South Africa has renamed the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, which became the country's first World Heritage Site, followed by Robben Island and the Crade of Humankind in 1999, to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said that the park also included more than a third of the KwaZulu-Natal coastline and it, therefore, was far larger than the 98 ha town of St Lucia.

"Many people began to feel the Wetland Park had outgrown its original name," the department said.

The name Lake St Lucia, named by the Portuguese in about 1459, as well as other branded and indigenous names like uMkhuze, Maphelane, Lake Sibiya,Sodwana Bay, Cape Vidal and Kosi Bay would remain.

The word iSimangaliso has a rich historical context. uJeqe was King uShaka's insila or aide, the keeper of the king's secrets and customarily buried with him. When uShaka died in 1828, uJeqe fled to avoid this fate.

He wandered east into Thongaland, which includes today Wetland Park, and later returned, saying: "I saw wonders and miracles in the flat land and the lakes of Thonga".

uJeqe could be regarded as one of the first tourists to visit what is now the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and to appreciate its miracles and spiritual values.