Taking a boat cruise on the largest estuarine systems in Africa is an amazing way to discover and observe hippo's, Nile crocodiles and hundreds of bird species. This World Heritage Site is home to more than 800 hippo's and 100 crocodiles : if crocodiles are often difficult to spot, there is no chance you won't see hippos (St Lucia has the largest population of Hippos in South Africa !). The tour's duration is 2 hours and an experienced and knowledgeable rangers will be your guide and teach you some incredible facts about the ara. Don't forget to bring your binocular, a must-have for this tour !

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You can take two kinds of boat for this cruise : a seater vessel with 15 other tourists, or a bigger boat with 50 other tourists. We choose to go with the smaller boat, which was more expensive (240 ZAR per person). After experiencing this boat safari, we realised there is no much difference between these two tours, except the price. We didn't find information on intenet about this bigger boat or a way to book this tour. We learned there were two options only when we went to World Heritage Tour in St Lucia, where we booked our boat safari. Beause we travelled in South Africa in July, and it's the low season for tourism, we didn't have any problem to book a tour on the spot for the day after. Nevertheless, if you are travelling during winter (summer in South Africa, high season), maybe you should book in advance.

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We had a 2 hour spectacular Boat Safari experience. In our opinion, this activity is a must-do in Kwazulu Natal. It combines the natural beauty of the estuary, the observation of its wildlife and the opportunity to see a side of South Africa you'll never see from a car. We had the chance to see dozens of groups of hippos, one Nile crocodile, two Nile monitors (big lizards), and many birds, including the famous African Fish Eagles.