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Balule and Kruger on a budget and a week in Tofo Mozambique


kittykat23uk

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We took the H1-3 then the S100 and were soon amongst a pride of lions. The lions had their eyes on a herd of buffalo on the other side of a river. Of course, with it now being the middle of the day, it was too hot for them to hunt.

 

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PA134947 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA134954 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

The pride male seemed to be a real bruiser. He must have seen a lot of action in his time

 

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PA134959 Lion by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA134965 Lion by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA134966 Lion by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

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6293669235_a131197379.jpg

PA134969 Lion by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

We had lions all around us and the cars started to pile up.

 

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PA134988 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA134990 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

This lioness watched the buffalo intently:

 

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PA134993 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

But soon lost interest and settled down for a nap.

 

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PA135009 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135015 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135017 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135034 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

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Then on the H1-3 we took a detour to find a white rhino just before lunch.

 

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PA135062 White Rhino by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135065 White Rhino by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135071 White Rhino by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

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Then it was time for lunch. Both groups were there at the same time and it took over an hour to get served. In fact, Isaac came over when it was time to leave and to his horror found that we had still not been served! It's just as well that we'd already had some ood sightings in the morning because by now time was getting on. When food finally arrived we ate quickly and were back on our way again stopping first for some elephants.

 

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PA135078 Elephants by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

We returned to the S100 and the lions were still there, six of them the male and five females.

 

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PA135081 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135082 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135088 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135092 Lioness by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

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We took the H-7 back towards Orpen but took a quck detour down the S36 just to the waterhole and back. A waterbuck posed well for photos though, as he guided his ladies across the road:

 

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PA135098 Waterbuck by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135104 Waterbuck by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

A few zebra were seen as well.

 

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PA135106 Black with white stripes or white with black stripes? by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135107 Zebra by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

And a Goaway bird,

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PA135114 Go-away bird (Grey Lourie) by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

We saw ostrich on the way to the waterhole as well.

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PA135117 Ostrich by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Then a few more zebra and Wildebeest

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PA135123 zebra by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA135124 Wildebeest by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

We stopped at a viewpoint and saw golden orioles and then later this Hadeda Ibis

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PA135131 Hadeda Ibis by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

At the Orpen checkpoint we stopped to use the facilities and shop, and I saw this Tree Agama

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PA135141 female Tree Agama by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

At this point, Isaac put the covers down on the vehicle which I strongly objected to, given that it was between the checkpoint and the gate that we had seen the dogs on the first day in Kruger, it seemed ridiculous that the covers should obscure our last few minutes in the park! We were out of the park by 17.45 and back at the lodge for 19.15.

 

We ate early as Pretty had a surprise for everyone. She put on a wonderful evening of entertainment by a bunch of traditional shongaan dancers, and everyone got the chance to participate (whether or not they wanted to!) in the tribal dances.

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I waited at the waterhole, most evenings, and on the last night I causght a fleeting glimpse of an animal which I believe was probably a jackal. The area was filled with the calls of frogs, who sounded like a bunch of argumentative builders, the conversations they were having seemed to go something like,

 

"That's not right, that's not right, that's not right, that's not right,"

 

"Really?, Really?, Really?, Really?, Really?, Really?"

 

"Get it right! Get it right! Get it right! Get it right!"

 

"yeah that's right, yeah that's right, yeah that's right, yeah that's right,"

 

or maybe I'd just been in the bush for too long:

 

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and everyone got the chance to participate (whether or not they wanted to!)

 

Message to all lodge owners reading this; this is a sure way to lose me as a customer!

Dancing with me has been compared to moving a piano. I'll be sitting on my throne, waching the spectacle. Leave me be.

 

 

 

"That's not right, that's not right, that's not right, that's not right,"

 

"Really?, Really?, Really?, Really?, Really?, Really?"

 

"Get it right! Get it right! Get it right! Get it right!"

 

"yeah that's right, yeah that's right, yeah that's right, yeah that's right,"

 

That is indeed exactly what they're saying. No doubt about it.

 

or maybe I'd just been in the bush for too long

 

Naah.

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:D To be fair, one guy said he had a heart condition so they let him off. ;)

 

14th October Balule to Johannesburg

 

So Today was effectively a transfer day with that short one hour game drive around Balule first thing. Over tea and rusks I saw Cardinal woodpecker, and then we headed off on our drive. There was nothing new of note. We saw Tawny eagle perched at the top of a tree, the usual game species and this red-crested Korhaan.

 

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PA145159 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Retruning to the lodge we had breakfast while watching the birds and monkeys around the Lapa. A dark chanting goshawk flew in briefly, causing some consternation.

 

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P1470073 P1470101 Helmeted Guineafowl by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470080 Feeding time for Vervet Monkeys at Tremisana Lodge by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470091 Pied Crow by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470098 Yellow-billed Hornbill by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

After saying my goodbyes we headed back towards Johannesburg, stopping at the three rondavels lookout point to admire the views.

 

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P1470112 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470116 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470118 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

The rest of the day was spent getting to Johannesburg. I overnighted near the airport at the Life Hotel. It seemed that we weren't just in the flightpath of the aeroplanes. As the sun began to set, flocks of Ibis were heading to roost.

 

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P1470124 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470136 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470178 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

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15th October- Johannesburg to Tofo

 

Today was another travel day. A couple of Speckled Mousebirds were seen early in the grounds of the hotel:

 

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P1470202 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

The flight was on time and went via Vilunculos where we were required to disembark and wait for the plane to be turned around. We got a wonderful view of the coastline.

 

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P1470235 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470243 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

My transfer was ready and waiting on arrival at Inhambane and passport control was handled swiftly when I showed that I had already obtained a visa in advance. You can get one on arrival but it is slightly more expensive and I heard that some people were delayed when the printer jammed.

 

On the way out of Inhambane, I asked my driver to find somewhere to change some rand. That was easily sorted with a street vendor and I received 3300 mets for 1000 Rand. There is a cashpoint on the outskirts of Tofo but I heard they only accept visa and I only had Mastercard.

 

Most places in Tofo itself will accept cash in various currencies and in fact I later found out that the rate they were offering on £ was a lot more favourable than if I had paid by card. Which was a pain because I did end up putting a few things like my bar bill on card, when I had plenty of sterling on me.

 

I was staying at the Aquatico beach cassitas situated right next to Tofo Scuba, where I was diving.

 

This is the view from my room:

 

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PA165256 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Pretty Awesome!! :D

 

So, it was a self catering room, well equipped with utensils a small kitchenette a double bed, a single bed and seating area.

 

I checked in with the dive centre and organised a whale shark snorkelling trip for the next morning with a shallow dive planned for the afternoon. Then I braved the market to try and get some essential supplies. There are no convenience stores in this sleepy little town just a local market which seemed to sell three things, alcohol, fruit and souvenirs. I had a hard time just finding some tea and milk and gave up trying to find breakfast cereal.

 

The Dive centre recommended Bamboozi Beach Lodge for dinner so I headed up there which was quite a trek, but worth it for the delicious t-bone steak.

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16th October Whale Shark Safari

 

Still on Kruger time, I work up early thinking it was 5 am. Found out later that I'd set it an hour ahead of the actual time. I met a couple of lovely guys over breakfast, Paul an entomologist from New Jersey and Chris, who was working in the power industry out in Saudi Arabia. They were heading out on a double tank dive and so we planned to catch up later.

 

Kitting up for the Ocean Safari was at 10.30 and we headed out by 11.00. The RIB is launched right off the beach into the surf. We first had to all pile on the bow of the boat and push it around so it was facing the ocean. Then we had to work with the incoming waves to float the boat, after which all the ladies had to jump in and then once the water was deep enough to

start the engines, the men got in and off we went on a bumpy ride further down the coast to where the whale sharks congregate.

 

 

We arrived at the site and soon one of the crew spotted a whale shark, and gestured to us to jump in, gesticulating wildly in the direction that we should swim. I'm no stranger to giant sharks, having dived with some slightly more toothy ones of the coast of Gansbaai, but that was from the relative safety of a strong steel cage. Nevertheless, excitement quickly overcame any trepdation I might have felt about jumping in the water with a 35 foot fish weighing 40 tons with a mouth a yard wide, and I was over the back of the rib in a shot. The water was a murky soup of plankton as we swam out in a group thrashing around, desperately trying to see the shark. I didn't see the first one at all and, worst of all, my stupid camera shut down on me. The batteries were dead, even though I had charged them all up well in advance.

 

Back in the boat and another Whale Shark was quickly spotted. Unlike some well-known whale shark sites, there was no need to use a spotter plane to find these sharks, in fact there seemed to be plenty around. Back overboard, and this time it suddenly appeared out of the murk and it was HUGE, I could see every detail of it's skin, a melange of spots and stripes, dappled with sunlight filtering in from above. It was as if Georges Seurat himself had been let loose with a tin of titanium white and a paintbrush on a giant moving canvas! And so started many trips in and out of the boat swimming with these giants of the sea. I followed one for ages, keeping pace above it's sickle shaped pectoral fin as it cruised like a submarine just below the surface. Another couple of times, I dropped in right in front of one of the beasts and watched as it came straight towards me, mouth wide open as it hoovered up the plankton that was making the water so murky. I must have swum with 7 or 8 sharks. Sometimes they let us swim alongside them for quite some time before slowly diving deeper to be lost in the gloom.

 

Getting in and out of the boat in the swell sapped my strength and I received many scraped knuckles and bruises. While we cruised around looking for the next shark, the crew spotted a pair of Humpback Whales, a mother and calf. They dove occasionally, lifting their tail flukes out of the water as they dived into the depths. We did not get to see them breach nor did we see their enormous pectoral fins for whcih they are famous. We were not invited to snorkel with the whales though, and we didn't approch particularly closely. The trip was towards the end of the humpback season, and most had already left the area on their migration back towards antarctica. So we were lucky to see them.

 

 

After we lost sight of the whales, we found a couple more whale sharks and were back in the water with them. One particularly memorable encounter was when one materialsed out of nowhere. It suddenly appeared straight in front of me and another snorkeler with it's mouth agape. I started to backpeddle for fear of being swallowed whole, before the shark, suddenly aware of me, turned inperceptibly to avoid making contact. As it passed just underneath me, we turned to follow it as it cruised along slowly, seemingly without a care in the world.

 

This wasn't my only chance to swim with the whale sharks and later in the trip I managed to record some footage.

 

Edited by kittykat23uk
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As soon as we got back in to the dive centre, it would have been time to kit up and head back out for the shallow dive. But I was really exhausted from swimming and pulling myself into the boat time and again. My mouth was sore from being stung twice by jellyfish and my fingers were blistered and raw from scrapes. So I decided to take it easy for the afternoon and rescheduled my dives for the next day. I spent lunch chatting with the people who were on the whale shark safari and then Paul returned from his dive. Chris joined us and he invited us to dinner at his place, which was set up on the hillside overlooking the ocean at the other end of town. Accepting graciously, we agreed to meet up with Chris later. Paul and I spent the afternoon chatting and after the sun went down we watched an amazing lightning storm before heading to the market to find something to take to Chris's for dessert.

 

 

Barracuda steak was on the menu and it was delicious. The steaks were huge and had a very delicate flavour and a firm texture, much like swordfish. We had a wonderful evening chatting and then later Paul walked me back to my cassita. I was woken in the night by an almighty crashing of thunder, the storm must have been right overhead.

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There didn't seem to be many birds around but here's a few phtos from the last couple of days:

 

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PA155208 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA155216 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA155248 adj by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

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PA165265 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA165267 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA165288 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA165297 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA175362 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA175366 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA175369 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA175371 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA175377 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA175378 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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PA175387 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

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17th October Tofo Shallow Dive - Salon

 

The dive wasn't until the afternoon, but I was still up early. So I had brakfast at the dive shop and later headed into the Market. I bought a pair of the most outragous shorts I could find and spent a bit of time photographing the birds (see above set).

 

The afternoon came around and it was time to kit up for the dive. I tried with 8kg but found that I was too buoyant and the divemaster Carla, had to stick another kilo in my BCD pocket to get me under. We dropped quickly and I was concerned my ears wouldn't clear, but they were okay.

 

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P1010003 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

We made it to the bottom and, despite charging up the batteries overnight, my camera refused to take more than a couple of shots, all of which were of me descending!

 

So I'm afraid you will have to imagine what the dive was like. The Salon is named for the wide variety of Cleaner Shrimp found on the site. As a shallow (by Tofo standards) site, The Salon is used mainly for training dives, refresher dives and long, relaxing dives for experienced divers. It consists of a coral outcrop that climbs about 6 m up from the sandy bottom, the deepest we dove was 14.7 m. First impressions of the conditions and general terrain/life was that it was more North Sea than Red Sea! No beautiful corals to be seen, just rocky outcrops covered with weedy vegetation. The visibility was not great, only about 8 metres, but there was fishlife consistent with what one would expect from tropical seas, including shoals of goatfish, anthias, butterflyfish, tangs and angelfish. Cushion stars as big as coffee tables, along with blue sea stars littered the reef.

 

We spent our time going slowly around the outcrop checking all of the small caves and crannies for interesting sea life. I stayed close to the instructor Nick who had a light that he used to point to the myriad of exquisitely beautiful nudibranchs (seaslugs), porcelain crabs and a variety of shrimp, including harlequin, boxer,and even "sexy" shrimp. We counted at least ten different nudibranchs on the site, all different colours, shapes, some had lots of little tentacles and cerata, others were dimpled. We found 8 Kuhl's Rays which are a type of grey stingray, dotted with luminous blue spots, they often shot out from the sand right under us.

 

Stonefish, Bearded Scorpionfish, clown frogfish and three different coloured leaf fish were spotted in their hiding places on the reef, while lionfish drifted with the surge just off the bottom and pipefish floated small yellow submarines in caves and overhangs. We found a cammoflaged octopus pretending to be a piece of coral motionless on the seabed. Intricately patterned Honeycomb Morays gulped water from their burrows, whilst silver batfish filled a small cave. A large porcupine fish was seen sleeping under a ledge on the bottom of the seabed and smaller white-spotted boxfish and model Tobys were also seen. A juvenile Emperor Angelfish flashed it's crazy neon blue and yellow pajamas as it disappeared into a crevice and Moorish Idols seemed to regally survey thier domain over the reef.

 

After about 40 minutes, it was time to head for the surface. We completed a safety stop on the way up and made our way back to the boat.

 

I spent the afternoon chatting with Paul, Chris and some new friends, Sandra and Mike from the west coast US. I met three young teachers who were living in Joahnnesburg on an international placement, Dee from Australia, Evelyn from the state, and Laura from Europe. We all decided to go for dinner at Tofo Tofo in town. They served the best spaghetti bolognaise ever!

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18th October Marble arch and Simon's Town

 

In discussion with the dive centre, I agreed that it would be wise for me to do two more shallow dives before going to a deeper reef. So the morning was spent at Marble Arch.

 

Marble Arch is the closest site that lies in Whale Shark Alley and before we arrived at the dive site we had the chance to snorkel with another whale shark and we also found two others visible from the surface.

 

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P1010009 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Marble Arch is named after a swim through between the inside and outside of the bowl shaped reef with walls rising 4-6m from the sandy bottom. Another swim though leads back inside the reef to a small canyon at around 18 m which is covered with marine life on both sides. The abundance of caves, crevices and overhangs provide shelter for large honeycomb Moray eels, Stingrays and shy reef fishes such as this porcupine fish.

 

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P1010020 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

And Large pufferfish:

 

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P1014163 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Life was similar to Salon. Large starfish and cushionstars were common:

 

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P1014170 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1014168 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

Schools of Bluestriped Snapper, Yellow Goat fish, Big Eyes and various angelfish including emperors, Korans and powder blue tangs hovered on the top of the reef, while Blacktip Trevalleys and Kingfish patrolled above looking for food and Triggerfish slept in the crevices.

 

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P1014172 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

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P1014175 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

A clownfish sought shelter in an anemone.

 

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P1014176 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Whilst a lionfish slept on an outcrop of rock and others were out hunting.

 

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P1014177 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1014182 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

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P1014169 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1014162 Leaf fish by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Multiple species of Nudibranchs, together with small shrimps made the macro life also quite interesting at this site and we found Loch's Magnificent slug along with Porcelain crab as well as the brilliantly eccentric white-spotted boxfish. This name doesn't do the male of the species any justice at all. Try to imagine a fish, shaped roughly like a box that tapers towards the back ending in a transparent tail and fins. The fish has a large head at the squarer end, with a face that droops down so the mouth is towards the bottom. Now, imagine that the sides of this bizzare creature have been painted prussian blue. Then imagine that someone has painted bright yellow polka dots all over the blue background. These polkadots are further defined with a deep brown, maybe Burnt Umber around the edges. In contrast, take the back or lid of the boxfish and paint that with the burnt umber. Then, drip a bit of yellow over the edge of the lid and finally daub the top of the lid liberally with white polkadots and voila, you have your boxfish!

 

A vividly coloured peacock mantis shrimp sheltered in a crack between two walls of rock, it's flamboyant livery glowing in a myriad of colours. But as usual my camera played up and I couldn't get a photo of this amazing creature.

 

 

The dive lasted about 40 minutes before we had to return to the surface.

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So many great photos. The oxpecker shots are wonderful and those tiny lion cubs and the genet! The vervet action shots are so crisp, great job! I'll be going underwater with you next time.

Edited by Atravelynn
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That would be fab Lynn! My Dad who was my buddy can't dive now after suffering a heart attack. Surpisingly, it's very difficult to find someone who would be interested in this sort of safari/diving trip! :D

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That would be fab Lynn! My Dad who was my buddy can't dive now after suffering a heart attack. Surpisingly, it's very difficult to find someone who would be interested in this sort of safari/diving trip! :D

 

I'd be in! I'm not a massively experienced diver- did my AOW last year in Sodwana and now have about 35 logged dives. My brother's a keen diver (and especially likes sharks) but he's not interested in the safari aspect.

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Awesome! Still considering whether I can fit in a trip in the Spring. I've been toying with the idea of Sri Lanka for blue whales, leopards and birds with the option of dong a few dives in the afternoon after the whale watching (it's not a great diving destination but would be enough to get the fins wet hopefully). The other thought I had was Belize, spending some time birding etc, visit to Tikal and ending up with some diving at Ambergis Caye... Maybe we need to start a safaritalk dive club! :)

 

More to follow.

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I'm quite booked up with safaris next year but I do have a week set aside for diving. At the moment it's looking like a liveaboard in the Red Sea in June with my bro. I've never dived the Red Sea, so it'll be a first for me. We're going to go for the South- Daedelus/Rocky/St Johns. Apparently June is good for sharks.

 

Did you see any mantas in Moz? I did a liveaboard in the Maldives this year and saw some but sadly only one whale shark, and that was a glimpse as it swam under the boat. Saw one last year in Sodwana though. However, sounds like Moz was swarming with them! I hear the mantas in Moz are big.

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Massive! There are two kinds, Reef Mantas and Pelagic Mantas. They can usually be seen on the deeper reefs, like um, "Manta reef" ;) and Hogwarts But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Simon's Town

 

After completing our surface interval we arrived at Simon's Town. This site lies right in the heart of Whale Shark Alley south of Tofo. The reef makes a large amphitheatre that provides protection for numerous species of Wrasse, Butterflyfish and Angelfish. We saw, choc dips, seargent majors, longfin batfish, long nose, vagabond, raccoon and limespot butterflyfish to name a few as well as another brilliantly neon juvenile emperorfish.

 

Schools of Snapper and Bigeye float suspended above the reef. Colourful Nudibranches dotted the walls and the top of the reef.

 

We again saw some Kuhl's Rays lying buried in the sand as well as a big crocodile flathead.

 

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P1014174 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Cleaner pipefish skitted along the reef, while honeycomb and yellow edged morays poked their snake-like heads out of their holes. Ember Parrotfish feed on the reef and we found some large Peacock Groupers. There were plenty of the weird and whacky with weedy and bearded scorpionfish, porcupinefish and lionfish hunting around the reef.

 

I had a little problem towards the end of the dive when my weight belt came loose and I couldn't get it tight enough. Luckily Carla was on hand to help me out. By that point it was time to head back anyway so we made a slow ascent back to the surface.

 

After we returned to the surface, we spotted and snorkelled with another two whale sharks!

 

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P1014183 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Then a huge leatherback turtle the size of a small car decided to surface and take a breath of air by the side of the rib just to the left of us. Adriaan, one of the divers jumped in quickly to try and catch sight of it underwater, but it vanished into the blue as quickly as it had appeared.

 

When I arrived back I met up with Chris, Paul, Evelyn, Dee and Laura as well as some Spanish guys and we all decided to go for dinner together. We tried Casa de Comer and I had barracuda in a tomato sauce which was not a patch on the one we had at Chris's a couple of days before. In fact it seemed to be effectively the same menu as Tofo Tofo but the food was not as good and it was more expensive too.

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19th October Manta Reef

 

This was my first deep dive to Manta Reef and I hoped to see the big Mantas that Tofo is famous for. I wasn't disappointed! We had a videographer on this dive filming souvenir dvds for us, so I can take you into the blue with me on this dive.

 

Manta Reef is famous for its three cleaning stations where Mantas will come to have small reef fish remove parasites and dead skin. The site consists of a flat reef plate bordered by 5 - 10 m walls to the north and south. The cleaning stations are found on the top of the reef between the walls. The reef itself is sited at a depth of up to 28m so you have to be AOW qualified to dive it, or be on a deep adventure dive.

 

While the Mantas are the highlight of this site, they are by no means the only attraction and the first interesting thing we came across was a large yellow frogfish perched on an outcrop of coral. We saw schools of Redtooth Triggerfish, Snappers and Trevally congregating on the north wall. A Dragon Moray and four large Honeycomb Morays were dotted around the site, including one large honeycomb that was swimming freely away from the protection of it's burrow, allowing us to really appreciate the size and beauty of this impressive eel.

 

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P1014199 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

The caves and pinnacles provide shelter for huge potato Groupers of which we saw several. The reef is also home to numerous smaller reef fish and colourful Nudibranches.

 

Looking up, the water was full of schooling baracuda and kingfish and then flapping gracefully was the sillhouette of our first Reef Manta Ray, ringed by the light from above.

 

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P1014191 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

At the bottom of the reef, another Crocodile Flathead was camoflaged on the seabed:

 

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P1014196 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

As we approached the top of the reef, I clung precariously to the edge, steadying myself against the current and watched as another huge Reef Manta glided effortlessly towards me and lifted up to float above my head.

 

As I ran low on air fisrt, Val accompanied me back to the surface. We were joined at the safety stop by the biggest manta we'd seen that dive! It appeared out of the blue below us and seemed to pause to watch us as we watched it, before gliding off away from the reef.

 

Here's the video.

 

 

The wind was getting up by the afternoon and, although the boat was going out, I was advised not to risk it. I watched someone kitesurfing.

 

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PA195391 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

Back in my room nature at it's rawest played out as a small gecko was caught and devoured by a larger cousin:

 

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PA195381 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470260 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

So we spent the afternoon playing cards, and then went to Chris's for dinner where he'd organised a wonderful spread of locally caught lobster.

 

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P1470261 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

6301763558_a723f99a99.jpg

P1470267 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

Edited by kittykat23uk
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Wow, Jo, that was an awesome video and the whole experience looks very other-worldly. The mantas look like Cirque de Soleil acrobats, but even more graceful. Thanks for sharing. It was well worth splurging on the videographer.

 

And since you're focused on the marine world here, I recently attended a Nat Geo lecture called "Ocean Soul" - presented by the famous underwater photographer Brian Skerry. The talk was taped and should be available on the web. Worth a watch for those of you interested in marine life and underwater photography.

Edited by Sangeeta
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Thanks Sangeeta.

 

So we are down to the last couple of days before heading back to Sunny Norwich!

 

Here's a few pics taken from the video:

 

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manta 2 adj by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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frogfish 2 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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manta copy by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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moray copy by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

6404496477_ea53689873.jpg

manta 3 copy by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

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20th October - Manta Reef

 

We returned to Manta Reef in the morning and sighted a school of bottlenosed dolphins on the way. The first thing we saw when we got down was the frogfish, still in the same spot. Then, as I looked up, in the distange I saw a large diamond-shaped ray fly overhead, but it was not a Manta, it was something rarer than that, a Smalleye Stingray! The Smalleye Stingray has a wingspan of up to 2.2m, with a long tail. So from a distance you could be forgiven for thinking you'd seen a mobula ray, were it not for the more pointed front end devoid of the paddle-like lobes of the mobula rays. In fact, the smalleye stingray seems to swim in a manner much more like mantas than their bottom-dwelling cousins, represtenting a case of convergent evolution with the mantas. It is believed they might lead a pelagic or semi-pelagic existance. It is only reccently that the smalleye stingrays have been discovered around Tofo and they were once so rare worldwide that they were thought to be extinct! Tofo is one of the only places where there is a reasonable chance of seeing one and in fact it was only in 2009 that the first small eye stingray was filmed by the BBC. It was too distant to get a photo but here is a link to a picture of one taken at a reef in the same area: One and only

 

The rest of the dive was similar to the previous day but sadly no mantas seemed to be around. We saw big schools of baracuda and kingfish. Large potato bass, leaf fish, lionfish, scorpion fish, twinspot axel hogfish, porcupine and pufferfish we all seen along with a variety of colourful reef fish. A torpedo ray was found hiding on the sea bed. The videographer came with us again, but the vis was not as good and he didn't get any decent footage that time.

 

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P1014213 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1014216 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

In the afternoon, the see was getting very rough so, although a boat was going out, I decided not to dive. I think it was the right decision. When the boat returned, half the windscreen had been broken off by a wave breaking over the boat and a bunch of shivvering divers disembarked and rushed to get warm.

 

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P1470268 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Chilling out with some local rum and good company seemed like a much better idea..

 

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P1470270 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470278 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

In the afternoons I spent some time seawatching but there was little to see. A bunch of street kids who comb the beach selling trinkets to unwary tourist found the novelty of looking torugh a telescope or pair of binoculars an irresistable diversion from their daily work. I had a hard time getting them back!

 

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376112_699057985514_48300702_35634438_1631382014_n by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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296848_699058025434_48300702_35634439_1473688983_n by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

 

A bunch of us went to dinner at Tofo Tofo later and finsihed the night at Fatimas Nest. Throughout the night we were escorted by the dive dog. This dog is one of several strays that has been "adopted" by the dive centre.

 

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P1470283 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470291 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470292 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470290 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Dive dog, tried unsuccessfully to be served at the bar, but was told he was under age.

 

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P1470294 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470297 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

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P1470298 by kittykat23uk, on Flickr

 

Sadly the three teachers from Johannesburg and Paul were heading off early the next morning on a bus bound for Maputo so we said our goodbyes before calling it a night.

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