St. Lucia Wetland Park: 7 October

We took a boat trip on the estuary in the St. Lucia Wetland Park, 2 hours north of Durban. Absolutely brilliant - our first sightings of classic African wildlife, including hippos & crocodiles (Nile Crocodiles, at left.) The park is world heritage listed, as it has the world's 2nd largest vegetated sand dunes, the largest being Australia's own Fraser Island! And many wetland birds too: kingfishers, herons, egrets & the awesome fish eagle.

Our tour guide for the weekend was called Brent - he was great! Highly recommend Tekweni Ecotours for trips around KwaZulu-Natal. We spent a 3 day tour with them from Durban, into the St. Lucia park and thence into Hluhluwe-Umfolozi for real safaris!

This is a photo taken literally 2-3m from the crocs on the shore as the boat pulled up by them. 3 of about a dozen lazing in the sun. Like walking with dinosaurs. Lazy dinosaurs!