Location

On KwaZulu-Natal's far northern seaboard.

This enchanting place has a misleading name: it's not a bay at all, but a magnificent wetland area of four forest-girded freshwater (though rather briny) lakes, reed channels and mangrove swamps separated from the Indian Ocean by massive wooded coastal dunes. It's also home to a Tembu community of fishermen who still live and work very much in the manner of their forefathers, building complex networks of reed fences, enclosures ('kraals') and 'funnels' in which they trap the fish.

Much of this somewhat remote area, which includes the Kosi River mouth, is conserved within the Kosi Bay Nature Reserve. The lakes and swamplands are home to hippo, crocodile, a variety of antelope and to a splendid array of tropical and other birds. Accommodation available: luxury lodges (fully staffed) and caravan/camping facilities.

The beaches along this part of the shoreline play host to huge sea turtles - loggerheads and leatherbacks - which travel immense distances (some of them from Kenya's Malindi, 2,500 kilometres to the north) to breed in the offshore waters. The females then make their way onto the sands to lay their eggs - locating, with uncanny precision, the very spot on which they themselves had been born, in some cases up to 50 years before!

Highlights

Game trails; the four-day Amanzimnyama coastal trail (passing through patches of raffia palm and cycad forest); angling; turtle-watching excursions. To the south lies Sibaya, the country's largest freshwater lake.

Nearest towns

Maputo (capital of Mozambique) to the north; Ingwavuma; Mbazwana; St Lucia Estuary; Richards Bay.

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KOSI BAY

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Western Cape
Gauteng
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Free State
Kwazulu Natal
Mpumalanga
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