Eden Park campsite
Overflow campsite · St Lucia town (no gate fee) · iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority (Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife until 28 February 2026)
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Eden Park campsite yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Budget
Inside the park
Park-run (iSimangaliso Authority)
A small state campsite in St Lucia town with 20 powered sites, used as overflow for Sugarloaf and sharing its facilities, including the pool. It is priced like Sugarloaf on the last official tariff. Being in town, it puts you near the estuary cruises, shops and fuel without any gate fee, and within about 53 minutes of Cape Vidal by road. The camp is state-owned; Ezemvelo ran it until 28 February 2026 and the iSimangaliso Authority runs it now. Choose it when Sugarloaf is full; the same warning about hippos in town after dark applies.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Same price and facilities as Sugarloaf
- No gate fee
- Smaller, with 20 sites
- Powered sites
Cons
- An overflow site with no facilities of its own
- Tariff dates from 2023/24
- Hippos in town after dark
What's here
- Campsite
- Solar or 24h power
Arranged from the lodge:
- Boat trips
We could not reach a website for Eden Park campsite, so this list is incomplete by definition. Ask them directly.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. iSimangaliso Wetland Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entryGate fee and conservation levy plus the R12 accommodation levy, counted per day because no official document says whether multi-night guests pay the gate fee once.
- $9per person, per day
- VehicleR74 car fee, counted per day for the same reason.
- $5per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $69 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
Sleeping inside the boundary is what keeps that low. Overnight guests add the R12 accommodation levy per night, against $8 a day for anyone driving in from outside.
These are the 2024/25 rates, which expired on 30 November 2025; no newer table has been published. Sodwana, the Coastal Forest and Kosi Bay charge about half (R71 per international adult). Lodges in St Lucia town are outside every gate.
The full fee schedule for iSimangaliso Wetland ParkRates at Eden Park campsite
From R420 per site (2023/24 tariff). Priced as Sugarloaf on the Ezemvelo 2023/24 tariff: R420 per site for a minimum of three plus R140 per extra person, high season R510. No later official tariff. No gate fee to reach it. VAT treatment is not stated.
Self-catering. You cook. Nothing else is included unless the entry says so.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Rates checked against the research dossier of 24 September 2026. State-camp prices come from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife's 2023/24 tariff (1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024), the last official camp tariff that could be read; treat them as a floor, because iSimangaliso has published none since it took the camps over on 1 March 2026. Thonga Beach Lodge, Kosi Forest Lodge, Coral Divers, Mabibi Beach Camp and Umlilo Lodge are priced from their own sites. Every figure marked 'reseller rate' comes from SA-Venues, LekkeSlaap, Siyabona or a booking agent, uses that site's 'from' price, and usually prices a room for two; we halve it to give a per-person figure. Dollar figures use R16.36 to the dollar (24 September 2026) and are rounded. Gate fees are extra everywhere except in St Lucia town: R62 per South African adult and R130 per international adult at the dearest gates on the 2024/25 table, which expired on 30 November 2025 with no successor published.
Questions about Eden Park campsite
What is the difference between Eden Park and Sugarloaf?
Eden Park is Sugarloaf's 20-site overflow; it shares Sugarloaf's facilities and was priced the same on the 2023/24 tariff.
Do you pay a gate fee at Eden Park?
No. St Lucia town has no gate. Fees apply only when you drive into a gated section such as the Eastern Shores.
Is Eden Park good for families?
We found no published child policy. Keep children close after dark because hippos walk through town.