Marine Miracles of Maputaland

There is still a corner of remote Africa within South Africa's borders, a corner that has not been touched by the modern world, Maputaland.

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There is still a corner of remote Africa within South Africa's borders, a corner that has not been touched by the modern world. Its name, Maputaland, resounds with mystery, magic and romance, the stuff of Rider Haggard legend. Its spirit is even older, inextricably bound to the spirit of the local inhabitants, the Thonga, which has remained unconquered despite onslaughts both from the north and, later, from the south. So closely have the Thonga lived in harmony with the area and its natural resources that their land has become synonymous with African spiritual life, and a centre for sangoma training.

Maputaland's resources are as plentiful as its spirit is powerful. Its natural splendour is truly striking, and its biodiversity extraordinary. East of the Lebombo Mountains - an area sometimes known as the Makatini Flats - habitats include endemic sandforest, fever-tree woodland, palm-fringed open plains and mangrove swamps. Rainforest-like coastal forest covers high sand dunes that lie between the interior and the sea, effectively forming a barrier behind which fresh water collects in lakes and marshes.

Most stunning of all, though, are Maputaland's beaches - long, empty and wild. Here you can walk for mile upon mile without meeting another human being. Foremost among these deserted stretches of sand is Rocktail Bay, which has recently come to the world's attention and has immediately been voted one of the 10 best beaches on the planet.

The beaches are the scene of an age-old natural spectacle that is replayed year after year. Every summer, hundreds of female loggerhead Caretta caretta and leatherback Dermochelys coriacea turtles leave the sea and haul themselves up the shore to lay their eggs. Their activities have been observed since 1963 by KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (KZN Wildlife, formerly Natal Parks Board) in a research programme that is at the forefront of world turtle conservation. KZN Wildlife has recently joined forces with Wilderness Safaris, and together they manage the research project and collect valuable data. It is gratifying to know that Maputaland's turtle population is one of the few in the world that is on the increase.

There is another exciting marine phenomenon associated with this coast. Every summer, at the same time that the turtles come ashore to lay their eggs, pregnant ragged-tooth sharks Eugomphodus taurus congregate at particular isolated rocky outcrops. The reason for their doing so is, scientifically speaking, still unclear, but this behaviour does allow divers to swim among these incredible beasts, and safely. As they glide gently above the rocky reefs, the female sharks are biding their time while their pups develop. In the end only two pups are born, one from each uterus, after they have consumed their unborn siblings in a remarkable case of intra-uterine cannibalism. Interestingly, the sharks do not appear to feed during their pregnancy.

Closer inshore, if you were to don mask and fins and dive into one of the many protected bays and rock pools, the incredible richness of this part of the Indian Ocean would be revealed to you. Go further out, up to about two kilometres, and there are spectacular reefs which offer scuba divers the opportunity to explore one of the richest reef ecosystems in the world. The reefs - lying parallel to the coast and stretching from St Lucia in the south all the way up to the northern tip of Inhaca Island, Mozambique - are, in fact, fossilised dunes and for a hundred thousand years they have been subject to the erosive action of the sea. Now they support an unrivalled assemblage of coral and other colourful marine life, including more than 1 250 species of fish. In fact, the richness of Maputaland's relatively tiny reefs compares very favourably with that of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia which, although some 2 000 kilometres long, only has about 1 600 species of fish.

The reason for Maputaland's reef system being so species-rich is threefold. In the first place, over a 300-kilometre length of coastline there are no significant rivers dumping loads of sand into the sea. As a result, the sea off Maputaland is crystal clear, allowing for the extensive growth of both soft and hard corals. Secondly, because the reefs lie at the southern extreme of the tropical west Indian Ocean, tropical fish species are at their southern limit in Maputaland. Finally, the sea temperature varies seasonally by about seven degrees. In August and September it drops to 20 OC (more or less the lowest temperature at which significant coral growth takes place) whereas in March and April it is not unusual to find the sea temperature at a truly tropical level, around 27 OC. This variation is significant, and because of it endemic southern Cape fish species - and even some from the west coast - and tropical East African species co-occur in the same waters.

One species that caused quite a stir in 1998 was the coelacanth, discovered in the 'twilight' zone (at a depth of about 100 metres) of Maputaland's deep canyons offshore. It was the first time that the world's most famous 'living fossil' had been within touching distance of divers. World attention focussed on the region, and since then the South African government has been promoting controlled, sustainable development, with an emphasis on community-driven ecotourism projects. Among other initiatives, the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park was formed, and has subsequently been declared a World Heritage Site.

Government and conservation bodies have become aware of Maputaland's tourism potential, and it would be a great feat if they could turn one of South Africa's poorest rural areas into a model for community-based ecotourism initiatives. There are two possible routes to follow: either with large, resort-type hotel developments that would ignore the strong spirit of Maputaland, or with small, strategically placed lodges that minimise impact on the environment and local culture.

It is, after all, the cultural and biological intactness of Maputaland that makes the region special. It is only here, as you descend the Lebombo Mountains and the Makatini Flats stretch before you, that you feel you are entering 'true' Africa.

Nature Reading
Cheetahs
Born to be Wild
Leatherbacks and Loggerheads
Giraffes in Africa
Rhinos in Africa
African Trees
River Horses: Hippopotamus
Marine Marvels of Maputaland
Survival Strategies of African Butterflies
Whale and Dolphin Watching
Great White Sharks near Capetown, South Africa
Run Sardine Run!