It’s funny how you wait so long for something to happen then all of a sudden its come and gone and you’re left wondering where did it all go?
That’s how I feel right now. I’m home; my holiday is over, I’m back in the cold leaving the lovely warm sunshine behind for another time. But what a time we had it was gorgeous.
St. Lucia is about 8 hours away from Johannesburg – some of the road is toll so you have to pay – but it’s not expensive and at least the roads are good. Once the toll stops it all changes. The N2, is the main road from Richards Bay and north up the coast to St. Lucia is the main artery leading from the huge docks of Richards Bay to Johannesburg. Consequently it is a busy road. It is full of heavy lorries carrying huge cargo and is only a So its by no means a nice relaxing trip to St. Lucia. However we took about 8 hours to travel approximately 630 km.
We stopped for a bit to stretch our legs get petrol and to have something to eat. We couldn’t access our accommodation at Perna Perna before 2.00 pm so we weren’t in any great hurry. So we continued our leisurely drive arriving at our destination just after 2.15.
Perna Perna
This is where we stayed for the week. Notice on the left hand side bamboo growing wild! My husband gets up early in the morning and found mongooses out on the path, a whole family of them. It was so beautiful there and so peaceful.
On reading through the literature provided on the resort, we discovered that walking around St. Lucia at night you had to be prepared to meet hippos on your travels. They are nocturnal creatures and come out of the water at night to forage on land. They are also extremely territorial so the advice is to not block their passage to the water. Being on the cowardly sided I wasn’t prepared to do any walking around town at night. The lady at reception told us that she had hippos grazing in her front garden early in the morning! But we did go on a hippo and crocodile cruise on St. Lucia which was absolutely beautiful allowing us to get up close and personal to some very large hippos!
These hippos congregate in the water as families with the male and females plus the babies and when they are all together they are called ‘pods’. At present the hippo population in the St. Lucia area is 800. Which is a lot of hippos. The Ranger who piloted the boat as well as giving us a running commentary pointed out with relish that 800 hippos make a lot of poo which in turn makes St. Lucia one of the largest suppliers of prawns in Kwa Zulu Natal! Nice thought for all the tourists dining at the local seafood restaurants.
One of the big fellas
The whole area stretches from St. Lucia in the south right up to the Mozambique border in the north but the largest town on the South African side is Sodwana Bay in the north. The area is home to six wildlife parks which are situated inland. While the coast line is a fisherman’s heaven. You can also watch wales during the season and of course porpoises are in abundance. The area is a wildlife enthusiast’s dream. But as the area is so huge it would take a lot of time to cover all of what you wanted to see. Bearing this in mind we had to set some priorities for our week. The cruise was one, and the crocodile park was another.
The whole area is fed by the Indian Ocean but until recently that was not the case. About 20-30 years ago the decision was made to block the wetlands off from the Indian Ocean. I don’t know what reasons lay behind this decision. But it was incorrect as the wetland area began to die off taking with it some of the wonderful species of wildlife that makes the area it’s home. Consequently tourism also began to die off. About two years ago the brains of the world environmentalists were invited to South Africa to find a solution as to what was the correct approach. It wasn’t until July of last year that the decision was made to make a trench through the sand barrier which blocked off the ocean from the wetland. Since that time the area has begun to come alive and the tourists have begun to come back.
This is apparent in the area as parts of it are quite run down and look a bit forgotten. But I am delighted that the area is re-emerging as the wonderful word heritage sight that it is. It is difficult to explain how large the area is – not only containing wonderful birds, butterflies, flora and fauna. But also wonderful sand dunes that stretch like a range of hills which can be seen for miles inland. When seen from inland they do look like a range of hills until the ranger pointed out they were sand dunes.
A pod of Hippos
This photo shows the hippos as a family a ‘pod’. They are enormously territorial which is why the advice given if meeting up with one at night is to make sure you don’t stand between it and the water! Wow! Can you imagine a hippo wandering around your town at night.
The other occupant of the estuary are crocodiles. We did see them from the boat entering into the water. They don’t like the boats and disappear quite quickly when they hear them coming. So it wasn’t easy to get them on camera. However, our ranger did manage to get us quite close to one who was on the river bank, just lying quietly and didn’t move at all when we got closer and closer.
The reason it didn’t move was it’s a female nesting. She’s laying eggs and won’t move until the job is done. Apparently crocs can lay up to 60 eggs at a time – perhaps one of the reasons they’ve endured through time so well. Anyway what I found fascinating is the fact that the sex of the baby croc is decided by temperature of the incubation of the eggs. The temperature is: 34 degrees centigrade for males and 30 degrees centigrade for females. The croc will keep moving on and off eggs to maintain temperature. Isn’t that fantastic!
Female nesting
letsgo 