Gugulesizwe Dive Camp and Research Camp
Dive and research camps · Coastal Forest section · Maputaland Travel (as of 2018)
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Gugulesizwe Dive Camp and Research Camp yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Budget
Inside the park
Safari company
Two camps in the Coastal Forest section, a dive camp and a research camp, that moved into Maputaland Travel's portfolio in 2018 together with Rocktail. Nothing more current was found: no capacity, no rate and no confirmation that either takes guests. The Coastal Forest is reached on sand tracks for which iSimangaliso says a high-clearance or 4x4 vehicle is required. Treat this as a lead to check, not a place to book. Rocktail, its former stablemate, has the same uncertainty over who runs it today.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Inside the Coastal Forest section
- Dive-focused
Cons
- Status not confirmed
- No rate or capacity published
- Sand-track access
What's here
Arranged from the lodge:
- Boat trips
We could not reach a website for Gugulesizwe Dive Camp and Research Camp, 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 Gugulesizwe Dive Camp and Research Camp
Rates on request. No rate found. The Coastal Forest gate fee is R34 per South African adult and R71 per international adult on the 2024/25 table, plus levies. Ask whether VAT is included.
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 Gugulesizwe Dive Camp and Research Camp
Are the Gugulesizwe camps open?
Not confirmed. The last record is that Maputaland Travel took them on in 2018.
What do they cost?
No rate was found.
Are they good for families?
We found no published child policy.