Holiday home Monzi Country Cottage

Monzi Country Cottage is located about fifteen kilometres outside the tourist village St. Lucia. Situated in the province Kwazulu-Natal, St. Lucia is one of the main tourist attractions of South Africa. This nice holiday home is ideally situated to discover St. Lucia and this area. The cottage can be rented as a self-catering chalet or as a bed & breakfast.

St. Lucia is, together with the Krugerpark, the wine route, the garden route and Cape Town, one of the tourist attractions of South Africa. Apart from the beach this coastal town has the St. Lucia Lake and the adjacent Wetland Park. The Hluwehluwe-iMfolozi Park is located only forty-five minutes away.

The cottage

Monzi Country Cottage is located about fifteen kilometres outside the tourist village St. Lucia in a fenced-off area which includes, amongst others, a golf course. The rustic setting makes it ideal for people who want to explore this beautiful area but don’t want to be in the busy village itself. The hospitable owners will gladly give you all the information you need. The cottage has a kitchen, a living room and two bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. Although the cottage is quite close to the owners' main house,  it offers enough privacy with its own partially covered terrace at the back and a small garden with some grass. The air-conditioning in the living room is a bit old, but the rest of the house is in good condition and offers enough luxury. The cleaning service is excellent and you get real value for money!

St. Lucia

This cosy tourist village along the Indian Ocean is not very big, but has everything a tourist needs: nice restaurants, a supermarket, a petrol station, offices where you can book excursions, and an internet café. There are several nice beaches with enough parking spaces just behind the dunes, at only five minutes walking distance from the beach. There are also hiking trails and a diversity of excursion possibilities. The boat trip on the St. Lucia Lake where you can see hippos and crocodiles up close is definitely worth doing. The small crocodile farm, just outside the village, is worth a visit too. The excursions vary from boat trips at sea, where you can see whales in October, November and December, to cycling, horseback riding, fishing at sea and kayaking. From November till February the sea turtles come to the beaches just north of St. Lucia to lay their eggs and you can do nightly tours to see them.

The iSimangaliso Wetland Park

Just north of the village starts the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. This nature reserve encompasses the whole St. Lucia Lake and the coast parallel to the lake. Between the coast and the lake you drive through a varied landscape of dunes and forest. Only 120 cars at a time are allowed in this part of the park so it is never crowded. Big areas are not open to public and are just conservation areas for the animals that live here. The beautiful nature and the good chance of seeing animals make this park a must-see. The furthest point where you can go is Cape Vidal, very popularwith the South Africans as a camping place. Cape Vidal has a nice beach and at low tide rock pools form where the children can play.

Hluwehluwe-iMfolozi

East of St. Lucia, at about a forty-five minutes drive away, lies the Hluwehluwe-iMfolozi Park. This hilly park is not very big, but with its large rhino population it is one of the best parks to see these animals. In the southern part (iMfolozi) are not many roads. There is one paved road up until Mpila Camp and after that there are only unpaved roads. This part of the park focuses more on the South Africans, who bring big cooler boxes and picnic baskets with their own supplies, because there is only one small shop where you can get some coffee or snacks. In the northern part (Hluwehluwe) are more roads and Hilltop Camp has a nice restaurant/bar where you can eat and drink. The park has the big five, but especially in summer you have to be lucky to spot the animals because of the lush green vegetation.

Climate

This part of South-Africa has wet, hot summers and dry winters with nice temperatures. The average temperature in summer is 21 to 29 degrees Celsius and in winter the temperature lies between 12 and 23 degrees. The temperature of the seawater varies from 19 degrees in winter to 26 degrees in summer. Warm enough to swim throughout the whole year but watch out for the strong surf and currents. The best time to see animals is at the end of the dry winter, in September, before everything turns green again. In summer the scenery is lush and green, which makes it harder to spot animals.

Sources: www.todio.nl