Mar 03 2020
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Beware the Sandy sea life – Be cautious when walking in underwater Sand @ Sodwana Bay ~ South Africa

By Sodwana Bay

Sodwana Bay – Sea Life We all love swimming in the ocean when going to any beach. It’s a fundamental part of having vacation by the beach. As tourists, we never really take a step back and realise we are about to swim in the worlds largest marine aquarium… We all respect dams, lakes and rivers, knowing there is things that could ultimately kill us, such as Crocodiles, alligators, hippos even piranhas… We often just stay clear from these water spaces as much as possible and if need be enter the waters with extreme caution and eyes opened at all time. But yet when we go swim in the worlds largest Sea Aquarium – especially been close to the edge (Rock pools) we tend to forget we are in a wild underwater nature reserve… You will never climb out your car in a nature reserve, especially not knowing what might be lurking in the bushes, but for some reason we have made excuses for ourselves about why we can swim in water that we have know idea what might be underneath us at all times. Trust me we are no exception to this delusion, that swimming in a wild space like this is still safe, to list a few close call killer animals we have encountered so far under the water: The lion fish: Ok we haven’t actually swam with one yet, if we wanted to we would have to be it’s size cause all the ones we found swim in tiny holes. These fish are reported to be highly poisonous and dangerous… Will write a post in the future about their venom and impact on our sea life.   The sea Urchin: in rough seas the waves could bash you into these spiny creatures and their spines do break off, all though they are not poisonous, their spines are extremely brittle, if you miss a few pieces they can become septic and if not treated poison your blood stream and lead to death. See article to learn more: Thorns of the Sea – Sea Urchins    The Moray Eel: We encountered a honeycomb moray, one of the more prettier eel species, they can be friendly, but rather don’t take any chances… Usually these sea snakes will try hide out in holes and under coral ledges, So not easily seen, if they feel threatened they might try bite you, that is bad for both you and the Eel, because the moray eel has a lock jaw that only releases after what ever is in its mouth is consumed or it is dead, meaning if it bites you, the only way you get this poor creature off you is buy killing it. So please be careful of this sea serpents for their sake and yours.   The Blue spotted ribbon Tail ray: A gorgeously bright colorful ray. We found one of these beauties in Sodwana Bay’s rock pools once. They seem to be very scarce as I have looked everywhere to find one of these again with no luck… They are reported to be one the more poisonous and dangerous rays in the ocean. Although they will rather try flee than attack when threatened, their 2 barbs on their tails can still be deadly if the ray feels there’s no other way of escape. They are beautiful to look at, but if you ever have the privilege of finding one don’t make it feel uncomfortable, remember you are in it’s world now not other way round respect that it allows you to admire its home… Also always be aware when walking on sea sand in the water all rays tend to try bury themselves under the sand as a way to hunt and hide from predators. See Article to learn more: The Spotty Ghost – Blue-spotted Ribbontail Ray    Puffer fish: We have encountered a few different puffer fish while swimming in the rock pools of Sodwana Bay. These fish are most probably the most venomous fish in the sea, small, super cute – whether they blow up or just normal… their venom is more than 1000 times more venomous than cyanide. So stay clear of these cutey pies they are super dangerous… Avoid any contact with them, there are no known antidotes for their poison and you could be dead in 24 hours…   The Electric marbled ray: This was our very first ray we have ever encountered in Sodwana Bay Rock pools. We were so excited finding this awesome ray in January 2019, especially finding one in such shallow waters. Of course we did not know it was electric and dangerous, but like most creatures of Sodwana it was not aggressive and rather swam away once it realized it was spotted. If you find one of these proceed with caution allow it to swim away and get out its way, they can pack a punch without you even touching them… See article and checkout our YouTube video of our encounter with a Marbled Electric Ray: An Exotic find- Marbled Electric Ray (Article) and Marbled Electric Ray (YouTube Video). So these are a few creatures that are highly dangerous that are definitely swimming around in Sodwana bay rock pools. Always be careful when swimming in any unknown water especially the open ocean nature reserve… Never extend your hand out to an unknown fish or other sea animal, you never know if they are poisonous, keep your eye out for any potential predator and if encountered by an aggressive animal or fish, try get away as quick as possible, but be calm about it… Try keep your snorkel gear on and rather swim with your head underwater so you can see what is going on around you underwater as much as possible, most fish will try avoid you, but there’s always that unfortunate accident waiting to happen… Hope you guys found this article interesting and enjoy the extra content. Please go checkout our  Patreon Page Below… We wanna start giving…

Feb 07 2020
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Join our Patreon Group @ Sibaya – Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

 Have you heard about our exciting new Patreon Page. Become a Patron? So the story goes like this, we have been visiting Sodwana a couple times a year for the last 2 years. We fell in love with the ocean, the gorgeous live stock that can roam free and the secluded, isolated, rural, rusticness and quietness of the whole place. In these last 2 years of wanting to move to the coast we have been watching a lot of traveler Vloggers and small townies that just make normal videos about their everyday lives down by the beach. This really inspired us to start saving and preparing to make that leap of faith. Most of our friends and family know how hard we have worked on our websites and in Pretoria to get where we are today, and we thank everybody who has helped us so far on our journey. We were blessed enough to be able to watch these travel vloggers, especially been able to spend the hours of data to watch each and every video and that’s how we were able to stumble upon Patreon. I haven’t done much research into it myself yet. But I know enough that we can add special and exclusive content on our account and people that are on there are willing to help sponsor and grow the people they subscribe to. So I am asking that you guys subscribe to our Patreon group, to find exclusive galleries, articles and videos that we will not be posting on Sodwana Bay Information. We will also be adding some exclusive products that will be up for grabs. Subscribe on Youtube? Become a Patron? Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, follow our blogs and maybe even subscribe to our Patreon group to watch our journey grow into a super awesome and Exciting Adventure…

Dec 19 2019
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Rabies Vaccine and Nail Trimming @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

On Saturday 14 December 2019 Candice, the owner of Sharklife and the State vet sponsored a free Rabies vaccine and trimming event. For those of you who do not know this yet, Rabies is a real threat to society all around the world and for South Africa one of the most plagued provinces is Kwa-Zulu Natal. Not only is Kwa-Zulu Natal the largest Province in South Africa it is also one of the most rural Provinces. Meaning lots of uncontrolled wild animals and domestic animals that will come in contact with wild animals most probably at least once in their lives, which means if your lucky the animal won’t have rabies, unlucky they bite your pet and they end up with Rabies. Candice and the state vet have teamed up to help fight the battle of the ever growing threat of your pet getting  rabies by encouraging pet owners to get their pets vaccinated and prevent this terrible and deadly disease from spreading. Unfortunately the vaccine only lasts 1 year. So it is important to keep your pet up to date every year on this vaccine and save more lives. Candice volunteered to give Sodwana Bay locals their pets a free vaccine and for those who needed it a free toe nail cut as well. Just wanna give a special thanks to Candice for giving up her Saturday and Volunteering to keep our pets safe and Rabies free for another year. Next time you visit Sodwana Bay, check out the Shark Museum, they have real cool and interesting things to see and learn about and don’t forget to keep up to date with your Rabies shots.

Dec 12 2019
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Strong like a Bull – Dung Beetle @ Sibaya – Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

Fun fact, did you know that dung beetles are super heroes to the animal kingdom? Yeah, its true. It sounds gross and weird that such a little beetle that rolls poop for a living could actually be a super bug. These cuties actually help save the planet by rolling and eating other animals poop. Without them animal dung will take longer to decompose and release even more toxic gas into the atmosphere polluting the earth even faster. There are plenty of varieties of Dung Beetle Species around the globe. They can live and adapt to any environment on the planet, except on the poles believe it or not. Well I guess nothing can really survive there anyway. So don’t feel bad Mr Dung Beetle, I wouldn’t wanna live there either. Here are a few fun facts about Dung Beetles and their behavior: When the male Dung Beetle has a good ball of Dung the female will latch onto the ball while the male rolls her to a safe spot. Dung Beetle Females will lay their eggs in dung Balls and the whole family can feed off the dung for weeks to come (Depending on the size of ball and family) So in the dung Beetle world you can divide individuals into 3 categories – Rollers, tunnelers and Dwellers. Dung Beetles have a great sense of smell. Most of the Dung Beetles will rather find Herbivore dung than Carnivore Dung. The Dung Beetle Species belongs to the Scarabaeoidea Family. Dung Beetles are one of the few beetles that will actually care for their young till adulthood. Dung Beetles can push up to 50 times their weight.

Dec 05 2019
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Were homeless?! – Abandoned Dogs @ Sibaya – Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

We recently relocated to Sodwana Bay (if you wanna read)… Might it be a blessing in disguise that we found 2 abandoned pups at our new home close to Sibaya Lake.  Commonly known as AfriCanis, these are special Indigenous South African dogs specifically well adapted to hunting. We are so grateful for all the kind hearted people who could help these amazing dogs survive and who tried so hard to find them a good home. Unfortunately, these pups have not really been humanized like we are use to. Basic training was also thrown out the window for these pups, luckily they are still young enough to be trained and at least get some kind of house training. Sometimes it feels like we have three little kids in the house that you constantly need to stop from eating the wrong stuff or try depleting their energy levels so that you can have some peace and quiet. But hey that’s the price you pay being an animal lover. But I would never trade it for the world. Our family has grown with 2 extra which makes the world 2 x extra exciting and worth living. More about the breed: Although the world does not classify this dog as a real breed, I think most South Africans will make a special exception for these extraordinary dogs. They are one of a kind special breed. Internet short version of these dogs: Africanis. Not recognized as a standardized breed by any major kennel club. The Africanis is a landrace of Southern African dogs. It is believed to be of ancient origin, directly descended from hounds and pariah dogs of ancient Africa, introduced into the Nile Valley from the Levant. Pics Below of our new family members: We are proud to introduce you to Female (Left) and Male (Right) ***Just a small word of advice. Don’t ever get a pet because you think its cute as a baby. There is plenty of research to be done on the internet to tell you exactly what you will be getting yourself into before getting a pet. Don’t get a pet that you might abandon when they grow up or you finally get bored of it or have to move!  

May 20 2019
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YouTube Video: Monty Halls, Curse of the Blue Hole @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

Check out this interesting International Scuba Diving Documentary! This is a documentary about the supposed “Curse of the Blue Hole”! A superstition dating back centuries about a princess committing suicide to escape an arranged marriage, that now lures divers to their death! In this video the crew dives down the Blue Hole to investigate what truly happens to divers who have died diving down this truly remarkable, but dangerous tourist attraction!