iSimangaliso Wetland Park: Cape Vidal reopened!

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority announced the re-opening of the Cape Vidal facility on the Eastern Shores section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park near St Lucia on 31 October 2023. Cape Vidal, as well as other sections of the National Park, was temporarly closed to the public due to the destruction caused by the recent heavy terrestrial rainfall which affected most of KwaZulu-Natal especially in the uMkhanyakude District in the North Coast.
The damages to infrastructure such as Eskom power lines and houses at various points forced the management of iSimangaliso Wetland Park to temporally close access to certain sections of the Park in the interest of public safety. The electricity has since been restored, logs and debris removed, other restorative maintenance work is ongoing to normalize the situation in the facility.
Pre-emptive monitoring of the ecological impact as a result of the recent heavy rains is ongoing which includes impact to the St Lucia Lake ecosystem and the estuary mouth which will remain open.