The town of St. Lucia, on the banks of the St. Lucia estuary is situated within the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park. (GSWP),  and the park is made up of a number of conservation areas, the oldest of which is the St. Lucia Game Reserve which was established in 1895. Much of this area is still under control of the KZNNCS or Kwa Zulu Natal Nature Conservation Services (they used to be called NPB or natal Parks Board)

This area is the gateway to the Eastern Shores of the lake, which contains the highest vegetated sand dunes in the world, extensive and diverse wetlands systems, as well as the coastal grasslands with an associated fauna which includes the world's highest density of common reedbuck, amongst the many species found here. The only route to the Eastern Shores is through the town of St. Lucia, which is the tourism center of the Southern edge of the Greater St. Lucia Wetlands Park.

The Eastern Shores of Lake St. Lucia is under threat of being mined for its rich mineral deposits, and this is the main reason why conservationists pushed to have the area declared a World Heritage Site. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has been a great help in ensuring that the area does not get mined.  A company called Richards Bay Minerals has the mining rights for the area which they really would like to exercise. The mining of the lake is a controversial subject, as many people say that the lake has already been damaged beyond repair by mans bad agricultural practices in the lakes catchment area, which has caused the lake to silt up excessively during the last few years. These people suggest that mining the lake will ensure that the water flow patterns of the past return and help the marine organisms which are under threat due to the progressive silting up of the lake.

For bird-watchers there is a great variety of water birds both marine and fresh water as well as forest dwelling and grass-lands birds.

St. Lucia is one of the few areas in KZN (Kwa Zulu Natal) left with stands of healthy ncema grass (Juncus Kraussil). Every year thousands of people come to the St. Lucia to harvest ncema. This grass is important in Zulu culture, and is used to make sleeping and sitting mats. The cutting season is from 1st May until no tall ncema grass is left standing. During this period one should be aware of the traffic as the road is narrow and some times there are many vehicles parked on the roadside loading ncema grass to take back to the rural villages.

There is a great variety of accommodation in the town ranging from tents and caravan parks to five star luxury apartments including hotels, bed and breakfasts, (B+B) and even backpackers hostels.

There are guided boat tours or you may rent a small boat for the day to travel up the estuary and look at the wonders of nature or catch some good fish. You may also book a deep sea fishing trip with one of the many charter companies if you want.

There are numerous walking trails which are close to the town and some which are over night where you need to take your own tent along on the walk. These over night walks are becoming quite popular and bookings are essential. There are numerous tour guides who operate out of St. Lucia and many of them are quite knowledgeable about the birds in the area.

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Revised: April 18, 2012 09:35:38 -0400 . (South African standard time)