The dataset contains information on the status, sizes, and geographical range of canopy gaps in South Africa's largest mangrove forest stand at uMhlathuze, which accounts for 80% of the total mangrove coverage in the country, near Richards Bay. It also includes a smaller mangrove stand in Beachwood near Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province. The dataset was created using a combination of very high-resolution satellite images (e.g., "CNES/AIRBUS," "Maxar," and "NASA" satellite imageries accessed through Google Earth Pro Version 7.3.3) and aerial photographs (CSIR Aerial Photograph) that were delineated using on-screen digitizing polygon tools in Google Earth Pro Version 7.3.3 and create feature polygon geometry tool in ArcMap saved into a single shapefile. The gaps were labeled with the status of "open," "recovering," or "closed" to identify each gap and document its development over time. The gap geographical coordinates and gap size were extracted using the "calculate" geometry tool within ArcMap 10.5.