The third Ramsar wetland inside the iSimangaliso WetlandPark, is a 155 kilometer stretch of coastline with sandy beaches interspersed with rocky reefs of beach rock. This marine reserve starts just South of Cape Vidal along the Indian Ocean and ends North at Kosi Bay on the border with Mozambique.
The official name “Turtle Beaches and Coral Reefs of
Tongaland” indicates that this area was declared as a wetland of international
importance (on 2 October 1986) for two main reasons:
• the beaches are the principal breeding ground for more
than one turtle species
• encrusting corals on sandstone reefs in the ocean
within 3 nautical miles from the coastline
The site is the principal nesting and breeding ground for
the Endangered Loggerhead turtle and the Vulnerable Leatherback turtle.
Access to the turtle beaches is very restricted for understandable reasons. Guided turtle tours are available from Thonga Beach Lodge near Mabibi Beach during the breeding season from November to February. We reached Thonga Beach on 28 February, the last day of the guided tours. Unfortunately it was already fully booked and we could not experience the tour.
There are also several walking tour guides available
during the turtle breeding season. Most of them operate from Bhanga Nek near
Kosi Bay. For an up to date list of accredited guides, visit the iSimangaliso
Wetland Park’s website at www.isimangaliso.com.
Fish species diversity is high, with 991 species having
been recorded in the Marine Protected Areas. Coelacanths, the critically
endangered living fossils, were discovered in Jesser Canyon near Sodwana Bay at
107 m in October 2000. Subsequent
sightings of this ancient fish in the same area were reported by the
multidisciplinary Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme.
