Summary -Trip report KZN 15/4/2025 to 1/5/2025 Sodwana bay/Imfolozi

[Joao Felizardo]

Dear All ,

Herein a short summary of my recent trip to kzn for those that might need some updates.

Vehicle : colt 2,8tdi 4x4 towing Imagine off road trail van.

Total km's East London to sodwana bay  =1088km

Time taken east london to illovo for overnight stop - 12 hours due to rain , heavy trucks and road works from umtata ; NB -lots of road works in transkei with deep excavations in places .

Time taken from illovo to sodwana - 6 hours ( more rain and R22 speed humps ); towing under heavy rain.

Entry fees at Isimangaliso Sodwana NP - R112 ( vehicle ; community levies and  2x adults )

NB : No beach permits available due to safety reasons ; north beach configuration completely changed due to tides / wave action leaving no space between the river and the water for vehicles to drive and park on the beach; sea water feeding over to the river  at high tide the ; limited parking for gazebos and umbrellas only possible  at low tide .

Unfortunate near 2 drownings ; and 1 confirmed drowning  at the bend of the bay north beach area ; great confusion on main boating lauching area with diving and ski boats ; on one count 12 boats at 2 mile reef ; many other ski boats taking to the water ; heavy shore breaker - boats being toued around and 2 incidetns - foot on prop  and man being caught on side and under the boat .

There is still no NSIR station at sodwana bay ; only 2 scouts on beach control with witles and radios and a 4x4 ..

South beach parking very limited ; sea water with a very dangerous surge from right to left ( jesser point rocks) as water tides moved from high to low.

Shore fishing - very limited due to limited space available and despite the favourable tides ( morning and afternoon ) ; No takes of fish of any kind ( as i only used lures ); but lures caught twice on debris of the bay eg heavy hessian bag and long piece of plastic bag.

Visit to cape vidal - deep water on a particular spot affected by the rain on the surrounding marsh .-entry fee - R212 !!!

From Sodwana we moved to imfolozi ( under heavy rain ) ; we camped at the community Nyalazi bush camp ( 2? 3? kms from the gate and paid no entry fees at the reserve using the wild card.

Nyalazi bush camp very adequate with working basics and clean ablutions ; R618 road much improved but littered on the sides by trash , filth  empty cartons , empty bottles , cows .goats ,... you name it !

We had rain almost every day ; imfolozi river bridge almost covered by the flowing waters ; ditto for the bridge at the hluhluwe river ; sontuli loop for eg had 3 spots of non passable .

 mud areas for a non 4x4 vehicle .

Game viewing was very good - eg lion , buff , ellies , nyala bulls , rhinos , warthog and impalas galore .

Nights at Nyalazi very quite as the traffic on the R618 to nangoma subsides at night time.

Tarred roads inside the two reserves much improved ! Gravel dirt roads bad to very poor  ( also due to rain that fell almost every day )

Way back we stopped at Ballito for 2 days to visit friends ; and decided to avoid the road works and dangerous traffic from transkei and drove to harrismith and bloemfontein ( overnight at Reyneke park challet - clean , functional and useful stop over ... but the rain fell heavy at night as well .

Total km's travelled  = 3333kms ; overall consumption 12 l/100km ; cheapest diesel bought at Engen PORT SHEPSTONE - R19.32 /l  10ppm 

Regards to all !

Joao Felizardo

East London   .

 

 

   

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[Uli]

Thank you for your summary, Joao. Much appreciated!

Uli

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[Manfred Bollner]

Hi Joao, your description of Sodwana sounds horrible. Is this a temporary situation, or has the beach/coast changed permanently?

[Joao Felizardo]

Manfred I guess it starts with too many people; boats ; tractors in a limited launching area! Then mother nature ;tides and wave action dug and chowed once a stretch of good drivable north beach ; then no NSRI with appropriate boat(s)without props to assist and move fast to rescue people in trouble ( rip back wash current) 

In 1987 I dived my first ever qualifying dives for ow1and there were only 2 boats on the beach; the skipper from Trent diving from Dbn said to our group from jhb- there's good weather tom morning so what time do you guys want to dive ?... I guess now we have trouble in paradise 

Rgds 

JF

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