South Africa. Wetlands, Waterfalls, and Whales: South Africa’s Lesser Known Parks
How many parks in South Africa can you name? While some of the country’s protected areas are famous such as Kruger National Park, others are virtually unknown at the international level despite their extraordinary scenery and wildlife. The country’s parks and wildlife sanctuaries are managed at the national level by South African National Parks (SANParks) or by individual provincial governments. In total, 112,807 km2 of land in South Africa is protected, an area equivalent to the size of Cuba. Having previously visited Kruger National Park, a colleague and I decided to explore three of the country’s lesser-known parks: Golden Gate Highlands National Park, Royal Natal National Park, and Isimangaliso Wetland Park. The three are located southeast of Johannesburg.
Golden Gate Highlands National Park (GGHNP) is in the Province of Free State, near the country’s international border with Lesotho. Named by a farmer who observed the setting sun over a sandstone bluff, the 340 km2 park is mostly covered by montane grassland. With many sunny days, the park’s climate is dry between June and August. In contrast, the park receives its rainfall maximum between October and April. Sandstone rock in the park was created by windblown deposition during the late Triassic Period (252 to 201 million years ago). The park’s elevations range from 1,800 meters on its northern plateau to 2,700 meters above sea level in the south. The park’s highest peak is Ribbokkop (2,829m). We stopped to photograph one of the park’s best-known features, Brandwag Buttress. Brandwag means “sentinel” in Afrikaans. Wildlife in GGHNP includes eland, zebra, and over one hundred species of birds. The has achieved some acclaim for having among the world’s oldest dinosaur embryos.
Protecting rugged hills and rock paintings created by Sand bushmen, the eighty-one km2 Royal Natal National Park is managed by the Province of Kwazulu-Natal. Notable features in the park include Drakensburg Amphitheater, a 1,200-meter-high rock wall that is five kilometers long. The amphitheater is three times larger than El Capitan in California’s Yosemite Valley, making it among the world’s most impressive cliff faces. Movie buffs may recognize it as the setting for the epic African war film, Zulu (1961) starring Michael Caine. Another well-known landform is Tugela Falls. At 547 meters, Tugela is the second highest waterfall in the world after Angel Falls (979 meters) in Venezuela. Tugela is actually a group of seasonal falls fed by the 531 kilometer-long Tugela River that originates in the Drakensburg Mountains. The name Tugela comes from the Zulu word “thukela” meaning “something that sparkles.” My companion and I wanted to see Tugela Falls so we parked our rental car at a trailhead and made our way down a side canyon. A few sections of the trail required ascending rock faces using ladders made from wood strips held together with bolts and chains. A short distance off the trail we passed a rock hyrax (aka dassie), a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to the Middle East and Africa. Hyraxes live in rock crevasses at elevations up to 4,200 meters. With a pointed head, round ears, and a squatty build, adults weigh up to four kilograms. Blocked by higher elevations, we were only able to see the top portion of the falls. Regrettably, our limited time in the park prevented a closer look.
St. Lucia is an estuarine lake system in the northern part of Kwazulu-Natal Province. It is considered either a lake or an estuary depending on whether its mouth is open to the Indian Ocean. The largest estuarine lake in South Africa, St. Lucia covers three hundred km2 and is eighty kilometers long. It is part of the 3,280 km2 Isimangaliso Wetland Park and managed at the provincial level. The estuary features more than 2,100 types of flowering plants. Papyrus and reed wetlands are found in the northern part of the estuary while drier savanna and thornveld dominates western areas. Among hundreds of bird species are flamingos that may number in the tens of thousands when water levels are low. There are also larger animals including an estimated eight hundred hippos (the largest hippo population in South Africa) and more than 1,200 crocodiles.
People often underestimate the danger posed by hippos. Rather than swim, hippos walk or run on river and lake bottoms and have been known to charge boats at speeds of more than twenty kilometers an hour. Weighing up to five metric tons, they are nocturnal and spend most of their time in the water. In the town of St. Lucia, hippos sometimes wander the streets during evening hours, presenting challenges to both vehicles and pedestrians. Nile crocodiles found at St. Lucia are also extremely dangerous. Crocodiles can be distinguished from alligators by their grey-green color and tapered snout. In contrast to alligators that live in fresh water, crocodiles prefer brackish or salt water. Reaching a length up to six meters, St. Lucia crocodiles can weigh seven hundred kilograms and have jaw muscles eight times stronger than a Great White shark.
The highlight of our visit to Isimangaliso Wetland Park was a boat trip to see Humpback whales. Equipped with dual three hundred horsepower outboard motors, our sightseeing boat had a bench seat in the center of its main deck. There was also a smaller observation deck accessible using a narrow ladder. We departed from Ingwe Beach with help from a tractor equipped with a long pole. The pole was used to push our boat onto the surf. As mammals, humpback whales must come to the surface to breathe. However, at times they may also surface to dislodge parasites with a bellyflop maneuver known as a breach. Living up to fifty years, humpbacks migrate thousands of kilometers from high latitude areas such as coastal Antarctica to the shorelines of Mozambique and Madagascar. Growing up to eighteen meters long and weighing in excess of forty metric tons, male humpbacks make noises to attract females that can be heard for more than thirty kilometers. Humpbacks are baleen whales that filter water for food, consuming up to 1,360 kilograms of fish each day. We were lucky to see several humpbacks on our three-hour boat trip. As we prepared for our return, we were told to brace ourselves as a crew member drove the boat at full speed onto the beach.
