Blog - Page 2

One of ‪#‎iSimangaliso‬'s bull elephants on the ‪#‎WesternShores‬ section was fitted with a satellite collar today by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife's Game Capture Unit. This will enable us to track the group's movements and better inform management decisions, for the benefit and safety of the animals as well as Park visitors. Photos by EKZNW Game Capture Officer Jed Bird. ‪#‎MeetSouthAfrica‬ ‪#‎LoveSouthAfrica‬

St Lucia must be the only place in the world where the hippos regularly visit the village. Although they are extremely dangerous, people and hippo have lived side to side in St Lucia for many years.

THE EXTRAORDINARY SEA TURTLES
THAT HAVE RETURNED FROM THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION

In the 1980s a quadruplet of masked teenage turtles became the crime fighting comic superheroes of the decade. But the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were not the only turtles making their mark in the world. This is the story of their ocean going cousins that endure very real danger year after year to ensure the survival of their kind. On World Turtle Day 23 May, we celebrate these turtles and the humans that protect them; they are indeed real life superheroes – ed.

For 52 years scientists and conservation staff have walked, driven or ridden tens of thousands of kilometres on one of the most beautiful and unspoilt stretches of beach in the world in search of sea turtles. This area is now contained within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, which became South Africa’s first natural world heritage site recognised by UNESCO in 1999.

November in iSimangaliso Wetland Park heralds the beginning of one of the most special and awe-inspiring miracles of this world heritage site – the nesting of endangered turtles on the 220km golden shoreline. Annually, between the months of November and March, leatherback and loggerhead turtles haul their massive bodies out of the Indian Ocean and up to the base of the dunes, to lay their eggs.

Recent news of the proposed Ibutho Coal’s Fuleni opencast coal mine, sited a mere 40 to 70 metres from the southern boundary fence of the historic iMfolozi wilderness area, sent shock waves that were felt worldwide that this historic reserve could be lost to mining.