Sodwana Bay — little one on its own

Sodwana Bay

Sodwana Bay was one of those places that I’d heard about but never really thought of going. My for­ays up South Africa’s east coast had gen­er­ally con­sisted of trips to the Transkei and some­how Kwazulu-Natal, des­pite its obvi­ous charms, had never really inter­ested me. Perhaps it’s because I’m Capetonian and the Kwazulu Natal coast has always been some­thing of a com­pet­itor to us for beach cap­ital of South Africa.

Whatever the reason, I’m glad I got rid of my nat­ural Cape Town aloof­ness and made the trip to Kwazulu-Natal’s Elephant Coast. Situated on the coast within the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park and only 4 hours drive from Durban, the area offers every type of excite­ment and enter­tain­ment  ima­gin­able. Whether you like diving, quad bik­ing, horse rid­ing or even kite board­ing, Sodwana Bay has it all ...

Sodwana Bay means ‘little one on its own’ in Zulu.

With its infin­ite col­lec­tion of beau­ti­fully untouched coral reefs and vast array of Indo-Pacific fish and inver­teb­rates, Sodwana Bay is a world renowned spot for diving.  This under­wa­ter para­dise is home to an abund­ance of trop­ical fish, hard and soft coral, sponges, moray eels, potato bass, turtles , whales, whale sharks and dol­phins. Whether a pro or a novice, there is a diving adven­ture for every­one in this relax­ing diving mecca. The best time for diving is from April to September, but no mat­ter the time of year, the water tem­per­at­ure is reg­u­larly  above 20°C and can go as high as 29°C in sum­mer. Not only a haven for diving, Sodwana Bay is also a prime spot for fish­ing, with its large pop­u­la­tion of Kingfish, Blue and Black Marlin and Saltfish.

Sodwana Bay is also home to a large coel­acanth pop­u­la­tion and for this reason alone is worth a visit on the off chance of spot­ting one while diving. Thought to be extinct since the end of the creta­ceous period over 65million years ago, in 1938 a fish­er­man caught  a live coel­acanth off the coast of South Africa near Madagascar.  Since then many more have been sighted, a lot being seen in Sodwana Bay in Jesser Canyon at a depth of about 104m.

During sum­mer, turtle tours are another must. Loggerhead and leather­b­ack turtles come out at night onto the beaches to nest. This hap­pens in very few places in the world so be sure to check it out. Night turtle tours are avail­able dur­ing December and January and if this isn’t enough, if you want to view this mag­ni­fi­cent site from the air, micro­light­ing is also an option.

Also a bird watch­ers para­dise, one of the best bird­ing areas around Sodwana is the Ngobeseleni Trail. Taking around 4 hours to com­plete over easy ter­rain,  the Ngoboseleni Trail is home to numer­ous spe­cies of birds  includ­ing  Woodward Batis,  Black-bellied Starling and Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher.  In addi­tion to these, water birds such as Pygmy Goose and Goliath Heron  and seabirds such as  Cape Gannet and Cape Cormorant  also nest along the trail.

There are also numer­ous game parks in and around the Sodwana Bay area which include Hluhluwe-Umfolozi and Tembe Elephant Game Parks. Both are equally beau­ti­ful and offer a wide vari­ety of veget­a­tion and wild­life. Hluhluwe-Umfolozi is the old­est game park in South Africa and home to the “Big Five”.  Well known as the reserve which res­cued the white rhino from the brink of extinc­tion in the 1960s, Hluhluwe-Umfolozi  offers kayak­ing on the lakes, hik­ing, horse rid­ing and excit­ing  boat rides to see hip­pos and cro­codiles. Rippling dams, rugged moun­tains, wild forests, grass­lands and open savan­nah, Hluhluwe-Umfolozi has a little slice of everything.

Tembe Elephant Game Park is just as enthralling, home to the biggest African  ele­phants in the world. They are eas­ily spot­ted thanks to Tembe’s assort­ment of sand forest, wood­land, grass­land and swamp­land. As well these mag­ni­fi­cent ele­phants, buf­falo, leo­pards, hippo, eland, zebra, gir­affes and jack­als also dwell in the game park.

Useful Links:
Sodwana Bay Attractions
Sodwana Bay Accommodation
Elephant Coast Accommodation
KwaZulu Natal Accommodation