Parkers Cottages is located in St. Lucia Estuary, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
Luxury bed and breakfast accommodation in St Lucia
Parkers Cottages Accommodation
Start your day off with a scrumptious breakfast, served in our spacious and relaxed dining room in the main house. Breakfast includes fruit juices, a selection of fine tea and coffee, fresh fruit salad, a choice of cereals, yoghurts, muffins, toast, fruit preserves and a different cooked breakfast each day.
After this, you may be keen to set off and explore this stunning area, although feel free to also swim and relax in our tranquil setting.
The beach is just a few minutes’ drive away, as is the entrance to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa’s first UNESCO World Heritage site, where you will be able to see a variety of wildlife, including black and white rhinos, leopard, hippos, buffalo, zebra and many different species of antelope. and many plains game.
The main street of St Lucia is a short walk from Parkers Cottages bed and breakfast and here you will find a selection of shops and restaurants, a couple of petrol stations, fishing tackle shops, a variety of curio shops and craft sellers, a popular and permanent fruit and craft market, banks and ATMs, a post office and a library, as well as the offices of the many tour operators located in St Lucia.
Parkers Cottages are here to help you, so please remember to ask Amoré or Nomsa if you need anything at all. We are able to recommend and book day safaris, boat cruises, fishing excursions, whale and turtle tours and other trips for you to experience, if you would like, meaning you and your family and friends can just relax and enjoy your stay at Parkers Cottages and St Lucia.
Activites and Excursions
St Lucia Estuary offers visitors an ideal beach-and-bush holiday, combining subtropical coastline and classic African game parks and promises some of the most diverse wildlife and outdoor experiences imaginable.
This area of the north coast of KZN is known as the Elephant Coast, and offers a huge selection of activities. Full details can be found on our “Explore” page.
These activities and excursions include:
- Game Drives in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve as well as Day and Night Drives in Isimangaliso Wetland Park.
- Boat Cruises on St Lucia Estuary to see the vast numbers of Hippos and Crocodiles residing here.
- Guided Birding Tours
- Horse Riding Trips on the beach or in the bush.
- Surf, fly, rock and deep sea bottom and game fishing trip.
- As well as some seasonal excursions such as Whale Watching and Turtle Tours
- Cultural Zulu Village Tours.
The area supports the country’s largest populations of hippo and crocodile. Seeing a hippo wandering through St Lucia at night is not unusual.
St. Lucia is the perfect place to stay whilst exploring this beautiful area. The bustling main street has two well-stocked supermarkets, banks and ATMs, internet cafes, a selection of restaurants, a post office, a number of bait and fishing tackle shops plus curio and craft stalls selling locally made beadwork, woodcarvings and basketry.
Just 30kms north of St. Lucia lies Cape Vidal – a beautiful stretch of beach along St. Lucia’s 25,000 year old fossil shoreline, nestled amongst towering dunes and dense evergreen coastal forests. You can swim, snorkel, fish and sail in the clear, warm waters of the Indian Ocean and explore the ancient coral reefs that line the coast. If you’re a fisherman, the area is renowned for its record catches of marlin, tunny and barracuda.
Horseback safaris are available within iSimangaliso Wetland Park for confident riders – most wild animals feel less threatened by the presence of a horse and are more likely to let you get really close.
St Lucia Wetland Park displays an incredible diversity of cultural and ecological treasures. The park is home to hundreds of species of animals, birds and plant life.
The iSimangaliso Wetland Park
The iSimangaliso Wetland Park, is one of those rare and beautiful areas which everyone should visit at least once in their lives. In 1999 it was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status, marking it as a place of ‘outstanding value to humanity’.
The Park is situated on the north eastern coast of KwaZulu-Natal and covers 328,000 ha with an impressive 280 kms of pristine coastline. This Natural World Heritage Site is a unique mosaic of culture, wildlife, plant life and scenery. Comprising lakes, islands and the St. Lucia estuary, the area incorporates no less than five separate eco-systems and is unique in its diversity, supporting critical habitats for a range of species from Africa’s marine, wetland and savannah environments. For the eco-enthusiast, there are an astonishing variety of habitats ranging from the Lebombo Mountains to grasslands, woodlands, mangroves, dunes and coastal forests, all of which exist alongside the magnificent beaches and coral reefs of the warm Indian ocean.
Nelson Mandela said of the area: “The St. Lucia Wetland Park must be the only place on the globe where the world’s oldest land mammal (the rhinoceros) and the world’s biggest terrestrial mammal (the elephant) share an ecosystem with the world’s oldest fish (the coelacanth) and the world’s largest mammal (the whale)”.
But don’t take his word for it – come and see for yourself!
