are delighted to invite our visitors to experience this spectacular new area, which is quite distinct from the well-known Eastern Shores area,’ says iSimangaliso Wetland Park CEO Andrew Zaloumis.

‘The Western Shores offers excellent game viewing and without doubt, this destination will fast become a firm favourite with photographers and birders. New game drives include the uMphathe and uMdoni loops. There are a number of must-see attractions such as uMthoma Aerial Boardwalk which overhangs Lake St Lucia’s Narrows and has views as far as Cape Vidal in the north and Maphelane in the south.’

This recent development is in line with the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority’s programme to strengthen the wetland park as a world-class tourism destination. Together with the re-introduction of game and the major land care and rehabilitation programme, a new network of game viewing roads, view sites, hides and picnic sites on the western shores of Lake St Lucia aims to enhance visitors’ experience of the wetland park.

Western Shores constitutes 25 000ha. Much of this tract of land had been under forestry plantations and over the last six years the removal of thousands of alien trees and rehabilitation of the natural landscape has enabled the re-introduction of naturally occurring game such as elephant, serval and nyala.

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park includes 9% of South Africa’s coastline from Maphelane in the south to Kosi Bay in the north and stretches inland to include uMkhuze Game Reserve. It contains three major lake systems, eight interlinking ecosystems, most of South Africa’s remaining swamp forests, Africa’s largest estuarine system, 526 bird species and 25 000-year-old coastal dunes – amongst the highest in the world.