Elephant Lake Hotel
Hotel on the estuary · St Lucia town, 3 Mullet Street, on the estuary (no gate fee) · Elephant Lake Hotel (with Hippo Lodge and St Lucia Lodge)
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Budget
Inside the park
Owner/family-run
A 56-room hotel at 3 Mullet Street on the St Lucia estuary, owned with Hippo Lodge and St Lucia Lodge in the same small group. It has a pool, the Hippo Steakhouse, a bar with a deck over the estuary, wifi and parking, and the desk books cruises, fishing and Eastern Shores drives. Siyabona lists it at R900 a person sharing with breakfast to 31 October 2026. It is one of the few places in town with a full restaurant and bar on site. Choose it if you want a hotel rather than a guesthouse; skip it if you want a quiet small place.
Pros and cons
Pros
- From R900 a person with breakfast
- Restaurant and bar on site
- Deck over the estuary
- Activity desk books cruises and drives
Cons
- Reseller rate valid only to 31 October 2026
- 56 rooms, so less personal than a guesthouse
- Hippos on the estuary edge at night
What's here
- Swimming pool
- Wi-Fi
- Restaurant
- Bar
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Fishing
Read from Elephant Lake Hotel's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
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 Elephant Lake Hotel
From $55 pppn (reseller rate). Siyabona, read 24 September 2026: R900 per person sharing, bed and breakfast, valid 8 August to 31 October 2026. No gate fee to reach St Lucia town; gate fees apply in the gated sections. VAT treatment is not stated.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
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 Elephant Lake Hotel
What does Elephant Lake Hotel cost?
Siyabona lists R900 a person sharing, bed and breakfast, from 8 August to 31 October 2026.
Does Elephant Lake Hotel have a restaurant?
Yes, the Hippo Steakhouse, and a bar with a deck over the estuary, according to the hotel's own site.
Is Elephant Lake Hotel good for families?
We found no published child policy. Ask about family rooms when you book.