Day 8-9 - St Lucia and Hippos

After Swaziland, we drove to the East Coast of South Africa to a place called St. Lucia where there’s a protected wetland area. We did a crocodile/hippo boat tour on one of the freshwater wetland areas. And we learned a few fun facts about hippos. They can hold their breath for up to 5 minutes, are quite fast on land (they can run up to 40km/hr) and in the water (25km/hr), and are nocturnal grass feeders. In fact, since St. Lucia is part of the protected wetlands area, the hippos actually come out of the water and roam the city at night. And since they eat grass, they actually keep the grass cut to a comfortable level (not a bad way to mow the lawn!).

On the boat (Hippos in the background)

Pic 1 of hippos chilling

Big group of hippos

Close(r) shot of hippos

Before the sun set, we walked along an estuary boardwalk to the water and dipped our toes into the Indian Ocean (for the first time!) and enjoyed the quiet, small-town feel for the evening before heading back out in the morning.

Lots of interesting warnings...

A very large Crocodile warning sign!

Beach!

Very interesting sign...