ISIMANGALISO
WETLAND PARK
In December 1999 UNESCO, the World Heritage Committee of the Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage chose the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (GREATER ST LUCIA WETLAND PARK) as the first South African UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This status confirms that St Lucia is a place of unique splendour that deserves to rank alongside great icons of the globe.
The Park covers a mosaic of landforms that have created a vast array of biomes to support a very wide variety of animals, plants and birds.
Covering over 600,000 acres, from St Lucia in the South to the Mozambiquan border in the North, the diversity of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park is spectacular.
The Park features:
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Biodiversity of 5 ecosystems
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Superlative natural phenomena
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Scenic beauty
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Flora and Fauna
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Ecological processes
Other outstanding features:
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The largest black rhino population in the world
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220km of pristine coastline and beaches
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25,000-year-old coastal dunes which are the tallest forested dunes in Africa
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The only major swamp forest left in the Southern Hemisphere
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3 major lake systems (Lake St Lucia; Kosi Bay; Lake Sibaya)
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4 RAMSAR wetlands
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A 45,000-year-old peat wetland
These are just some of the features of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park which make this World Heritage Site so unique...


