Estuary

We are thrilled to share some fantastic news with you! Our brand-new, solar-powered birding and nature boats, 'Jabulani' and 'Malahleka', have arrived at Makakatana Bay Lodge. They promise to deliver an extraordinary Lake St Lucia experience like no other, exclusively for Makakatana guests.

Trust us to find all these baby chameleons in the month of Love! Teeny, tiny, Flap-necked Chameleons (Chamaeleo dilepis), the size of a child's thumb are all over the Western Shores and around Makakatana at the moment.

We have had some fabulous sightings of them while out on our night drives. Chameleons are mostly found throughout Africa and Madagascar, but they are not limited to these locations. For someone who has never seen a baby chameleon before, it is easy to mistakenly assume that they are dwarf chameleons. The Setaro's dwarf chameleons (Bardypodion setaroi) are endemic to the area but are more prevalent on the Eastern Shores of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

Spring and summer months in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park bring on the rumbling warning signs of thunderstorms that begin to roll through the beautiful hills and plains of KwaZulu Natal. The excitement levels rise around Makakatana Bay Lodge as we know the rain is coming and with it the increase of new wildlife. The Burchell’s Coucal, commonly known as the Rainbird, is the first warn of the rain on its way, while the frogs gather and prepare for reuniting in orchestral celebration and the veld waits for its boost to explode with colour as the flowers and grasses thrive with newfound vigour.

For those who have a thing for stats….keep reading to get to our 10 year rainfall records!

There is a general misunderstanding on the difference between field guides and game rangers. Even though both lines of work overlap in duties and roles, they differ when it comes to core purpose in the industry of conservation and tourism. Makakatana Bay Lodge plays a role in the world of both of these lines of work, since we help provide equipment through donations given by the guests to support rangers in anti poaching units of the park. This empowers them to manage the park as well as protect the animals and surrounding nature inside of it more effectively, forwarding the success of the park as well as the local community that benefits directly or indirectly from the park.

June is the month for celebrating the youth and we at Makakatana Bay Lodge thought that we would give a shout out to Mia Poulter, a family friend of the Morrisons, who did a very interesting study on the salinity levels of Lake St lucia for a Matric assignment earlier this year.