16 January 2021
Thankfully our government didn’t opt to impose even stricter lockdown regulations following the festive season spike in covid-infections and so, after 13 days at home in Pretoria we could recommence our summertide rambles, this time heading to Cape Vidal on the eastern shores of Lake St. Lucia, in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. After 7-and-a-half hours on the road we finally arrived in the holiday town of St Lucia and, after filling up on fuel and stocking up on eats and drinks we couldn’t wait to enter Bhangazi Gate for the 30km drive to Cape Vidal.
The Bhangazi gate into the Eastern Shores of Lake Saint Lucia lies roughly 610km South-East of Pretoria.
(Drawn using Google Maps)
This is one of our favourite destinations and sadly in the midst of South Africa’s first wave of the pandemic a booking we had to come to Cape Vidal in the winter holidays of 2020 had to be postponed. We were so grateful to be back now.
We were allocated log cabin #1 at Cape Vidal – although it’s the first unit as you drive into the accommodation area of the camp it was still very privately situated and surrounded by bush.
After settling into our accommodation there was only one place we wanted to go – the beach – even if by then some heavy cloud cover had started to move in from the Indian Ocean.
Map of the eastern shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (from https://isimangaliso.com/)
DeWetsWild 
Amazing sightings on your first day there. Love the hippo pic. Your cabin looks very comfortable.
A cabin in the forest has such a romantic charm, don’t you think?
Absolutely does, Dries. 😍
I liked the green coloring on the beeater. The canary looks a lot like the goldfinches in my backyard – a cheery shade of yellow.
Thanks Siobhan! During summer the birds really show off their best colours.
I’m excited to be at the beach, which is quite the change from the usual. Not complaining about the usual, you understand, but looking forward to the variety here. 🙂
janet
I absolutely understand, Janet! We don’t get to explore the seashore as often as we’d like to either.
I find those buffalo to attract my attention in images. Something about their magnificent size, I think. Even with their bulk, they look “sleek” somehow, to me.
And when you are at the receiving end of their aggression you wish they were a little less agile! The African Buffalo is considered on the the most dangerous and cunning of our animals and definitely deserve our respect.
The American Bison have a similar reputation. I don’t know about cunning, but certainly dangerous. Every year someone in one of our national parks learns that lesson the hard way.
I’ve seen a couple of videos on youtube of people trying to get too familiar with your bisons!
Wow! The visual smorgasbord you can reach in a matter of hours is truly remarkable! Can’t wait to see the images you capture in the coming days…
Come claim that spot we promised you, Lori!
Ahhh, you have no idea how much I would love that. Had the pleasure of a visit to your beautiful country about 10 years ago and have longed to return ever since…🥰
We’ll be waiting for you to return!
I am glad you could get there eventually.
We were very glad to get back to Cape Vidal, Anne. It is such a special place.
This time the park is near the Indian Ocean, and also near rivers and lakes. It calls for more aquatic animals, small and large. Great! I can see hippos and buffalos, already. Thank you, D. 🙂
iSimangaliso is one of the most varied of our Parks, H.J, both in terms of habitats and wildlife and in the experiences on offer for humans visiting “the place of miracles and wonder”.
The hippos….so fun to see them again.
iSimangaliso harbours one of the largest populations of hippo in our country.