Discovering Africa Safaris

Discovering Africa Safaris- Southern African Scuba Safaris

15 day 18 dive Safari

Day 1 Saturday

Depart Europe

Day 2 Sunday

Arrive Durban, South Africa around mid day depending on exact flight.

From the airport, we hit the road through Natal's sugarcane farms and Eucalyptus forests before, just past Mtubatuba, spotting our first Fever Trees. Not so many years ago, this was a warning that man travelled no further under threat of Malaria and Sleeping sickness. Government spraying programmes have removed that danger so we can continue safely to the Acacia Thornveldt and coastal Riverine Bush that typifies Bonamanzi Private Game Park, Hluhluwe. This magnificent 4,000 hectarePrivate Reserve has Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, Giraffes, Kudu etc etc and in the river Croc and Hippo. The reserve also boasts 349 bird species, 29 on the 'red list', the rarest birds in the world.

Bonamanzi's outer limits are game fenced to protect the neighbours from the dangerous game but within the Park, there are no fences, not even around our luxury chalets at Lake Lalapanzi. Whilst we enjoy our after dinner South African brandy or Scottish nectar at the boma (a huge open air log fire) this is not a problem. When we have retired to our luxurious beds and the fire has died down, the situation changes. That raucous, insane laughter you hear is not your buddy remembering that he left his dive computer at Aliwal, it is a large, hairy doglike animal that, contrary to popular belief outside Africa, does not always wait until something dies before eating it. You have been warned !!

Day 3 Monday

Early breakfast because we want to catch the animals coming out to feed on our visit to Hluhluwe/Umfolozi National Park. 96,000 hectares (235,000 acres) of hills, rivers, Acacia Bush and Savannah with every species of animal that ever lived in this area (but is not extinct ! ) Lions, Elephants, Rhinos (Black and White), Hippos, Crocodiles, Leopards, Bufflalo,all the antelope, Hyena, Zebra- even 3 different species of Dung Beetle if that is your bag !!

After our 'Big 5' visit, we will take a leasurely drive to Sodwana Bay on the Zululand coast.

Day 4 Tuesday

Sodwana is by far and away South Africa's premier diving locale. Aliwal Shoal is too far south to have hard coral but here, 400 kms to the north, Sodwana Bay is a paradise of hard and soft corals and has a huge variety of often rare fish and invertibrate marine life. Most Sodwana diving is done on the huge reef conglomeration known as '2 Mile'. The longer - and much more expensive- boat ride means that the gems of '9 Mile' , '7 Mile' and even '5 Mile' are rarely dived. Dives to further sites are 'conditions permitting'.

We keep are fingers crossed for a flat sea because we want to make 9 mile Reef our first dive with an afternoon dive on '2 mile Reef.

Day 5 Wednesday

Again we hope for a flat sea as our first dive is planned for '7 Mile Reef'again with an afternoon dive on one of the ‘2 mile' sites. Two Mile reef covers a huge area with a multitude of dive sites. There are sites on 2 Mile for everyone from nursery sites where new divers are usually taken to a number of 'special' sites the locations of which are closely guarded secrets. We have two personal favorites which normally give us 3-5 Whitetip Reef sharks and another that has three species of cleaner shrimp, Harlequin shrimps,several colours of Paperfish and numerous species of Morays. This latter site is so full of unusual marine life that- particularly photographers- cannot see a fraction of what there is to offer and we are used to divers threatening revolt if we do not dive it a second time !!

Day 6 Thursday

Again two dives Morning 5 Mile Reef followed by one of '2 Mile's' extensive reef system.

In the early afternoon, we must remember that the international border post closes at 17h00 so we must tear ourselves away from Sodwana and head for Ponta do Ouro, Mozambique.

Ponta is tiny and a delightful refuge from the 'real world'. The only real argument we have ever heard here was between restauranteurs over who had the largest and freshest Tiger Prawns and shellfish..... paradise !!

Day 7 Friday

Two dives at Ponta do Ouro . This area has only been dived since the mid 90s due to it having been a war zone from the early 70s until that time. New reefs are being found regularly and we are able to dive on pristine virgin coral reefs. This area of Mozambique is also famous for Mantas, Whales, and, on certain deeper reefs,big sharks (Hammerheads, Tigers, Zambezi (Bull) etc)and this is the time of year for large numbers of these big sharks..

At this time of year with such large numbers of sharks on Pinnacles Reef and such a variety of species - January / March seeing six large shark species in a single dive is not unusual - so we normally do a Pinnacles dive early morning and a coral reef dive second. This is, of course, decided by you, the diver.

Day 8 Saturday

Day 9 Sunday

Two more dives at Ponta do Ouro Again the choice is yours and the variety incredible.

Day 10 Monday

Our two last dives at Ponta do Ouro and then the 4x4s are waiting to take us back to the South African border. On the South African side, there is a 9 metre wide tar road with safety lanes each side. On the Mozambique side, well, there are no roads in the accepted sense, hence the 4x4s. After the brief border formalities, it is on to the World Heritage site of St Lucia Wetalnds Park

Day 11 Tuesday

Morning boat trip on Lake St Lucia with it's 2,000 crocodiles, 800 Hippopatami and nearly 400 bird species including our regional emblem, the African Fish Eagle.

In the afternoon, we drive south to Aliwal Shoal

Day 12 Wednesday

Your choice of two conventional dives with the Ragged Tooth sharks (if in residence) or a specilist baited dive for Tiger sharks.

Raggies are not all that is to be seen at Aliwal. Giant Guitar or Sand sharks are to be seen normally on Southern Sands. These impressive sharks grow up to 4 metres in length. If we have inshore currents, masses of plancton may be carried in to the shoal with giant Manta Rays taking full advantage of the feast on offer.

At least one of our dives will be on our own special reef whose location we try to keep to ourselves. Here we find the very rare Pineapple fish as well as Scribbled Pipefish. The highlight of the dive, however, is the safety stop at which we are almost invariably circled by Blacktip sharks. Not the Blacktip Reef shark. This is Carcharhinus limbatus, one of the fastest, sleekest and most beautiful sharks in the ocean.

Option :-

'The dive of a lifetime' as many people call it in our Visitor's Book with Tiger sharks, normally lots of Blacktip sharks and Dusky Sharks and at certain times of the year, Zambezi or Bull sharks. Full details of this incredible dive can be seen at our Tiger shark page.

Day 13 Thursday

Again we have the option of two conventional dives or a 'baited' Tiger shark dive.. Aliwal's famous Ragged Tooth sharks are not in residence most years at this time though in 2008/9 they stayed right through the year.There are also numerous rare fish species such as Paper fish, Frogfish (or Angler fish) and various Pipefish are to be seen. This is a good time of year for Manta Rays, Dolphins, Scallopped Hammerheads with a distinct possibility of ..Blacktip sharks and possibly..Dusky Sharks circling us at the safety stop.

A Tiger shark with accompanying Blacktips.

Day 14 Friday

Sadly we now travel down to Durban Airport for the start of your return journey and wish you 'Hlalakahle' in Zulu 'Go in peace and safety'.

Most of our guests have return flights leaving Durban between 12h00 - 14h00 and the Safari finishes at that time. Should you have a later flight, there are local tour operators who offer day trips to Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve, Valley of a Thousand Hills, uShaka aquarium etc. We are more than happy to assist you in making reservations with these operators or, in deed, to assist with reservations should you wish to prolong your stay in South Africa after your Safari with us.

Day 15 Saturday
Arrive back in Europe.