Excursion hippos in Saint Lucia

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Day 12: Hippo excursion in Saint Lucia - Swaziland Border

The excursion hippos in Saint Lucia It will be the first activity of today after yesterday we could not do it by not carrying it reserved and having to make a change of plans, choosing to make the route through the places to see in Isimangaliso.

Given that the hippos tour in Saint Lucia It starts at 7:30 in the morning with the company Heritage Tours And Safaris, one of the most recommended in the town, we decided to advance the day a little and leave the Lake St Lucia Lodge, our accommodation in St. Lucia tonight at 6 to go around the estuary before starting the tour to make the most of this day of the trip to South Africa in 25 days.


The Lake St Lucia Lodge is located just 1.5 km from the port from which the boats leave for the hippos tour in St. Lucia, so shortly after 6 in the morning we are there to enjoy for more than 45 minutes From this incredible moment in which the hippos in St. Lucia start the day, approaching the river and looking for the place where they will be practically all day.

Estuary of Saint Lucia

Hippos in the estuary

Tour hippos in Saint Lucia

The hippos tour in Saint Lucia is one of the activities that we recommend not to get lost in South Africa for free.
With this tour you can boat safari through the Santa Lucía estuary, inside the Isimangaliso Park, where you can see over two hours, hippos, Nile crocodiles and countless birds while a guide explains all the information about these Animals and their habitat.

Something very important is that the company Heritage Tours And Safaris uses Shoreline vessels in its safaris, with a capacity for up to 15 people, something that causes a minimum impact on the environment.
They also have a cover with a very wide visibility space which guarantees incredible photographs.

Boat for the hippos excursion in Saint Lucia

Boat for the hippos excursion in Saint Lucia

The tour begins with a brief explanation by the guide and then tour the estuary in search of hippos and animals in the area. In addition to this route, stops are made at different important points in the area and in places where there are hippos, always maintaining adequate distances so as not to disturb the animals.

Tour hippos in Saint Lucia

Tour hippos in St. Lucia

Tips for excursion of hippos in St. Lucia

  • The hippos tour in Santa Lucia is 2 hours.
  • The price is R260 and in our case we hired directly at the Lake St Lucia Lodge where we stayed. In important to reserve it with time since we, when we wanted to do it, found that there were no places for the whole day, so we had to book the next day first thing in the morning.
  • The schedule of the tours depends on the time, being habitual that they leave every two hours, being the last one at 16: 30h. In summer they have a special departure at 7:30 in the perfect morning if you later want to go to Isimangaliso, for example.
  • Although we have loved doing this tour in the morning, we believe that the afternoon, coinciding with the sunset, can also be a fantastic option.

Tour hippos in St. Lucia

Excursion hippos in St. Lucia

  • The departure of the hippos tour in Saint Lucia is from Siyabonga Jetty, right at the point where the bridge across the river from the R618 road is.
  • Whenever you can wear binoculars, although hippos usually look very close and a good goal if you want to take a nature picture.

More practical information to prepare your trip to South Africa

- 10 essential places to see in South Africa
- The best tips for traveling to South Africa

How to organize the route through the places to see in Saint Lucia

Taking into account our experience and if you have more or less time that we have had, we would choose to make the following route for the places to see in St. Lucia.

  • Day 1: Saint Lucia: Walk through the town (it is very small) and the trails to see hippos and in the afternoon do the hippos tour in Saint Lucia.
  • Day 2: Route through the places to see in Isimangaliso and transfer to the Swaziland border, to sleep there and on the third day cross to Swaziland and go to Hlane.

In case you want to do the hippos tour in Saint Lucia In the morning, the option would be to do like us:

  • Day 1: Isimangaliso
  • Day 2: Excussion hippos in Saint Lucia First thing in the morning and then go to the Swaziland border or take the opportunity to return to Isimangaliso until noon or walk through the town.

Hippos in St. Lucia

It's 9:30 in the morning when we finish the excursion hippos in Saint Lucia to return to the Lake St Lucia Lodge where we collect the luggage and make the payment in cash since they do not accept credit cards and we take the rental car to give us a few minutes and plan what we will do with the rest of the day that is pending today until we go to the Swaziland border where we will sleep today.

After valuing it a lot and understanding that after having seen hippos a few meters away, making a route along the paths walking from the estuary and seeing them from afar is not perhaps the best option, we decided to give Isimalgaliso Park a second chance, which is only 4 kilometers from here, to try to see rhinos, one of the most beautiful animals in the world, that yesterday we were not lucky enough to see.

St. Lucia

With this in mind, we travel the few kilometers that separate us from the park, we return to pay the R191 for when it is 10 in the morning to start a tour that will take us along the same roads that we traveled yesterday throughout the day.

Do not forget to read the post "Places to see in Isimangaliso" where we explain our experience yesterday in the park.

We do not carry more than 5 kilometers when we see a secondary road that we did not pass yesterday and we decided to travel, hoping to find the long-awaited rhinos or elephants that we know inhabit these lands.
After approximately 3 kilometers we begin to see that several cars come from the front, this path being one way only, warning us that it is necessary to turn around quickly since an elephant herd is coming right in our direction. Given this and with the first situation dangerous, we have no choice but to turn around and undertake the return to the main road, for which we decided to follow the route, hoping to see some of the animals for which we have returned to Isimangaliso.

Isimangaliso

This situation teaches us that we have to be very attentive, safe, respecting the rules and especially when we see any dangerous situation, to turn around and notify the rest of the cars.

We have to confess that we are left wanting to see these elephants, but that feeling lasts only a few seconds and is that a few meters after joining the road, we find two rhinos right next to the car, which make us return to Believe in luck and in the incredibly lucky and privileged we are.

Rhinos in Isimangaliso

Rhinos in Isimangaliso

After a good time photographing and enjoying these incredible animals, we continue the route through the park and returning to some secondary roads, by 12:30 noon, return to Santa Lucia, where we approach to eat Braza, another of the most recommended restaurants in the town, where we ordered a steak plus a plate of fish, beer, water and express for R600.

Eating in Braza

Super recommended!

After eating and charging energy, it is time to continue with the route today making the journey to the border with Swaziland, where we will stay tonight, we took advantage before to fill the tank by R560 and go to the supermarket to reload the trunk , to have breakfast these next days in which we will start with the safaris themselves.

St. Lucia

The border with Swaziland 160 kilometers from St. Lucia and a couple of hours away, will be the final destination of the day, which we travel through the N2, a road in very good condition and with incredible landscapes in which later From several kilometers we begin to see the mountains that separate South Africa from Swaziland and will be our accommodation tonight.

We arrive at the Tamboti Ridge Bed and Breakfast when it is 4:15 p.m. and as soon as we arrive and even before getting out of the car, the owner receives us to tell us that they have had a problem with our room, but that we do not worry since they have made us an upgrade to the Shayamoya Tiger Fishing and Game Lodge, a hotel that is only 2 kilometers away and is much better.
With this surprise we return to the road with the Swaziland border and in a few minutes we arrive at the new accommodation, which we have to say, leaves us with our mouths open and only when we see the place where it is located and totally surprised when they accompany us to the cabin assigned to us and we discovered that it has stunning views.

Shayamoya Tiger Fishing and Game Lodge

And so, after enjoying an outdoor shower, working for a while on the terrace with views of heart attack and enjoying a while reading, we go to the hotel restaurant for dinner where we order a plate of pasta, a vegetarian lasagna , wine and water for R350 with which we finished an incredible day that has reminded us of how incredibly lucky we are.

We leave you a map of today's route in South Africa for the places to see in Saint Lucia, the excursion to see hippos and the journey to the Swaziland border.

Day 13: South Africa Border - Hlane Park, one of the places to see in Swaziland

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Video: Hippo Excursion in St. Lucia (March 2024).