Sand tiger sharks in an overhang at Aliwal Shoal
BEST FOR Big fish action
South Africa:
Sodwana Bay and Aliwal Shoal
What to expect: There may be good diving around the cooler waters of the Cape, but for the purposes of this feature we’ re going to focus on two towns on the Indian Ocean side: Aliwal Shoal and Sodwana Bay. Of these, Sodwana is probably the more traditional tropical destination, with a lot of coral development and a familiar line-up of Indian Ocean tropical species.
Sodwana Bay National Park is a narrow strip of forested sand dunes along the east coast, close to the border with Mozambique. Diving takes place on offshore reefs named for their distance from the beach launch zone. For example, Quarter Mile Reef is shallow, while Seven Mile Reef is known for drop-offs, and Nine Mile Reef is dominated by green tree coral. The largest of the systems is Two Mile Reef, with a varied topography of ledges, pinnacles and caves.
To the southwest, Aliwal Shoal is the sunken remains of an ancient sand dune, some three miles off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal. With its mix of tropical and sub-tropical species, we reckon it’ s got possibly the best diving in South Africa. The Shoal is best known for its population of grey nurse or‘ raggedtooth’ sharks, sizeable but relatively placid sharks that congregate in mating aggregations from July to November. The shoal is also home to dolphins, schools of trevally and loggerhead turtles.
Dive centres and hotels are based in the town of Umkomaas, where powerful Zodiacs launch from the river and punch out over the waves in fearless Saffie style. There’ s also a pretty good shark feed, bringing in oceanic blacktip and copper sharks, plus tiger sharks from November to May. Don’ t leave without... Looking for shark teeth on the gritty sand expanses around Aliwal, where the sand tigers often shed their pin-sharp gnashers.
Smugness rating: The joy of travelling to the southern hemisphere on a similar longitude is you get a summer season without the jetlag. This is cause for medium to high smugness.
The wreck of MV Produce
Bigeye trevally school
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