St Lucia town

St Lucia was one of the most delightful little towns of the trip. It has a relaxed holiday atmosphere, with leafy streets, wandering wildlife, plenty of birdlife, and an easy coastal charm that immediately makes you slow down. There are lots of good restaurants and cafés, and after long days of game drives and birding it was wonderful to stroll around in the warm evening air, enjoy good food, and soak up the laid-back vibe. The town feels perfectly positioned between bush, estuary and ocean, giving it a unique character that is both wild and welcoming.

 

Local markets

Tourism is clearly a major part of life in St Lucia, and there were lots of small local markets and roadside stalls selling fruit, curios, crafts and souvenirs. It added to the lively holiday atmosphere of the town and gave visitors plenty of chances to browse local products and pick up reminders of the area’s wildlife and culture. The downside was that some stallholders could be quite persistent in trying to convince you to buy things, although it was all generally good-natured.

Jo buys a "monkey orange" sculpture

Jo bought two monkey orange sculptures carved from the fruit we had seen all over Mkuze Game Reserve. They felt like a perfect memento of the trip — simple, distinctive, and strongly connected to the reserve and the bushveld landscapes we had just experienced.

Hippos coming into the town at night!

One of the most remarkable things about St Lucia is that hippos regularly wander into town at night. Warning signs are everywhere, reminding people not to walk around after dark, and it is surreal seeing these huge animals casually moving along the main street and grazing on the grass in local parks. Apparently they have been following these routes for thousands of years, long before the town existed — the town was effectively built in the middle of ancient hippo territory. Seeing hippos walking through town was one of the most unique and memorable experiences of the whole trip.

A town obsessed with hippos

Unsurprisingly, St Lucia is completely obsessed with hippos. Their image is everywhere — in business names, logos, murals, sculptures, signs and souvenirs all over town. The hippo is clearly the unofficial mascot of St Lucia and gives the town a fun, distinctive character that constantly reminds you how closely connected it is to the surrounding wetlands and wildlife.

I loved these murals of other animals we saw in Zululand

St Lucia animals

Sunset boat trip on St Lucia estuary

Our boat trip on the estuary gave us wonderfully close views of hippos, crocodiles, monitor lizards and frogs. Up until then, most of our hippo sightings had been fairly distant, so it was a real delight to see them properly up close in their natural environment. Our guide shared all sorts of fascinating information about the animals, the estuary ecosystem and the behaviour of the hippos, which made the whole experience even more engaging.

iSimangaliso Wetland Park

During our drive through iSimangaliso Wetland Park, we saw zebra, kudu, monkeys, buffalo and duiker along the roadside and in the surrounding bush. The highlight though was spotting a lone hyena — our first sighting of the trip — which was very exciting. Another memorable moment was watching a determined dung beetle industriously pushing its ball of dung across the road, a small but classic African bush scene.

Morning boat trip in St Lucia estuary

We loved our estuary boat trip so much that we decided to do a second one on the final morning of our trip. It was a completely different atmosphere from the sunset cruise, with the estuary calm and quiet in the soft morning light. Seeing the hippos bathed in the golden early sunlight was absolutely beautiful and a wonderful way to end our time in St Lucia.