Kosi Bay Camp

After a few wrong turns, due to really bad road markings, we got to Kosi Bay Camp at around 16h30. This is another in the group of camps under the Ezemvelo-KZN banner and consists of 3 rustic lodges and 15 campsites. It is truly lovely, very reminiscent of Sodwana Bay, but somehow more intimate. Roger summed it up as “Sodwana is where the Vaalies go and this is where the KZN folk go”.

The Kosi Bay System, Lake Sibaya, Lake St Lucia and Mkuzi Swamps all form part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park which conserves the largest estuarine system in Africa and is a World Heritage site. And of course they are all IBAs.

The first thing after selecting our site (we only had 3 to choose from as school had not yet started!) was to get Splash ready for the morning. He is by far the smallest motorboat on the lakes. It was most entertaining to see how it fascinated the children (and of course how it amused the adults!). It took a few seconds for some of them to notice the decimal and realise that it is only 2.5 hp and not 25!   There was no shortage of hands or interest.

The next thing was to appoint a camp attendant, called a ‘Gillie’. They do everything from washing dishes to providing bait and guiding, both on and off the water. We are so used to doing our own thing that this is not something that comes naturally, but we acknowledge the need to provide local employment and ended up selecting Alex. I don’t think a Gillie has ever had such an easy task while earning an honest day’s wage!

The camp is situated on the banks of 3^rd Lake so the next morning saw us up early to go for a cruise in Splash. We got back for breakfast and then set out in Suzi to go and explore the Kosi Bay mouth.

This was a very nostalgic trip for me as I have been here before, but it was all very new for Roger. I did the 4-day Kosi Bay Hiking trail twice, once in winter and once in summer, before Roger and I met. Sadly the trail has been closed.

One of the unique features of the mouth is the age-old traditional fish kraals. The question Roger and I debated at length is whether this is still sustainable. It truly seems as if there is no escape for the big fish that need to spawn. However, we realise that we do not really understand the system so we will leave it at that…

We decided to have lunch before going to snorkel in the mouth. Disaster! I forgot to pack utensils! After some lateral thinking we made a plan. Roger chose to use his carrot sticks as chop-sticks and I chose to use a quarter of a tomato (pips removed).

Kosi Bay mouth is beautiful.

We really looked like ‘plasies’ with our ‘full body kits’ and wide-brimmed bush hats. But guess what? We did not suffer any sunburn.

Even funnier was our way of locomotion. We had to cross the mouth to get to the channel on the far side where we would be snorkling. My foot tired very quickly so I wanted to sit down and urged Roger to continue on his own. He would have none of it. I had to lie on my tummy, floating, and holding on to his arm with both hands, he waded through the water pulling me behind him. Can you image the spectacle, and all of that looking like we have never seen the sea before! It was great fun.

The snorkeling itself was a little disapointing as the reef has been partially covered with sand after last year’s floods. We did still manage to see a number of tropical reef fish, including parrot fish, lion fish and a variety of trigger fish.

On our way back to camp we stopped at a viewpoint and got a good overview of all the lakes in the distance.

The next morning Alex took Roger to show him where the best fishing spots are. They had a good time but caught nothing. Frustrating!

After lunch we set out to Bhanga Nek. It took about 1.5 hours to get there but the scenery was so beautiful that the trip was a pleasure.

There were Cycads, wild flowers and Lala Palms everywhere. The road was very sandy in places but once again Suzi proved very capable.

Bhanga Nek is home to Parks Board research personnel who monitor the sea turtles that breed along this important stretch of coastline.

On our way back we stopped for liquid refreshments at a local tuck shop.

Another thing that we were very impressed with is the way in which the local entrepreneurs sell their wood. They do not use plastic bags! Harvesting of the indigenous wood is of course another matter…

The next morning saw us up early once again. Roger wanted to show me the channels linking the lakes, which Alex had shown him the previous day. It was overcast and unfortunately drizzling for a large part of the trip so the photos are rather hazy, but it was well worth it.

Back at camp we were lucky enough to spot a Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird in a tree on our campsite. Speaking of birds, we were very disappointed at the lack of bird life in the area.

On our last afternoon Roger and Alex went out again and had success at last!!!

The area is home to the Samango monkey (so-called in South Africa, but better known as Syke’s monkey in East Africa where they are mainly found). They are forest dwelling monkeys and there are only a few isolated populations in South Africa. Our picture is not very good but they seem to be very shy and elusive.

An incident which left us very disappointed in our fellow humans and disparing for the future of our planet, was when one of the guys turned back from the ablutions because there was a snake and ‘he needed to fetch a broom’. Roger jumped up (he did a snake handling course, remember?) got his gear and set off to rescue it. It turned out to be a tiny green snake of about 30 cm long and it disappeared into a crack in the wall before Roger was able to capture it. He told the people to just leave it alone and it would find its own way back into the bush. Later that night they gouged out the wall in order to get to it and kill it ‘because the women were scared’!!!!

We left Kosi Bay Camp early on the morning of the 13^th  to visit Tembe Elephant Park and Ndumo Game Reserve.

PS We are sitting in the Wimpy at Mkuze posting this because we had no internet signal for the past few days.