Those that know me will know how my love affair of Africa started, and Sodwana Bay came about much the same way. Years ago I watched a documentry which featured Sodwana and I said to myself this is one place I must visit and it has been on the list ever since.
Sodwana is a little piece of heaven tucked away in the corner of SA near Mozambique, pristine beaches edge a rainforest and the bush. It reminds me a little of Cape Tribulation in Australia, but with huge waves and wild animals. We have done nothing much except dive, canoe and sleep by the pool. So good, that, after conference, we decided to burn of Kruger in a few days time, and have an extra day here, and an extra day somewhere else, probably Swaziland.
Diving here is good. Unfortunately Kieran can't dive. 2 reasons, they are very strict re age. 10 years old minimum, but also, the diving is not ideal as the shallowest dives are around the 14 or 15 metre mark, and the currents are strong. Whilst Dan and I dive, we do only 1 or 2 a day, K entertains himself back at the resort, or takes himself off to explore the jungle.
Going for a dive is an adventure in itself before we even get into the water. Huge waves crash onto the beach and we have to negotiate each breaker in the rib to get out to the reef. Seriously scary when you are being bounced about on one of those things at top speed with a 10 ft wall of water ready to smash you to pieces, and every journey out gets the heart beat racing with everyone on the boat clenching, eyes tight and hoping for the best, except the skipper who I suspect is quietly chuckling to himself as we all quietly soil ourselves!
One day in particular was very special as just as we were about to get in, up pops a humpback whale and her calf. Both animals breached, then spent about 5 minutes on the surface, turning to wave their enormous fins in the air. When they went, it was a truly magic moment as they both lay side by side and together, as if practised in perfect syncronicity, waved their fins before diving under. I actually found myself waving back, and with embarrassment turned to the rest of the boat to make up some excuse, but they were all waving too. One of those special moments and even Dan looked excited.
The reefs here are good, but not as spectacular as some I have seen, but the fish are in abundance and there have been many things I haven't seen before. Favourites are the Honey Comb Moray and Clown Trigger Fish.
The canoeing was a little dissapointing. We did this in a lake where crocs and hippo's live. Unfortunaley it was very windy and we could not get to the other side so could only view them from a distance. That was the hardest paddling I have ever done, it was like rowing a tank uphill. Dan had the guide in his boat and together they found it hard, I had Kieran, who just lay there and let me do all the work. My shoulders felt almost Hulk-like afterwards!
Bugs here galore, and Kieran has been bitten badly several times on his hand. He obviously tastes better than us as Dan and I have hardly has so much of a nibble, Kieran collects lumps and bites daily. Poor boy. Some of them are reall huge and must hurt like hell. He is smothered daily in Savlon and the Zapper, (which he calls Frank) is in constant action. Still, aside a little complaining when he remembers, he has not let it ruin his time here.
We leave here tomorrow night, the plan is after our last dives and relaxation by the pool, we will set off late afternoon/early evening and head up to the Swaziland border. If we get to cross it great, if not, we will bush camp somewhere and cross the border Thursday morning.
If one thing sticks in my mind about Sodwana, it will be the hundreds of monkeys. Monkeys everywhere. I had monkeys watch me in the shower the other morning, Kieran had them in the shower, we have had monkeys sit on our loo, dance across our table, in our room, we had one sat in the driving seat of the campervan, hands on the steering wheel, and we had one cheeky monkey in the back, jumping up and down on our bed. I shouted for Kieran to get the camera and he followed it in to take a picture. We then had a lesson and thought back to Tom in Monkeyland who explained how monkeys stick together and if they feel threatened will let out a call, and all the others will go to it's aid. This is exactly what happened, and no sooner had it let out it's cry, dozens of monkeys jumped down and adopted the attack position. K and I immediatley exited the campervan and let the monkey out, but it took a while for them all to calm down, and had we not taken quick action, I reckon we might have come off very badly in one helluva a gang fight. Still lesson learned and it was incredible to see how these cute creatures can quickly turn into vicious and dangerous animals. We still think they're great and I don't care what anyone says. I want one as a pet!
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