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Cape Vidal - Mission Rocks - Eastern Shores Trip

The eastern Shores of lake St. Lucia forms a vital link in the ecological picture the area and comprises of at least 5 distinctive eco systems as listed below:

1. The Indian Ocean and the inshore tidal zone.
2. The dune forests on the primary and secondary sand dunes
3. The savanna type grass lands between the lake and the sand dune cordon
4. The many small pockets of swamp forest and wetlands with many seasonal pans.
5. Lake St. Lucia itself, which is a dynamic system that changes with every tide as long as the Mouth which is at St. Lucia stays open.

There is a wide variety of animals in this section of the park which you may be fortunate enough to see and we expect to see:
White Rhino, buffaloes, hippo, crocodiles, Kudu, Bush Buck, monkeys, baboons, a variety of small antelope, a variety of birds including Burchels Cuckoo and some eagles.

This section of the park used to be under commercial plantations of pine trees, which have mostly been removed with the lands being rehabilitated. There are still a few spots where these pines are growing in difficult to harvest locations. We will be driving through some of these areas, where you may still see some old stumps from the pine forests.

The morning only trip is a bit rushed and you may not get a chance to snorkel at mission rocks or Cape Vidal itself. Because of the limited time of the morning only trip we may perhaps not be able to time the tide correctly at Mission Rocks which is always best at low tides.

This unique trip into the Eastern shores of Lake St. Lucia starts about half an hour before the gate at the Crocodile Center opens, and lasts until about half an hour after the gate is closed, because we will maximize your time in the park and besides there are some real wonderful photo opportunities of the lake and the surrounding hills near sunset, which should be around the time the gate to the park closes.

We can not plan a specific order of things for this tour as we will be dependant on the tides for our times to Mission rocks or Vidal bay, depending on weather conditions if you wish to snorkel in one of the bays.

We will have break fast some where between 08 H 00 and 11 H 00, depending on what animals have been seen and how long we take at the various look out points, or swimming in the Ocean, or perhaps trying your luck at fishing. A fishing guide is an optional extra, if your whole group wants to go fishing.

The morning only trip will leave the park at about 12 H 00 and you should be back in St. Lucia at about 12 H 30 to 13 H 00, This is about Lunch time for the full day trip.

The full day trip will obliviously be a bit more relaxed and not pressed for time at any of the locations visited, and we will get to see quite a bit more of the park, including places like Catalina bay, Bartels folly, Jocks Mess, Mount Tabor, lake Bhangazi and others.

A boat trip from Catalina bay to explore the shores of lake St. Lucia may be arranged as an optional extra for the full day trip at a cost of R 200.00 per person

FULL DAY TRIP R 500.00 HALF DAY 375

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