St Lucia Estuary
| St Lucia | |
|---|---|
 St Lucia
St Lucia
St Lucia
St Lucia shown within KwaZulu-Natal
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| Coordinates: 28°22′59″S 32°25′01″E / 28.383°S 32.417°ECoordinates: 28°22′59″S 32°25′01″E / 28.383°S 32.417°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | KwaZulu-Natal |
| District | Umkhanyakude |
| Municipality | Mtubatuba |
| Area | |
| • Total | 2.68 km2 (1.03 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 1,104 |
| • Density | 410/km2 (1,100/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 41.0% |
| • Coloured | 3.8% |
| • Indian/Asian | 2.1% |
| • White | 52.3% |
| • Other | 0.8% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Afrikaans | 38.2% |
| • English | 30.9% |
| • Zulu | 26.4% |
| • Other | 4.5% |
| PO box | 3936 |
| Area code | 035 |
St Lucia is a settlement in Umkhanyakude District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The small town is mainly a hub for the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park.
Evidence of early man living in the caves up high in the Lebombo mountains dating back 130 000 years ago provided scientist with clues regarding the lifestyle of this prehistoric settlers. From this cave alone almost 69 000 stone implements and various human remains have been recovered. Some of these tools date back to the middle and early stone ages (130 000 to 30 000 years ago).
St. Lucia was first named in 1554 as Rio dos Medos do Ouro (alternatively Rio dos Médãos do Ouro — River of the Gold Dunes) by the survivors of the Portuguese ship São Bento. At this stage, only the Tugela River mouth was known as St. Lucia. Later, in 1575, the Tugela River was named Tugela. On 13 December 1575, the day of the feast of Saint Lucy, Manuel Peresterello renamed the mouth area to Santa Lucia.
The park is also home to about 1,200 Nile Crocodiles and almost 800 Hippopotami.
Other animals include leopards, Greater Kudu, Black Rhinos, rich avifauna and numerous invertebrates.
Under Köppen-Geiger climate classification system, it has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa).
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Wikipedia