Magic memories in Kosi Bay
"To visit Kosi Bay and go on a turtle tour can be one of the most memorable experiences you may ever have", says Marzahn Botha.
Magic memories in Kosi Bay
Posted by Marzahn Botha on 29 Nov 2011, 14:15
Categories: Travel News
To visit Kosi Bay just for a weekend is always worthwhile, but it may not be the best idea.
Once you get there a different world sucks you in - a combination of habitats like the bush, ocean and lakes keep you captured. This world shows you natural "jewels" that will even magnetize the person who thinks they have seen it all.
For instance, Kosi Bay have the Tsonga Fishtraps on the Kosi Bay lake system, it hosts the Tembe Elephant Park with the three biggest tuskers or big bulls in the southern hemisphere. I met all three of the big bulls, Isilo, Mkadebona and Induna.
Isilo, that means King of Kings, one right tusk weigh 56 kg and is 2,8 meters long, while his left tusk weighs 62 kg end is 2,5 m long.
Explore something special amongst ancient reptiles
But to pay a visit to this area during November until the end of February, awards you with magical sightings of the Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and the Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacealeer) on the beach.
An to spend time with these ancient reptiles gives you so much more insight of the term "survival of the fittest". After these small hatchlings struggled to find their way through the eggs, they "run" to the sea or in the direction of the light to be engulfed by the mighty Indian Ocean.
They only know one straight line to the sea, that is if crabs, the Kingsfisher and total dehidration don't get the better of the little ones. The loggerhead and leatherback females deposit around 100 to 170 eggs. One out of a 1000 loggerhead turtles reach adulthood. According to the International Union of Nature Conservation, this is a critical endangered specie on the list of endangered species.
Me and a group visited the beach at Banganek Beach on a turtle tour. Glimpses of a bright night under the starry sky and me going to my knees to support a loggerhead turtle female while she hatched.
Above: A Loggerhead female turtle. One out of a 1000 loggerhead turtles reach adulthood. Photo's by: Marzahn Botha
She excavates an egg chamber with her hind limbs and deposited something like 120 eggs. The female then covered the nest carefully. She did a pretty good job, and didn't care for the spectators surrounding her.
Above: The female deposted about 120 eggs.
Above: Unfortunately I sat too close to her, and was basted with sand in my mouth, hair and eyes.
Above: One hatchling is about the size of a matchbox.
The second time I went to my knees was to support a hatchling called "Jannie". He was slowly but surely on his way to the ocean. "Swem Jannie swem!" I didn't know whether it was a Jannie or a Sannie. All I knew was this small hatchling, they are the size of a matchbox, ignited my mother instinct. I surely wish I could help him towards the Indian Ocean, but I could only see that he or she gets safely into the salty water.
Above: Meet Jannie the hatchling.
"We have the KZN Wildlife turtle research project running since 1964", says Agrippa Shanga, a guide and turtle monitor for four years. "The breeding season is between November and the end of March. Some people will come back to see the giant leatherback turtles if they didn't see them the first time around."
These turtles can weigh as much as 645 kg. Shanga says that a female copulate with different males, while she keeps the sperm inside. When she lays her eggs, she deposits the sperm.
The female may migrate thousands of kilometres to deposit the eggs. The eggs will take 60 to 70 days to hatch. The temperature of the underground nest assures the sex of the inklings. Males hatch between 25 to 27 °C, while females warm things up at 28 en 35 °C. I certainly tend to think there were more females than males, because that is just how life works. Yet, to look Jannie or Sannie in the eye, made me realise how one should appreciate life especially if you must survive amongst a sea of 7 billion people.
