Nov 09 2020
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Hippos @ Sibaya Lake – Sodwana Bay ~ South Africa

By Sodwana Bay

The hippopotamus is recognisable by its barrel-shaped torso, wide-opening mouth revealing large canine tusks, nearly hairless body, columnar legs and large size; adults average 1,500 kg (3,310 lb) and 1,300 kg (2,870 lb) for bulls and cows respectively. Despite its stocky shape and short legs, it is capable of running 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. Source: WikiPedia See if you can spot the Baby! [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb_QqCS11sE[/embedyt] Below is a picture of our Second encounter with Hippos… This time were able to find not just 1, but a whole pod of Hippos with babies as well… They were basking close to the Shoreline. At first we thought it was a carcass, but upon closer inspection found out it was a pod of Hippos! Our Second encounter with Hippos… This time were able to find not just 1, but a whole pod of Hippos with babies as well… They were basking close to the Shoreline. At first we thought it was a carcass, but upon closer inspection found out it was a pod of Hippos! Fun facts about the Hippo’s of Lake Sibaya: Lake Sibaya has the second largest population of Hippos in Kwa-Zulu Natal! Unfortunately this number is decreasing due to poachers, erosion and loss of habitat! We need to protect these gorgeous creatures, especially with Lake Sibaya been a world heritage site and a wetlands park protected area! Have any suggestions? Try stay clear of these unpredictable animals! Although it is amazing to find a hippo and see them in their natural habitat, you definitely don’t want to be to close to them, if you find a hippo to close to land or outside the water rather stay in your car or put some distance between you and the hippo, before admiring these majestic animals… They will charge if spooked or feel threatened… Think of a Hippo as a miniature Elephant! Hippos are the third largest land mammal after the Rhino and Elephant! I always thought a hippo was bigger than a Rhino – Guess I was mistaken… Interestingly enough hippos are more closely related to dolphins, whales and porpoises among other mammal sea creatures! Hippos can hold their breath up to 5 minutes underwater, which is quite impressive for such a heavy animal! Hippos spend up to 16 hours a day in the water! They try stay mostly in water to keep their skin cool and moist… Although Hippos are actually not great swimmers! They mostly stay in shallow waters where they can submerge to the point where only their eyes and nostrils breach the surface, the don’t go much deeper than what they can stand, the deepest a Hippo will go is how deep it can bounce off the surface and reach the water surface to breath…. Meaning don’t underestimate shallow waters, keep your eyes open for strange movements in the water! It is certainly not recommended to swim in a Hippo or Crocodile infested lake or any water bed! If the crocodiles don’t object to your presence the Hippos certainly will… Hippos are very social animals, but also a close community… They don’t just let anyone join in on their group especially if they have young! Hippos Schools usually consist of about 10 – 30 members per School, although some Schools have been reported to have almost 200 individuals in 1 school… Never the less – Hippos are not sexist like most other herding/pack animals  they don’t mind having males and females in their herd… Although there is always an alpha male that should never be challenged and always respected! Hippos are nocturnal grazers, every night in the coolness of the dark skies hippos will start grazing on grass. An adult Hippo can eat up to 35 kg in a single night and travel up to 10 km just to get their fill! Now that’s devotion. Hippos can live up to 3 weeks without food and although mostly herbivore – It has been observed that hippos eat carcasses of dead animals as well including dead hippos! Female Hippos pregnancy lasts about 8 months in total! That’s almost as long as a human pregnancy… The calf will suckle on it’s mom for the first 8 months of it’s life and will reach maturity between 5-7 years… The average life span of a hippo is 35 years! Our factual sources for this article came from: Sodwana Bay Information, WikiPedia and Live Science

Mar 03 2020
0

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…