Protected areas of Australia include Commonwealth and off-shore protected areas managed by the Australian government, as well as protected areas within each of the six states of Australia and two self-governing territories, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, which are managed by the eight state and territory governments.
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, with a long shoreline on the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho. Its capital is Pietermaritzburg, and its largest city is Durban. It is the second-most populous province in South Africa, with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng.
A transboundary protected area (TBPA) is an ecological protected area that spans boundaries of more than one country or sub-national entity. Such areas are also known as transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) or peace parks.
iSimangaliso Wetland Park is situated on the east coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, about 235 km (146 mi) north of Durban by road. It is South Africa's third-largest protected area, spanning 280 km (170 mi) of coastline, from the Mozambican border in the north to Mapelane south of the Lake St. Lucia estuary, and made up of around 3,280 km2 of natural ecosystems, managed by the iSimangaliso Authority. The park includes:
The Firth of Thames is a large bay located in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the firth of the rivers Waihou and Piako, the former of which was formerly named the Thames River, and the town of Thames lies on its southeastern coast.
The Umfolozi River is a river in KwaZulu-Natal, a province of South Africa. It is formed by the confluence of the Black and White Umfolozi Rivers near the southeastern boundary of the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve. The isiZulu name imFolozi is generally considered to describe the zigzag course followed by both tributaries, though other explanations have been given.
Elands Bay is a town in South Africa, situated in the Western Cape Province, on the Atlantic Ocean, at 32°18′S18°19′E. The town is located about 220 kilometres north from Cape Town. It is a world class surfing location and is also noted for its caves, which have a number of rock paintings.
Lake Sibhayi, also known as Lake Sibaya, a freshwater lake in South Africa, with a surface area of 64 km2 (25 sq mi). The lake is also known as Sibaya or Sibhaya.
Sodwana Bay is a bay in South Africa on the KwaZulu Natal north coast, between St. Lucia and Lake Sibhayi. It is in the Sodwana Bay National Park, and the Maputaland Marine Reserve, and is a popular recreational diving destination. The term is commonly used to refer to both the marine reserve and the terrestrial park, as well as the geographical bay.
Ponta do Ouro-Kosi Bay Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) is a larger conservation area conceived as an extension of the existing conservation parkland area of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, to extend north into a similar area on the Mozambique side of the border, and including several other parks in the process. The parks to be included are:
Sodwana Bay National Park, is a park situated on the north eastern coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; it is located within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage Site 20 minutes away from local town Mbazwana. This park is known for sport fishing, scuba diving and snorkelling.
The Southern Africa mangroves are mangrove ecoregion on the Mozambique's southernmost coast and the eastern coast of South Africa.
The Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site is one of the Australian sites listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance. It was designated on 15 December 1982, and is listed as Ramsar Site No.266. Much of the site is also part of either the Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area or the Werribee and Avalon Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of their importance for wetland and waterbirds as well as for orange-bellied parrots. It comprises some six disjunct, largely coastal, areas of land, totalling 229 km2, along the western shore of Port Phillip and on the Bellarine Peninsula, in the state of Victoria. Wetland types protected include shallow marine waters, estuaries, freshwater lakes, seasonal swamps, intertidal mudflats and seagrass beds.
The Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands is a collection of principally freshwater swamps and marshlands totalling 261 hectares in southeastern Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about 30 km (19 mi) southeast of Melbourne CBD. It is the largest natural wetland of its type in the Port Phillip and Western Port basins, and is all that remains of the historic Carrum Carrum Swamp, which once covered more than 4,000 hectares from present-day Mordialloc in the north to Frankston in the south.
The Nibela Peninsula is the northern peninsula, which together with Nhlozi Peninsula to the south, separate False Bay from the main portion of Lake St Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Though not included in iSimangaliso Wetland Park, some areas are conserved.
False Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Town, South Africa.
Potamonautes isimangaliso is a species of freshwater crustacean in the family Potamonautidae. It is endemic to iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa. Its natural habitat are the ephemeral wetlands fringing the western shores of False Bay. Molecular DNA analyses were required to distinguish it from the similar and rather variable P. lividus, which occurs further inland.
The marine protected areas of South Africa are in an area of coastline or ocean within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Republic of South Africa that is protected in terms of specific legislation for the benefit of the environment and the people who live in and use it. An MPA is a place where marine life can thrive under less pressure than unprotected areas. They are like underwater parks, and this healthy environment can benefit neighbouring areas.
The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the protected areas of South Africa:
The iSimangaliso Marine Protected Area is a coastal and offshore marine protected area in KwaZulu-Natal from the South Africa-Mozambique border in the north to Cape St Lucia lighthouse in the south.
