The greater St. Lucia Wetland Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site, stretches 280 glorious kms, with the Indian Ocean on one side and a series of lakes on the other – protects five distinct ecosystems offering everything from offshore reefs and beaches, to lakes, wetlands, woodlands and coastal forests. Lake St. Lucia is Africa’s largest estuary – a mecca to watch hippos and crocs who share a common habitat peacefully. And sometimes the hippos are known to amble down the town’s quieter streets!
The Rain Gods didn't change their mood the next day as well so we ditched our plans to go kayaking in the Estuary waters and boarded a boat cruise instead to engage in a tête-à-tête with these seemingly deceptive 'friendly' animal specie - Hippos! Can you guess who is the closest living relative of Hippos? Looking at their physical resemblance, I guessed PIGS but to my surprise, the guide in the boat cruise informed us that their closest living relatives are WHALES!
As our boat cruise waded its way through the beautiful estuary waters, we admired the exotic bird species in the mangrove forests bordering the river on both sides. But our calm cruise was interrupted by some excitement under water...With a great whoosh and a snort, a seemingly quiet African river suddenly erupts from under the water just 50 mtrs from our boat. One by one, the whole family of 15 hippos emerge snorting and casting evil eyes at their audience. Every group of hippos is led by one large male who dominates the group and intimidates rivals by opening its enormous mouth, revealing its long canines. Hippos are still threatened by poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth but find a safe haven in this beautiful mangrove swamps of St. Lucia Park, a UNESCO protected site. But the interesting fact about their ivory teeth is that it is more precious than the mighty elephant's tusk and one single bite of a hippo can break the human body easily into two pieces! Even though they look so clumsy and bulky, hippos can run faster than an Olympic sprinter! Hippos are excellent swimmers and can hold their breath for about 5 minutes. They can even walk along the bottoms of rivers and lakes!
Later in the afternoon, we biked around the beautiful Estuary and visited the beach to witness some avid anglers get lucky with a great catch of the day!
After this 'hippy' day, we retired to the courtyard of our backpackers hostel to grill some African meat and prepare a 'Brai' (slang for BBQ). Concluded the evening with lots of 'Springbok' shooters and crazy drinking games with some cool revelers from Cape Town!
