Whacky Warren and Frankie2socks get together and discuss St. Lucia Estuary village stuff

Greetings again from Frankie2socks.

I have just moved house and now reside at the BUNDU BASHHER INN , Khula Village, R 618, Mtubatuba, KZN, South Africa 

We have a great office space (Lapa) and a big open (fenced) space at the Southeast corner of Khula Village. The R 618 highway from Ulundi to St. Lucia Estuary village runs along our one fence. The eastern most entrance to Khula Village runs along our eastern fence. We are in Western Shores, with the FukuDuku South zone being across the R 618 highway.  The Bundu Basher Inn is a great place to stay over for a day or two when visiting the iSimangaliso wetland park. 

Our swimming pools is well maintained by #WhackWarren, and has a great LAPA with a bar space and ablution facilities as well as tables and chairs for a small crowd of less than 20  folks.  

Myself (Frankie2socks) and WhackyWarren  will be posting our stories here, then having discussions here, on FB and in the #TwiiterSphere (X) .

Looking forward to your comments and shares.

#Frankie2Socks 

visit St. Lucia in North East KZN South Africa

Come visit St. Lucia and discover the many Jews and great tourism attractions in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. Phone Petrus Viviers or the office staff at #4u2Stay on 0813427371

The 4u2stay team will help your holiday to find you. Tell them what you want to do when visiting St. Lucia. If you are not sure, just ask and the team will jump into a room and prepare an itinery for you. We understand that you have a budget, and want to do as many things S is possible in the short time that you are on leave or on holiday. If you have your own transport and want to do the #SelfDrive thing, that is fine by us, and we will find you the cheapest routes and self drive tracks within the nearby game reserves and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in North East Zululand, South Africa.

If you wanna go deal sea fishing you can book yourself and pay in advance here  these guys are one of the busier fishing charters in St. Lucia. While you are Staying in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and surrounding areas think about booking your holiday accomodations with the 4u2Stay team by phoning 0813427371 if out side South Africa change the front zero for +27 meaning you will the dial + (plus)  two Seven eight one three four two Seven three seven one or +27813427371  

December is here and now the fun starts

Greetings again from Frankie2Socks

It is Wednesday 29 November 2023 and the mouth to both the St. Lucia estuary and the Umfolozi River estuary, which were closed to the Indian Ocean due to a marine incident, when a ship called Jolly Rubino ran,  aground in 2002, just South of Mapelane, but about 1 kilometer North of the Cape St. Lucia light house, are currently still open to the sea. Let me say that again, "The mouths of the Umfolozi River and the lake St. Lucia estuary basin are both currently(November 2023) open to the ocean" 

So what does this mean ? 

Strange but very thought provoking question here. What are the ecological and environmental issues at stake due to the open / closed nature of the St Lucia estuary and the Umfolozi River? 

This is a rather large and open topic, and I will only cover a very few of the issues here. I have a FB page at facebook.com/4u2fish which expands and discussed some of these issues. One must remember that there is a rather large economic interest in the functioning of the lake, as in the past the local folks at Kuka village, Monzi, Mtubatuba, Nkunduse, Nyalzi and close by areas all had access to fishing rights and we're able to trade in fish, prawns, crabs and other marine delicasies.

These were all St threat due to the rather serious and nasty consiquenes of the chemicals on board the Jolly Rubino.  Firunately the South African Government took this threat if pollution seriously, and these were salvaged with great difficulty and theoss of life as well as one helicopter.

At that point in time when the Jolly Rubino sank in 2002, the mouths to both the Umfolozi estuary and the St. Lucia estuary were busy closing naturally due to an ongoing and persistent long term drought. This natural action of mouth clouse of estuaries is not properly understood, and very often abused and used for personal,  financial or party political gain. This politicization of these natural and environmental issues is nasty and very economically damaging to the St. Lucia region and surrounding areas of Umkhanyakude District municipality. 

The natural resources harvested (fish, prawns, crabs and other tasty treats) and sold by the locals forms a very big portion of the local economy of the Mtubatuba municipality, and St. Lucia tourism industry also contributes to this as well as the local forestery industry and commercial sectors. 

These natural resources have vanished from our estuaries due to the very bad and rather nasty past management strategies by the IWPA. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority are the government appointed management team of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World heritage site. 

The IWPA is mandated to hold public participation process meetings for their ESTUARY MANAGEMENT PLANS  in a few different zones. The ICMA or Integrated Coastal Management Act dictates many different issues relating to estuaries and estuary management.

St. Lucia Estuary in North East KZN South Africa is an interesting destination.

 St. Lucia KZN South Africa is an interesting place with lots to do and plenty to see.  Check out these options 

The early morning beach walks that I take with Petrus Viviers and his dog , a bitch called Parrdette  always surprises me with Beautiful sunrises and strange stuff washed up during the night. 

The blue cheeked bee eaters are getting ready to leave for warmer areas, and the yellow billed kites have already left for the winter. 

The St. Lucia estuary mouth area is a rather hot birding spot and the African Skimmers  seem to have left ..  a few weeks back we also had a crab plover,...

During recent weeks there has also been a #PalmNutVulture hanging around that has zupprised a few folks with rather pleasant poses on the northern bank of the open mouth. 

At spring tide low water there are also many gulls, turns and plovers on the Southern banks of the estuary with Mapelane in the back ground. 

 Fanas tours  which runs the Fannas boat offering special boat trips to view bippos crocks and birding  offers interesting options to enjoy the wild life along the St. Lucia estuary banks 

 

Come visit and book your yours here   

Also look at these options 

   

Fanas early morning birding trip #12March2023

Greetings to all who read here.

Earlier today, Sunday 12 March 2023 I was fortunate enough to experience a truly awesome boat trip on the St Lucia estuary with friends and visitors to the area.

 The captain of the boat, Shaun, who is a long time friend of mine acted as the your guide on this truly awesome birding excursion.

We departed from #SunSetJety St six bells sharp, and traveled South to the St. Lucia Estuary Mouth, then further South past Mapelane, along the Umzunduze river which is a tributary of the Umfilozi river. 

The Reeds along the river which are an ecological problem had a supprizing number of birds, and we all took many pics. Some more than others. I am not really a super keen birder, so I spent most of the time chatting to the other folks on board FANAS as we slowly powered along the estuary, past the mouth area, up steam leaving Mapelane Sand dune far behind us.

Mapelane is a rather talk vegitayed sand dune which is a local historical land mark that gets its name from Zulu History. Loosely translated from Zulu to English Mapelane means "Journeys end" or the end destination of a travel quest.

Mapelane is also marketed as the second tallest vegitated sand dune in Africa. 

My Friend Petrus Viviers did a live YouTube  video of this very beautiful and informative birding excursion. 

We saw many different birds including the #AfricanSkimmers and giant heron . Really awesome trip thanx to  trip. https://www.facebook.com/FannasHippoCrocTours/