Mar 05 2020
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A spiny Venomous Fish – The Lion Fish @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

Pterois is a genus of venomous marine fish, commonly known as lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. Also called zebrafish, firefish, turkeyfish, tastyfish or butterfly-cod, it is characterized by conspicuous warning coloration with red, white, creamy, or black bands, showy pectoral fins, and venomous spiky fin rays. Pterois radiata, Pterois volitans, and Pterois miles are the most commonly studied species in the genus. Pterois species are popular aquarium fish. P. volitans and P. miles are recent and significant invasive species in the west Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Mediterranean Sea. We found one of the coolest, but unfortunately most destructive fish in the ocean… The Lion Fish. We will get into what the difference is poison vs venom in a later article, but for now all you need to know about this fish is that it is Venomous, not poisonous… No matter if it is poisonous or venomous try stay clear of the creature when you encounter it. I wish these gorgeous Fish were not so destructive in the environment, otherwise I would add them to my favorite marine animal list… Luckily in Sodwana Bay their natural predators live there too so they can keep them sort of at Bay! While on our way back to shore we still enjoy keeping a look out in all rock pools for fish in case we find something cool or dangerous… On this occasion we were super lucky to find a lion fish. I knew lion fish eat live on coral reefs, but never thought that they would live in such shallow waters or be so near to shore, or could be found in South African waters for that matter, most cool things happen overseas not South Africa… Although I am starting to realize South Africa is a much cooler place than I thought especially when you leave the big cities!!! Somehow I imagined Lion Fish being much bigger, maybe we just found a juvenile one or they really are just so small… If that’s the case it is scary to think that such a small fish could make such a big negative influence in the ocean! Photo’s always seem to make these little fish look so much bigger than they truly are! A few fun facts about this animal and why you should be careful when swimming with them: Lion Fish – hence the name – are carnivores… They prey on small fish, practically any fish that will fit in their mouths, but they are not mindless fish that just eat what ever comes into their paths… They are predatory intelligent fish, observation might suggest that they blow out jets of water to disorient their prey and to make them face them – common knowledge these fish have picked up on – head first equals less energy usage. There are 16 different species of Lion Fish LionFish predators can have been confirmed are: themselves, Larger LionFish will eat their smaller counterparts with no hesitation, make sense with a huge appetite like theirs… Other fish like these also enjoy snacking on Lion Fish which helps keep their population to the right size: sharks, cornetfish, grouper, large eels, frogfish and other scorpionfish This is a sad fact, unfortunately in the Atlantic oceans where most fish feel uncomfortable living in, the Lion Fish Thrives! Why is this a bad thing? Well their natural predators hate the cold… Without any natural predators to keep their population at bay, and them being a natural predator of other fish their circle of life has hole in it and unwanted holes are never a good thing. The invasive Lionfish of the Atlantic ocean has a devastating impact on coral cleaning and eating fish, without the coral cleaner fish the coral might not be able to survive because there is to much debris for the coral to breath…   Wow here’s an interesting fact – Lion Fish Stomachs can expand up to 30 times its normal size… Imagine how many fish go into that! Now I understand why lion Fish are so invasive, they reproduce all year round, a mature female can lay up to 2 million eggs a year, that’s insane, imagine we could reproduce like that, there would be no space left on the planet to move! I guess it nearly impossible to see a baby LionFish when born they are only 2.5 cm long and an grow up to -38 cm long as adults! That is quite small for a fish that has such a huge impact on the oceanic environment. I doubt even a Megalodon Shark (Largest shark known to have existed) could make such a big impact… They can live up to 15 years in the wild, imagine what impact each one of them can have on the environment in 15 years! When a lion fish’s spines puncture flesh they have two(2) venom glands in their backbone that rush out poison through the spines… Depending on how many spines stung you, you shouldn’t be much in the danger zone, of course it also depends on your body tolerance for pain. It mild cases, you will have extreme pain and sweating… In extreme cases you could experience – respiratory distress or even paralysis… Scientists encourage fishing for LionFish… Below is campaign that encourages people to even eat LionFish, as long as you know what to eat they are not poisonous, just be careful for their spines! If you like fishing next time try catch one of these spiny fish and give it a try! “Lionfish as Food” campaign In 2010, NOAA began a campaign to encourage the consumption of the fish. The “Lionfish as Food” campaign encourages human hunting of the fish as the only form of control known to date. Encouraging the consumption of lionfish could not only help to maintain a reasonable population density, but also provide an alternative fishing source to overfished populations, such as grouper and snapper. NOAA also encourages people to report lionfish sightings, to help track lionfish population dispersal. To promote the campaign, the Roman Catholic Church in Colombia agreed to have their clergy’s sermons suggest to their parishioners (84% of the population) to eat the fish species on Fridays, Lent and Easter, which proved highly successful to decrease the invasive fish problem. When properly…

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…

Mar 03 2020
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The Shady one – Roman spider @ Sibaya -Sodwana Bay – South Africa

By Sodwana Bay

Solifugae is an order of animals in the class Arachnida known variously as camel spiders, wind scorpions, sun spiders, or solifuges. The order includes more than 1,000 described species in about 153 genera. Despite the common names, they are neither true scorpions (order Scorpiones) nor true spiders (order Araneae). Much like a spider, the body of a solifugid has two tagmata: an opisthosoma (abdomen) behind the prosoma (that is, in effect, a combined head and thorax). At the front end, the prosoma bears two chelicerae that, in most species, are conspicuously large. The chelicerae serve as jaws and in many species also are used for stridulation. Unlike scorpions, solifugids do not have a third tagma that forms a “tail”. Most species of Solifugae live in dry climates and feed opportunistically on ground-dwelling arthropods and other small animals. The largest species grow to a length of 12–15 cm (5–6 in), including legs. A number of urban legends exaggerate the size and speed of the Solifugae, and their potential danger to humans, which is negligible. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solifugaehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solifugae I think this is the hardest I have laughed and screamed in a really long time… Now living out in the bush and having a braai can sometimes be a tricky business. Tom has this super crazy phobia of this specific spider… The red Roman Spider or more commonly known globally as the Sun spider… Tom has a funny personality on his own already. He loves making jokes and and overall is mostly a funny guy outside of work. He can really be a class clown, when he’s in the right mood… I think I laugh the most when he is super scared of something, never ask him to be your knight in shining armor when it comes to freaky, ugly creepy crawlies like this one. Well at the time when we caught this monster of a creepy crawly, I wasn’t aware they are actually aggressive and can bite really sore. We were sitting outside having a great chat about our dreams and what we would love to do still within this year, when suddenly Tom felt a weird tickle on his foot. At first he didn’t take note of it and thought it might just be a piece of grass, but this grass started to move, right now I am so wishing I had the camera ready to video him… I think it was the fastest I have seen Tom jump on anything before and that’s saying a lot… since we use to work in construction. For some reason Roman Spiders/Sun Spiders seem to really be attracted to Tom’s Shadow. Besides that I have this really bad habit of putting my feet up on chairs and couches all the time. I can even walk past the stupid things and they will never chase my shadow, maybe they after Tom’s hairy legs or something (Read facts below)… I sound like a really bad fiance, but I love watching Tom run away from these freaky looking critters… HAHAHA! On this occasion I had to be the hero in his story, but he does save me more often then I save him, so I don’t mind saving him once in a while… when he has to save me almost everyday… Unfortunately we do not have our own photo of this freaky creature, he was way to fast tryna get away from the light and any footage we have is super blurry… A few facts about this scary Critter that roams our sandy planes: Despite their name they are not actually spiders, the only thing they have in common with a spider is their 8 legs! You know that feeling, when you think something is stalking or watching you out in the bush, maybe just check your shadow there really might be something following you in the dark of night or in the daytime… These creatures are supposedly daytime dwellers, running from shadow to shadow, but we have only encountered these shady creatures at night, much delight to our kitten and Puppy… No, they do not have 10 legs as popular belief might suggest, I guess it just makes them sound even more scarier and more alien like, but there front lobes are more like feelers than legs and are way to short to use as legs… Although it is not a spider it is still classified as a Arachnida. Ok, so here is some good and bad news all in one go – Roman/sun spiders are not poisonous, but tend to be quite agressive and can apparently bite really sore – I seriously hope never to be bitten by one these scary creatures… They tend to shave your hair for you while you sleep… Reports might suggest that these creepy crawlies will give you a really bad free beard trim and all they ask for in return is that you donate your hair to their nests. There has been cases where animals have been left with bald patches after an unexpected visit from mister Sun Spider. These things are super vicious – they eat – spiders, scorpions, even small reptiles, but you wanna know the worst part – they will even prey on each other and eat their prey alive, that’s just horrible. They have super strong pincers like a crab which helps them successfully catch and eat their prey… They can grow between 70 -160 mm. The bigger the scarier… I am a lover of almost any creature, but never been a huge fan of Spiders – Especially – Hairy, aggressive, huge and poisonous ones!!!! Please go checkout our  Patreon Page Below… We wanna start giving you guys who are committed to us exclusive content and be able to further our channel and provide better content to our Patrons… To do this we need funds and all the support we can get… Also check out our YouTube Channel when you done reading this… Every view is one step closer to our goal, we need 4000 hours of our subscribers views and 1000 Subscribers to be able to start making money and better content for you guys, YouTube is free please watch all our videos till the end… and subscribe…

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….

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!  

Apr 09 2019
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Sodwana Bay Tourist guide lines @ Sodwana Bay

By Sodwana Bay

So we were fortunate enough to go back to Sodwana Bay for our third trip and every time we go, we find something new and fun to do down there. As we explore we realize that we are missing in our tourism/travel kit. For instance – the first time we went down to Sodwana Bay we tried using our Tablets and Cellphones to take pictures of all the cool things we discovered in Sodwana and that you need a back pack that you don’t mind messing up and getting full of see sand when you pick up shells! Solution to this problem – get yourself a waterproof camera if you can afford it. Its hard to carry Tablets and cellphones on the beach as you are always fearful of them getting wet. We saw a girl using a clear bag for her phone and it seemed to be water proof (I would suggest researching that before submerging your expensive phone in the water). Second pointer – Often times you wanna pick up shells on the beach. Its a fun activity to do and also pass the time, especially when your little ones are curios and excited about everything. So what should you do with all these shells and odd objects that they pick you up? Well you could just put them in your pockets (if you have some) or carry as many as you can till you have no more space, but that can be annoying if you still wanna go swim or do more activities on the beach that day. Best solution that we found was getting the cheapest bag you possibly can find that drains water easily but doesn’t necessarily drop all your treasures out again. This way if you still wanna go for a swim after shell hunting you can do so or just go dump everything in the car. Next pointer is Shoes –  Shoes are really important when you wanna go to the rock pools, plus the sand can sometimes really get hot and burn your feet, but I wouldn’t suggest going with normal flip flops – 2 Reasons for that: One is I have lost 2 pairs of my flip flops due to they tend to break a lot by your toes, because of the force of the water when you walk and also they like to float away from you. Solution for this – get sturdy hardish shoes or closed airing shoes. I found a great pair of running shoes that look very similar to booties (water shoes) that are covered in small holes right down to the sole of the shoes as well. They are light weight, a breeze to walk with in the water and dry fairly quickly.  Never try buy clothes and shoes at Sodwana Beach shop –  Unless you don’t have a low budget and don’t mind spending R300 – R1000 on shoes I would not suggest buying clothing or shoes in Sodwana Bay unless for a memorabilia. Unfortunately as beautiful as Sodwana Bay is, it is still a tourist town, meaning almost everything that you find there will be expensive. If looking for a souvenir and don’t wanna spend all your money buying one item I would suggest go to small trinquete  shops and buying small items. Snorkeling and Diving – So most people will go to Sodwana Bay to Scuba Dive, but what about the times where you are not scheduled to dive or you are not a qualified diver.  I know that some people will never be able to dive for various reasons, some have or had lung diseases or their lungs are not strong enough or even some people just simply get panic attacks when going to deep under water. What can these people do while in Sodwana Bay? Well here is a great solution: Snorkeling! Snorkeling is a great way to explore the rock pools, discover some new fish and just have fun! We only took our Snorkeling gear with the second time we went down to Sodwana, but were very disheartened at first as we couldn’t see the fish on the surface, but we decided to take a leap of faith and go for a swim any way, once we had our snorkeling gear on and submerged our faces in the water we discovered a whole new world with fish and everything right under our noses. It was incredible the fish were right by us and we couldn’t even see them through the surface. Every time since then, we make sure to have our camera on hand ready to shoot for any exotic creatures we might find (in a later article we will reveal our most exciting find so far). One caution I must advise you guys on is that its not a great idea to go Snorkeling in High Tide, (you can check out the tides by googling Sodwana Bay Tides there are lots of accurate weather apps there.) When in High tide you can easily be swept onto the rocks which could cut you or even be pulled in by the current and pummeled by the sea. (We were caught like that).  Well that’s all for now. Hope this info can help a few people out.