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Our happy paddlers of the day Sonja Zukonsiki and Christoph hasse!
There were plenty of waterbirds, including the magnificent Fish Eagle.
But there are not just birds, don’t forget the countless numbers of crocodiles in these waters!
But most importantly Sonja and Christoph had time to relax 🙂
The last full day of their nature tour in South Africa sees Stephanie and Adrian taking to the water once more in St Lucia.
Again, these waters contain both Hippos and Crocodiles, but this time Stephanie and Adrian are on Kayaks.
Paddling in the waters with Hippos and crocs doesn’t seem like such a good idea as you carry your paddle to the waters edge…
…but after the first few strokes of the paddle you are soaring across the water and all thoughts of turning back are gone from your mind.
Lead by our trusty guide Justin, Stephanie and Adrian ventured out in search of the Hippos, Crocs and birdlife of the estuary.
Now we know why it is called Goliath, it is massive!
Once more Adrian and Stephanie have decided that they’re not ready to leave South Africa yet.
But we caught them and brought them back!
Don’t worry you two, the estuary, the crocodiles, the hippos and the kayaks will still be here when you get back!
Todays Kayakers are;
Harald Goesuth, Horst Kalsher, Alexis Geosuth (and Chich the witch)
They had a great time as they saw hippos and crocs nice and close!
Check out the original blog and see the pictures here!
Posted on January 8, 2012 by Earl
Have you ever had an experience that you were so excited about before it began, but then, once you found yourself in the middle of that experience, you started to wonder if it was such a good idea after all?
That’s exactly what I went through at one point during my visit to South Africa. And it all had to do with an early morning kayak ride.
Ordinarily, I am more than happy to participate in a leisurely kayak experience and never have I felt my life threatened in any way whatsoever while paddling around any body of water. But, when I found myself paddling a kayak around the St. Lucia Estuary in South Africa, that all changed, and it changed quite quickly.
Fish don’t scare me, but what does scare me is the sight of an 8-inch shark fin rising out of the water only 2 meters from my kayak, just seconds after leaving the shore, especially when there was never any mention of sharks during the orientation we received before getting into the water.
And when I pointed out to our guide that I saw what appeared to be a shark fin, only then did he inform us that this estuary is, in fact, home to three different kinds of sharks. Great news.
However, after keeping my eye on the middle of the estuary for about five minutes and not seeing any more fins, I finally began to relax and enjoy the paddling. But of course, when the main aim of your kayak trip is to spot hippos and crocodiles in the wild, any moments of relaxation are not going to last very long at all.
The first crocodile we spotted was resting on the bank of the water, but once our three kayaks were only 8 meters or so away, it quickly entered the water and began to swim off. I started to breathe again, right until the son-of-a-witch turned around, popped it’s two eyes out of the water and just stared at me. Yes, me.
Then, as my kayaking partner Rachelle (from TheTravelBite.com) and I frantically tried to catch up to the rest of the group (we were in the kayak at the back), the crocodile would dip down into the murky water and ten seconds later, re-appear in a new location, still following me, still staring me down and still making me somewhat nervous.
Crocodiles eat people. And being in the wild with them, busting through their habitat in three large kayaks suddenly seemed like quite a questionable idea. It continued to seem like a questionable idea for the next fifteen minutes as that massive crocodile swam behind me, once even popping up directly to my right, only 3 meters away.
To be honest, the only thing that could take my attention away from the thought of being eaten by a crocodile, was the thought of being snapped in half by a hippopotamus.
So, when we spotted a 2000 kg hippo grazing on the side of the estuary and then suddenly head towards the water, break into a jog (apparently hippos can run at a speed of 44 kms/hr) and continue jogging in the direction of our kayaks, I really began preparing for a most unfortunate end to my life.
Luckily, the hippo ran right into the water where he, too, proceeded to stick only his eyes above the surface, watching us quite closely, just as the crocodile was doing from the other direction.
Now you might think that the ideal thing to do at this point in order to calm down and regain one’s composure would be to take a break from kayaking, a short rest if you will. We took a break alright, paddling across the estuary to a quiet spot along the shore where we parked the kayaks and stepped onto dry land. But this ‘quiet spot’ turned out to be an area where hippos enter and exit the water in order to eat.
And if there’s one thing I learned about hippos during my time in South Africa, it’s that these beasts do not appreciate it when anything or anyone is standing in their path as they roam the banks of an estuary. So what did we do? We hung around this area for about ten minutes.
In the end, we were not attacked of course, but when we climbed back into the kayaks, we were then taken to an area of thick marshes, narrow channels and mangrove forests, all places that could easily hide a hungry crocodile or hippopotamus.
It was not a comfortable ride as I tried to pay close attention to my surroundings, as if my spotting a crocodile swimming towards me would in any way prevent it from biting off my arm.
In all honesty, this was the scariest activity I have ever participated in. Scarier than sky-diving, scarier than swimming with whale-sharks, scarier than volcano boarding in Nicaragua, scarier than traveling to Pakistan or Afghanistan.
But, at the same time, just as is the case with all of those above experiences, kayaking with crocodiles, hippopotamuses and sharks is something I would do again without hesitation. It’s also something that I would recommend to every individual who travels to this part of the world. Just face the fear, feel the terror of being surrounded, in the wild, by such amazing creatures.
After all, this is perhaps one of the most unique opportunities in South Africa to get so very close to these animals. It’s impossible to describe the feeling properly so you’ll just have to experience it for yourself.
And just think of the photos you’ll take!
A couple of days ago Justin, our lead guide, reported a string of floats spotted on the Estuary whilst on a paddle with guests.
With EKZN Wildlife officials we went out and recovered what ended up being a long gill net set by illegal fisherman.
After nearly an hour and a half of struggling with the net we managed to
release what we estimate to be around 500 fish back into the estuary. In the end there were only 10 dead fish we couldn’t save!
Great spotting Justin!
We are proud to announce that St Lucia Kayak Safaris has this week been awarded the new tender to operate the kayaking trips by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority. This is the start of what will be a very exciting partnership with the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority.
The new tender includes exclusive new areas of operation like the restricted access area at Catalina Bay on the Eastern shores and for the first time ever, sea kayaking at Cape Vidal.
Looking forward to bringing you the brand new adventures! Watch this space!
Hi all! The sunshine and light, breezy afternoons have conspired to treat guests to amazing hippo sightings during the last week as we were lucky enough on one occasion to have 4 adult hippo in a very playfull mood- breaching, rolling and chasing eachother around in the water fairly close to our kayaks. On another occasion while parked on the banks of crocodile island, one hippo decided to get out onto the island for a graze, unperturbed by our presence. We did however back off slightly after he gave us a big yawn and a bit off a stare, making sure everybody knows who has right of way in and around the estuary! These sightings offered very good photographic opportunities, so if you were there please share your pics with us and you might win a Kayak Safaris T-shirt for your efforts!
Just got off the water after the perfect late afternoon paddle. With a light breeze just enough to take the edge off the scorching sunshine, a few hippo decided to get out onto crocodile island for a snack. With the wind in our favour we sat hidden by some reed beds with these 3 hippo grazing to within 30 meters away from us, seemingly unaware of our presence. They eventually returned to the water where one decided to have a back scratch by means of rollng around on his back in the shallows. An unforgetable experience indeed!
Been having a brilliant time out there and paddlers have been rewarded with very good sightings and a few fairly close-up encounters of hippo as they huddle up in the shallows on those hot summer mornings, making for some good photographic opportunities. Also spotting some big crocs regularly as the still dropping water level opens up bigger banks for basking crocs. For the birders; a variety of sandpipers and plovers, incl large numbers of Common Ringed Plover, are present at the moment and active on the islands and as a bonus we have had a few recent sightings of Little Bittern.