Turtle season returns to the KZN coast

Every November, on dark nights along the beaches of iSimangaliso Wetland Park, female loggerhead and leatherback turtles haul themselves out of the surf, dig a nest above the high-water mark and lay their eggs. Season after season, they return to the same stretch of coast where they hatched.

iSimangaliso is the last major nesting site in Africa for these two species. Five kinds of sea turtle swim in these waters, but only loggerheads and leatherbacks come ashore here to nest. The leatherback, the largest turtle on Earth, can weigh well over half a tonne.

A season of eggs and hatchlings

Nesting runs from November to about February and is busiest in December and January. A female lays around 80 to 100 eggs per nest and may dig several nests in a season. From about January, the hatchlings – each smaller than the palm of your hand – break out of the sand and race for the sea at night.

Very few make it. Only about one hatchling in a thousand is thought to survive to adulthood, which is why these beaches are so closely protected. Leatherbacks here are critically endangered, with fewer than 100 females nesting each year.

How to see them

The only way onto the nesting beaches at night is on a licensed, guided turtle tour. Tours run in season from St Lucia and Cape Vidal, and further north from Sodwana Bay and the lodges of the Maputaland coast. Book ahead, dress in dark, neutral colours, leave the torch and camera flash off, and do exactly what your guide says.

How to help, wherever you are on the coast

Keep outside lights low on beachfront properties in summer, never drive on the beach, pick up plastic and fishing line, and if you find a turtle on the sand, report it to the local conservation authority rather than touching it.

From Tinley Manor, the nesting beaches are about three hours’ drive north, which makes them a summer road trip worth planning.