Mar 15 2019
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Umthayi Marula Festival 2019 @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

iSimangaliso supports preservation of culture through nature conservationUmthayi Marula Festival 2019 During this festival, the entire community unites in preparing the special traditional marula beer and presents this to the King of the Tembe people, Inkosi Mabhudu Tembe, in song, dance and a feast for all at the royal palace in KwaNgwanase, northern KwaZulu-Natal. This commemoration was even more eminent this year after the prolonged drought experienced in the last four years throughout the region and the entire country. This was a huge reminder that conservation is for all, and this generation is no exception. Tradition requires that the nationally protected marula tree that is widespread throughout the province, the fruit of which is used to make the beer “ubuganu”, is conserved and made one of the preferred species to plant as we carry out our greening efforts as a nation. Inkosi Mabhudu Tembe and his regiment presenting a grand entrance into the Emfihlweni event site to the great anticipation of local community members, dignitaries from far and wide, distinguished guests as well as media. Skilled women, after brewing the beer, present their produce with happy song and dance to the King. Over 20 000 thousand people graced this year’s event. Distinct traditional outfits told a story of origin for many and showed that numbers came from eSwatini and Mozambique amongst other international guests. The steaming hot weather did not deter attendees as the mood of celebrations and festivity filled the entire stadium. Various artists performed to the delight of capacity crowds, featuring professional and celebrity artists such as Tira, Buselaphi, Zero Khumalo and others. Zero Khumalo is an iSimangaliso-groomed artist and a beneficiary of iSimangaliso’s Training & Capacity Building programmes that mentored and granted him his initial recording contract. Key speakers included His Worship Cllr. N. Mthethwa – Mayor Umhlabuyalingana Municipality; Cllr. T.S. Mkhombo – Mayor Umkhanyakude District Municipality; Inkosi Mahlungu – Chairperson of the National House of Traditional Leaders; Inkosi Mokoena – President of Contralesa; Mr. S. Zikalala – KZN MEC: Economic Development, Tourism & Environmental Affairs; Prince Russel Tembe and Inkosi Mabhudu Tembe, who all commended iSimangaliso on great work being done and looked forward to more benefits and developments in the region through iSimangaliso as a key tourism driver and an organisation mandated to deliver social development to communities adjacent to the Park.

Feb 28 2019
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Go Sodwana Bay!!!

By Sodwana Bay

Hey guys & gales – our new domain https://gosodwanabay.co.za is live!!!     We so happy – we will be using Go Sodwana Bay as a Digital Magazine (blog) for all things Sodwana Bay. It wont be the same as our Information Gateway where we promote local businesses and services.  

Feb 19 2019
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Sodwana Bay – Handyman Services @ Sibaya – Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

Sodwana Bay Maintenance Do you have a Holiday House in Sodwana Bay – let us fix it the right way! We have plenty experience in home maintenance and happy clients to prove it! We understand that maintaining your property is very important to you but you do not have the time or knowledge…  LET US HELP? We are a professional Home Maintenance company based in Sodwana Bay but we’re also happy to service other surrounding areas. sales@myyhandyman.co.za What we can do for you? Carpentry Handyman Services General Contract  Maintenance Plumbing Electrical Painting Ask us how we can put a smile on your face… Give us a call today – ask for Tom or Cherie 083 375 6672

Feb 14 2019
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Marbled Electric Ray

By Sodwana Bay

Wow, what a find… and we didn’t have to go deep to find this beautiful Marbled Electric Ray. We were so excited to find this amazing creature especially in the rock pools. Usually all you see are the mundane fish, such as the sergeant major or the convict fish, than you get the occasional butterfly fish and the snowflake eels getting really upset that you found their awesome hiding spots. But this is a rare find for snorkelers, at the time of this find we were not certified scuba divers and were just playing in the kiddy pools (if you know what I mean)… I guess you can find more exciting things in the open waters but for the time being we stuck to the rock pools. Don’t get me wrong  the rock pools can be quite dangerous if you not careful…Take this electric Marbled ray for example – It can really pack a punch if it feels provoked or threatened.Sea urchins are also quite dangerous and if the tide is rough the rocks can hurt you as well. So I guess each sport has its own risks if you are willing to take it.Check out the video above and for more info on the Electric Marbled ray check out the link – An Exotic find- Marbled Electric Ray   

Feb 08 2019
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Snowflake Moray Eel @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

We enjoyed it so much finding new creatures in our adventures around the rock pools @ Sodwana Bay, especially on the days when the tides were really low! We were privileged enough to catch a couple of different eels in the rock pools. What was fun and also a challenge was trying to capture any eel we possibly could find on camera. Not an easy job for a bunch of amateurs to do. But we still managed to get a few on camera. Please bare in mind I took a few guesses from Internet photos to match up the type of eels that we took photos of, thus to say they might not all be the same type of eels and also their information could be inaccurate to the specific eel to. Below are some images of our own and Images from the Internet with various information about them: Little information is given about the creature its self except that people like to keep these eels as saltwater aquarium pets. But here is a little Info on what they are: The snowflake moray (Echidna nebulosa) also known as the clouded moray among many various vernacular names, is a species of marine fish of the family Muraenidae.[ It is widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific area from the eastern coast of Africa throughout Micronesia including the Red Sea and Hawaii.[ The species is also found in the eastern Central Pacific from southern Baja California, Mexico, and from Costa Rica to northern Colombia.[ This species reaches a length of 100 centimetres (39 in) but its common size is 50 centimetres (20 in). It lives at depths of between 2 and 30 metres (7 and 100 ft). Well that’s all for now guys. Stay tuned for our next article. Source Description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake_moray Source Photo: https://www.bluezooaquatics.com

Nov 14 2018
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Scuba Diving – Scuba Diving – Scuba Diving @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

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