South Africa's

SodwanaText and photosBay by Kate Jonker

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The name “Sodwana” comes Being just over 400km north of Durban from the Zulu words Siso dwana, on the eastern coast of South Africa, and off the beaten track, the area was which mean “us alone.” History left somewhat unexplored until the late has it that a group of Zulu 1940s. Recognising its rich diversity in women were harvesting mussels flora and fauna both along the coastline on a deserted stretch of beach and beneath the waves, the then Natal Parks Board proclaimed Sodwana Bay a along the northern coast of nature reserve in 1950. KwaZulu-Natal when a landing Today, Sodwana Bay forms part of party for the British Royal Navy the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, which came ashore and asked them is South Africa’s first UNESCO World Heritage site and South Africa’s largest who they were and what they marine protected area (MPA). were doing there. Not under- The iSimangaliso MPA provides safe standing this strange language, nesting grounds for endangered leath- erback and loggerhead turtles, and its the ladies replied “Siso dwana” submarine canyons are home to the (“us alone”) and from that day, incredibly rare coelacanth, a fish that this beautiful piece of unspoilt has been around since the time of the coastline has been known as dinosaurs. Sodwana Bay is a year-round div- Powder blue surgeonfish (above) at Wayne’s World; Twobar anemone- Sodwana Bay. ing destination, and the best way to fish (left) guards its anemone at Stringer Reef; Bigspot rockcod at a cleaning station (top left) and Nalolo blenny (previous page) at 7 Mile Reef

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Dive Charters, Guided Dives, Gear Rental Scuba & Photography Courses www.indigoscuba.com [email protected]

The view over Sodwana Bay (above) from the top of Jesser Point, seen on our way out to 7 Mile Reef (right); The little chalets at our accommodation (left)

forests and pineapple plantations. accommodation, a well-main- Once off the main highway, you tained little wooden chalet nes- might see giraffe, zebras, wart- tled amongst the trees that form hogs and other small animals that part of Sodwana Bay’s coastal can be found in the many game forest. A large glass sliding door reserves that border the road. The led out onto a little deck As I trip is made even more exciting unpacked, I could hear birds sing- as herds of cattle grazing along ing in the trees while boisterous the roadside seem to take an vervet monkeys chattered as they innate pleasure in crossing the watched me from the branches road just as you reach them. above. Just when I thought it could not get any better, a tiny This is Africa! red deer ran across the path in front of my chalet and a huge The resort family of mongoose dashed past, The small settlement of Sodwana stopping briefly to check me out. Bay comprises a handful of dive I really felt as if I was at one with operations, restaurants, bars and nature. guest lodges. There are also a couple of dive resorts located The dive operator inside the iSimangaliso Wetland It was with great excitement that ride through the dense, jungle-like a friendly beach assistant called get there is to fly to King Shaka staying with. A five-hour drive Park, and on a recent trip there, I I climbed aboard the special forest, we arrived at the beach Steven was smiling and shaking International Airport in Durban along the main highway will take chose to stay at one of these. tractor-drawn trailer early the fol- and stopped at the large gazebo hands with me in true African and hire a car or arrange a trans- you through lush green scenery After checking in, I was taken lowing morning to go down to that belonged to our dive resort. style, telling me he would look fer through the resort you will be of sugar cane fields, blue gum down a shady path to my the beach. After a ten-minute Before I could step off the trailer, after my gear for the week. We

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Filefish at 5 Mile Reef (above); Incredible visibility at Sodwana Bay, with our dive boat overhead (right)

settled on a fee and from there on, have a number of different dive my gear was his gear and he han- sites located on them. dled it professionally and with kid gloves. The reefs Whilst our dive boat was being The reefs of Sodwana Bay are formed loaded, our divemaster, Tim, briefed from fossilised sand dunes, which are us thoroughly on the diving and densely covered with pristine hard safety procedures at Sodwana Bay and soft tropical corals. These are the and gave us a detailed description world’s most southerly coral reefs after of the reef we would be diving. those of Lord Howe Island just off the In Sodwana Bay, the boats eastern coast of Australia. launch from the beach through the The corals of Sodwana Bay thrive waves and take divers to the many on the nutrient-rich water that flows reefs that are named after their dis- up from the deep canyons close tance from Jesser Point, the rocky to shore, during a process called outcrop that provides reasonably upwelling. In turn, the reefs provide protected launching at Sodwana a healthy habitat for a diverse and Bay, and probably where the Zulu vibrant marine life—from tiny nudi- ladies were found harvesting mus- branchs, tropical fish and pelagics, sels by the Royal Navy. Some of to larger visitors such as manta rays the reefs are quite large and many and whale sharks.

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The beach launch started up the motors and After our briefing, we walked down to skilfully steered us through our 6m-long semi-inflatable RIB (zodiac) the waves. Once through where our gear was safely secured to a the waves, we handed our dive rack, which ran down the middle life jackets back to George, of the boat. A tractor driver pushed the who stowed them and took boat into the water using a long metal us out to our dive site. pole. In other beach-launch destina- George and most of the tions, it is quite common for the divers to other skippers have grown have to turn the boat around and push up in the area and have it into the water themselves—so this was worked their way up from a breeze! being beach assistants, like Our skipper George shouted “Mamas my friend Steven, to the up!” and the female divers hauled prized position of boat skip- themselves up over the pontoons and per. They become one with their boats The diving onto the boat. As soon as the boat was and with the ocean—they know exactly Our first dive was at the largest reef sys- afloat, the male divers were asked to when to go through the waves and tem in Sodwana Bay, known as Two Mile climb on board. We were all handed life when to hold back, and where the dol- Reef. Being only two miles from Jesser jackets (a safety precaution for beach phins can be seen on the way to and Point, it was a quick ride out. Before Bluebanded and dory snappers at Stringer Reef (above); Twobar anemonefish at Caves launches in South Africa), and George from the dive sites. long, we were putting on our gear and Overhangs (top right); Divers get ready to jump aboard the zodiac boat (right).

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and getting ready to enter the of this underwater world. Sadly, water. Whilst I rinsed my mask, I all too soon, our dive was over marvelled at the warmth of the and we had to ascend to do ocean and how I could clearly our safety stop. see the coral reef below me at We all clambered back onto 16m. George counted us down the boat, chattering excit- and we rolled backwards into edly about what we had seen the clear blue Indian Ocean. and how warm the water was. The reef below us was fes- George steered us carefully tooned with a confetti of back to land, where the boat orange, pink and purple anthias came to a stately halt on the as they hovered over the corals. beach. Steven came to pick Parrotfish bobbed up and down up my gear, which was loaded with their unmistakable style of onto the back of a pickup truck swimming, their beaks grinning and returned to the gazebo at everyone they saw. There where it was kitted up for the seemed to be cleaning stations next dive. All we had to do was under every little overhang and check our air, and our gear was above every table coral, with whisked away to our boat for little cleaner wrasse and even the next dive. larger wrasses grooming the During our surface interval, many fishy inhabitants on the we walked up to the little res- reef. taurant at the top of the hill that It was absolutely beautiful. overlooked the bay and relaxed I floated in the gentle surge, over cups of coffee and deli- amongst the corals and fish, cious snacks. Scorpionfish at Bikini (above); Beautiful marvelling at the magnificence Our next dive was at anoth- thistle soft corals at 7 Mile Reef (top)

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Glassfish-filled swim-through (above) and tiger rockcod at a cleaning station (right) at 7 Mile Reef; Ember parrotfish, initial phase, at Wayne's World (left)

er dive site on Two Mile Reef called following morning. Wayne’s World, and it was just as beau- The rest of the afternoon was spent tiful as our previous dive. We spent over enjoying a leisurely lunch at the resort’s 60 minutes exploring and watching the outside restaurant, lounging beside the life on the reef and trying to capture it pool, going through photographs, trying all on camera. to identify what we had seen, and dis- cussing where we would like to dive the Friendly service & atmosphere following day. Most dives are done in the morning with The rest of our days followed a similar launches at 7:00, 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. routine with two dives in the morning As we were only doing two dives a day, and relaxing in the afternoon. We really Steven took care of my gear, washed felt welcome and very well looked it and hung it up to dry overnight, so it after. Every member of staff met us was ready for me to check and use the with beaming, happy smiles—from the

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Green sea turtle and wrasse share a meal together at Mushroom Rock; Humpback snappers at Anton’s Reef; Ember parrotfish, termi- nal male, at Stringer Reef; Rosy-brown glossodoris nudibranch at Bikini dive site; Horseshoe hawkfish at Pinnacles

night we were there. Water divers. Two Mile has incredible topogra- Every day, we dived the mag- phy, consisting of gullies, overhangs and swim- nificent reefs of Sodwana Bay, throughs. The variety of fish life and corals is each with its own unique char- incredible. acteristics. Some of the most popular dive sites on Two Mile reef include Wayne’s World, Caves and beautiful “Mama” who cleaned our chalets The dive sites Overhangs, and Coral Gardens, with their and greeted us every morning with the big- Two Mile Reef is the largest reef in Sodwana, beautiful hard and soft corals; Simon’s Cave, gest, broadest smile, to the security guard who being over 1.8km long and 900m wide. Its with the opportunity of seeing game fish; and patrolled the camp every evening and shook depth ranges between 8m and 35m and most Pinnacles, which has a small cave sometimes hands and introduced himself to us the first of the dives are shallow enough for Open occupied by whitetip reef sharks. Anton’s is a

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Twobar anemonefish (left) and marbled leopard grouper and humpback snapper (above) at 7 Mile Reef; Giant clam at Pinnacles dive site (top right); Titan triggerfish at Coral Gardens (bottom right)

very popular site as it is home to large num- incredible topography, schools of fish, many bers of schooling fish, turtles and bait balls of cleaning stations and vibrant soft corals; many species. Snappers College, with its vast number and Other Two Mile Reef dive sites include variety of snappers, which can be found Roonies, Hopscotch and Mellow Yellow, schooling there; Lettuce, named after a which are slightly deeper dives and offer visi- huge area covered with lettuce coral; and tors the opportunity of seeing larger marine Stringer, which is home to so many huge par- life such as mantas, hunting pelagics and rotfish, potato bass, nudibranchs and twobar sharks. Bikini is an important cleaning station anemone fish. and a macro photographer’s playground, All of the reefs we dived in Sodwana Bay with shrimps, eels, juvenile fish and nudi- were teeming with an immense variety of fish branchs galore. life—from butterflyfish, damselfish, wrasse, There are other reefs farther from Jesser angelfish, triggerfish, snappers, anemonefish, Point, and these include 9 Mile Reef, with scorpionfish, gobies, blennies and eels. We its huge green tree corals; 7 Mile Reef, with encountered potato bass, turtles and bluefin

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Potato bass at Hotspot (above); Bluefin kingfish at Bikini dive site (right)

kingfish at Stringers and Anton’s, means “miracle and wonder,” a and beautiful nudibranchs at Bikini name that aptly describes the and Pinnacles—and even a zebra pristine and intricate ecosystems shark at Quarter Mile Reef. of this World Heritage Site. It is The huge variety and number easy to imagine that day, many of marine species here bears years ago, when the British Royal testament to the success of the Navy landed on this beautiful 10,700 sq km iSimangaliso MPA, stretch of coastline and were which has 1,200 recorded spe- told by the Zulu ladies “us alone.” cies of fish, 43 types of hard cor- The area has been so well pro- als and 11 different species of tected that I doubt much has soft corals. The offshore expan- changed since then!  sion of iSimangaliso was proclaimed in 2019, enabling the Kate Jonker is an underwater protection of the most acces- photographer and writer based sible coelacanth population on in South Africa. She teaches the planet. Thirty-three individual underwater photography, is a coelacanths, each recognised dive guide and dive boat skipper by their distinct spot patterns, live for Indigo Scuba in Gordon’s Bay, in this MPA. and leads dive trips across the Spotted hawkfish at 7 Mile Reef (above); iSimangaliso is a Zulu word that globe. Visit: katejonker.com. Potato bass at Stringer Reef (right)

23 X-RAY MAG : 92 : 2019 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO NASA NAMIBIA ZIMBABWE BOTSWANA Messina MOZ fact file Polokwane RIGHT: Location of South PRETORIA South Africa Africa on global map FAR RIGHT: Location of Johannesburg SWAZ. Sodwana Bay on map of South Africa BOTTOM LEFT: Pennant Upington Ladysmith Richards coralfish, or coach- Bay man, at Stringer Reef Kimberly SOURCES: US CIA WORLD FACTBOOK, CDC. Bloemfontein Njesuthi GOV, IMAT.ORG, NICD.AC.ZA, STATE.TRAVEL.US, LES. WIKIPEDIA.ORG, XE.COM De Aar Durban History South Africa has been of South Africa. The National Party rain due to air pollution; soil ero- inhabited by humans since prehis- was voted into power in 1948 and sion; desertification. SOUTH ATLANTIC East toric times, according to the fossil instituted a policy of apartheid— OCEAN London record. In the modern era, the the separate development of the Economy A middle-income, Saldanha Port Khoisan and Bantu people set- races. In 1994, the first multiracial emerging market with a large Elizabeth Cape Town INDIAN tled in the region. In 1652, Dutch elections saw the end of apart- supply of natural resources, South OCEAN traders landed at the southern heid and brought in majority rule. Africa has well-developed finan- Cape of tip of modern-day South Africa Challenges for the country since cial, legal, communications, en- the country’s long-term economic 15.6%, Good Hope US CIA WORLD FACTBOOK / PUBLIC DOMAIN / PUBLIC WORLD FACTBOOK US CIA and founded the city of Cape then include reining in corrup- ergy and transport sectors. Its stock stability. South Africa’s internation- Afri- Town, establishing a resupply station, restructuring state-owned exchange is among the top 20 in al debt was downgraded to junk kaans, 12.1%, Sepedi 9.8%, Setswa- at night. Please refer to your state tion on the spice route between enterprises and attracting foreign the world. Its modern infrastructure bond status by most major inter- na 8.9%, English 8.4%, Sesotho 8%, department for security alerts and the Netherlands and the East. In investment. Government: repub- supports an efficient distribution of national credit ratings agencies in Xitsonga 4%, siSwati 2.6%, Tshiv- updates. The country’s emergen- 1806, many Dutch settlers (the lic. Capital: Pretoria. goods to major cities throughout late 2016. enda 2.5%, and isiNdebele 1.6%. cy line is 10111. Boers) travelled north to establish the region. Growth has slowed in Other languages include Khoi, their own republics after the British Geography South Africa is recent years. Challenges include Climate South Africa is mostly Nama and San 1.9% (2017 est). Visa Two completely blank visa seized the area of the Cape of located at the southern tip of the high unemployment, an outdated semiarid with sunny days and cool pages are required in your pass- Good Hope. In 1867 and 1886, the continent of Africa. The country of infrastructure and unstable elec- nights. There are subtropical areas Health There is an intermediate ports. Otherwise, entry will be discovery of diamonds and gold Lesotho is completely surrounded tricity supplies, which limit growth. along the eastern coast. degree of risk for food or water- denied and you will be forced to encouraged wealth and immi- by South Africa, which also al- New power stations and man- borne diseases such as bacte- return home. Passports must be gration. As a result, subjugation most completely surrounds Swa- agement programmes are being Population 55,380,210 (July rial diarrhoea, hepatitis A and valid for at least 30 days. Tourist of the indigenous people intensi- ziland. Coastline: 2,798km. Terrain installed and implemented by the 2018 est). This figure factors in the typhoid fever. Wear long sleeves visas are issued at point of entry. fied. The years 1899 to 1902 saw comprises a vast interior plateau state-run power company, but it effects and mortality rate of AIDS and pants, and use insect repel- Visitors with US and UK passports the British defeat the Boers resist- surrounded by rugged hills and a faces a growing high debt burden, in the population. Ethnic groups: lents containing DEET and netting do not require a visa in advance ance during the Boer War; but thin coastal plain. Lowest point: and accusations of mismanage- black African 80.9%, coloured against malaria from mosquitoes for tourist travel up to 90 days. the British and the Afrikaners, as Atlantic Ocean 0m. Highest point: ment and corruption. Recent 8.8%, white 7.8%, Indian/Asian and Crimean Congo haemor- Please refer to your state depart- the Boers became known, gov- Njesuthi 3,408m. Natural hazards economic policy aims to control 2.5% (2018 est). Religions: Christian rhagic fever from ticks. Beware ment or local South African em- erned together under the Union include extended droughts. inflation as well as empower a 86%, ancestral, tribal, animist, or of schistosomiasis infections from bassy for visa requirements and broader economic base. But the other traditional African religions snails in freshwater lakes, rivers updates. Environmental country faces challenges such as 5.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other 1.5%, and streams in the provinces issues Extensive skills shortages, a decline in global nothing in particular 5.2% (2015 of KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo Hyperbaric Chambers water conservation competitiveness, and numerous est), Internet users: 29,322,380 or (including Kruger National Park). DURBAN: St. Augustine’s and control measures strikes. Cities are pressuring the 54% (July 2016 est). Please refer to your health depart- Hyperbaric Medicine Centre are required due to government to deliver basic ser- ment for required and recom- Hyperbaric and Woundcare Unit the lack of important vices to those in poverty, increase Currency Rand (ZAR). mended vaccinations and pre- St. Augustine’s Hospital arterial rivers or lakes; jobs, and provide affordable high- Exchange rates: 1USD=14.24ZAR, cautions. 24-Hour Hotline: Tel. 031-268-5000 water usage increases er education. Economic growth 1EUR=16.24ZAR, 1GBP=18.26ZAR, outpace supply; ag- is further thwarted by volatility of 1AUD=10.07ZAR, SGD=10.54ZAR Security Most visitors enjoy Websites ricultural runoff and the rand, political infighting within their trips to South Africa without South Africa Tourism urban discharge cause the ruling party, and reluctant Language The official languag- incident. However, there is a high Southafrica.net  pollution of rivers; acid international investors wary about es include isiZulu 24.7%, isiXhosa level of crime, particularly in cities

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