Feb 17 2020
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The Teenage monster attack! -Rock Monitor Lizard @ Sibaya – Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

Rock Monitor Lizard The rock monitor (Varanus albigularis), also called commonly the white-throated monitor, is a species of monitor lizard in the family Varanidae. The species is endemic to Central, East, and southern Africa. It is the second-longest lizard found on the continent, and the heaviest-bodied; locally, it is called leguaan or likkewaan. Wiki >Source Check out this gorgeous creatures video above and how it was able to escape a pack unscathed: If you liked this video, please don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, hit the bell icon and share this video with as many people as you have in your contact list everywhere…. While we were having a great lazy Saturday afternoon – watching tv, the dogs as usual started barking. We assumed that they were either barking at people walking past or just randomly barking for no reason what so ever. Now anybody who has a dog (especially a yappy one such as a yorkie or jack russel) will know that dogs sometimes will even bark at the wind if they are bored and not much excitement happens around them… I  tried to make them keep quiet but this time they just wouldn’t listen, our jack russel pup looked quite scared when she ran to me while the other dogs were still around the corner. I was not expecting this much excitement at the end of the day! Our male big dog had a teenage monitor lizard in his mouth. That thing was huge, but I know it was a teenager and not adult cause our mamma Monitor was even bigger than this one. When I saw it in our dogs mouth I at first thought it was our kitten cause she has similar markings as the monitor lizard, I screamed at him, I think he got such a fright and dropped the poor thing, when it ran away I was kinda relieved that it was a monitor Lizard and not the cat, surprisingly enough in the whole 4 dog pack attacking the poor thing it never got hurt, maybe it’s ego was a bit bruised but that’s it. When we got to film it, it stood high and proud and wasn’t scared to “strut it’s stuff”. It would whip it’s tale and hiss voraciously at us. It was quite scary. You could feel the pure force of its tale even while you were out of reach. We left it alone for a while but they went to find the poor creature again and the whole ordeal started all over again… Eventually the poor thing found a safe haven underneath an old rusted drum in the back of our property. Ladies and gentlemen… I present to you our Rock Monitor Lizard… We estimate him to be around a 1 m long, so he is about half the size of what he will be when he grows up…. Here are a few fun facts about these beautiful creatures… They have blue tongues, this is not from research, this fact I discovered on my own when we were so close to it. I just found out what kind of Monitor lizard we have around here: It is the rock Monitor lizard… The Rock monitor lizard is the second largest Lizard in Africa. it can grow up to – 2 m in length including its tail. It comes short to the Nile Monitor Lizard being the longest lizard in Africa. Some people actually keep these giants as exotic pets, although it’s not recommended to try keep a monitor lizard and have dogs and cats, especially if the dog or cat is smaller than the lizard… The Lizard might mistaken the cat/dog for prey! It is the heaviest bodied lizard on the continent… With adult males can weighing up to – 5 -8 kg (more mature males can reach a whopping – 15 -18 kg) and females weighing 3.3kg – 5 kg. They are mostly carnivorous eating – Centipedes, eggs, small birds, small reptiles and small mammals, so keep watch over all your furry friends when one of these are around…

Feb 17 2020
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It’s a slithery business – Eastern Green Snake @ Sibaya – Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

***Harmless Snake*** – A beautifully-marked bright green snake that is active during the day… Every night we take our pups for a walk in the garden to let them do their business before we go to bed. We have this tree close to the house that grows these green pods that look almost like pea pods… On this particular night, Tom decided he wanted to play a little joke on me, his plan was to grab one of the pods and yell snake. Well I am so glad he didn’t… Why??? Because the really was a snake in that exact tree!!! In fact it was sitting right next to the pod that he wanted to grab. The snake is a perfectly harmless Eastern Green Snake (a constrictor), but still has teeth and will readily bite when threatened. The next morning we thought it had left its tree to find a more private tree to live in, until a family member pointed out that it looked like it was still in the tree. It wasn’t exactly where they said it was but when we went to check again we saw its head sticking out of the tree. It was almost perfectly camouflaged with its environment, except it’s gorgeous big golden brown eye. It posed for us for a while, got quiet a few nice shots of it, and then it decided it was tired of the spotlight and started to sway from side to side as if to tell us “leave me alone now please”… A few fun facts about our pretty Snake here in Sibaya – Sodwana Bay: They are day snakes, often hunting for geckos and frogs, I guess they like to catch their prey while they sleep, as most frogs and geckos are nocturnal… They are excellent climbers and often found in very high trees to escape the attention… They are super shy and not very fond of attention. If you wanna pick one up, you might want to put a pair of gloves on, although not venomous they are still ready to bite when handled, and I guess like any snake their teeth could be super sharp. Although I wouldn’t suggest handling a snake until you are absolutely sure what snake it is, and even then rather get a snake guide to approve of the snake. Eastern Greens are often needlessly killed, they are often mistaken for a green Mamba or a boomslang, since these venomous snakes also live in trees. Before killing a snake you might wanna do your homework, our team is very pro-life… Don’t get me wrong if you find a venomous snake on your property that is highly aggressive, you might not have a choice but to kill it, especially having small kids or pets and livestock. But try to rather re-home the snake before going to such extreme measures. The Eastern Natal Green Snake has keels on the belly as well as the underside of the tail and tends to be bright green with some light yellow on the belly. They can grow on average up to 90 cm, but some are known to grow up to 130 cm So next time you see a green Snake, don’t assume the worst, do so homework quickly before needlessly killing a harmless snake… All fact base information Source: https://www.africansnakebiteinstitute.com/snake/eastern-natal-green-snake/

Feb 12 2020
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There’s a monster Lurking…watching! – Rock Monitor Lizard @ Sibaya – Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

Who would have thought that living off grid would bring you so close to nature – ja, thats the whole idea I suppose… When living in town you might encounter a spider or a gecko  if you’re lucky maybe a small brown house snake in the garden but the range of animals and insects we have encountered since our move down to Sodwana Bay have been astounding. First we saw three of the Monitor Lizards babies on our roof. Then the other day we encountered the “mamma” but up scaled… a prehistoric Dinosaur! Don’t get me wrong we love it out here – in the bundus – though we never really realized how wild South Africa truly is. I don’t think I have ever seen such a big lizard in the wild – let alone in our own yard before! It looks like a dinosaur/dragon hybrid thingy in my opinion. Similar to a comodo dragon. As usual we had to keep all the dogs away especially the Jack Russel Pup – I swear its mouth was as big as her. Unfortunately, after running away from us it got stuck in a thick brush of grass at the end of our property. We were able to free it from its grassy trap, but was unable to get a great shot of it with the camera. Also it didn’t help that the poor Creature got wrapped around a tree. It was a good thing we found it… At first we thought it was dead, it wasn’t moving even when we tried to move the grass away with a stick – but than… It opened its eyes. That was super scary its like a Dragon opening its eyes in the movies. We were able to save the poor lizard, didn’t even get a chance to film it when it got free it was unfortunately way to quick for us. Check out or follow up Monitor Lizard, where one upgraded to teenage size and more info about what they eat, how harmful they can be etc… Plus NEW VIDEO of the Monitor Lizards in our yard….

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 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!