Dedicated conservation work is being done safe guard turtles. iSimangaliso recently partnered with multiple entities and NGOs including Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, in an effort to reintroduce rescued sea turtles back into their native habitat along the Sodwana Bay shores. There was great excitement around the release of Bokkie, a green sea turtle, alongside Luna, and 12 Loggerhead hatchlings. Bokkie is an amputee who spent a year in rehabilitation after being discovered by the Turtle Rescue Network on Struisbaai where she was stranded. Over 800 grams of barnacles were painstakingly removed from her bottom shell as well as 47 pieces of plastic, were extracted by the Two Oceans Turtle Conservation team, from her gut system.
All of the turtles have satellite tags, and according to the tracking data, after her release, Bokkie started heading north towards Kosi Bay on the Northern section of iSimangaliso Wetland Park where she seems to be enjoying the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. iSimangaliso’s Marine Protected Area provides shallow, coastal waters, and estuaries.
Sea turtles maintain the health of the world’s oceans, as they fulfil vital functions in ocean ecosystems. Sea turtles maintain productive coral reef ecosystems and transport essential nutrients from the ocean to beaches and coastal dunes. However, in the open ocean these creatures and their habitats are under threat due to fishing pressures, pollution and climate change. The warm waters of the Indian Ocean that borders iSimangaliso, are a refuge for several turtle species, including the endangered Leatherback turtles and the threatened Loggerhead turtles.
iSimangaliso has an integrated park made up of over 1 328 000 hectares that stretches over 220 kilometers along the coast of the Indian Ocean up to the Mozambican border The Marine Protected Area makes up a significant portion of the Park and annually these turtles travel north each season to nest in the Park. Female turtles always return to their place of birth to lay their eggs, which is why it was imperative for Bokkie to be returned to where her life most likely began.
Factors that make iSimangaliso a sanctuary for turtle conservation. 1. Enforcing Legislation: iSimangaliso has enforced legislation that bans the harvesting of adult turtles and the collection of their eggs. 2. Monitoring Nesting: iSimangaliso monitors turtle nesting activity each year to ensure hatchlings make it safely back to the ocean. 3. Creating a Marine Protected Area: iSimangaliso Wetland Park has been declared a Marine Protected Area (MPA), to protect nesting turtles and hatchlings from predators. 4. Enforcing Legislation with Patrols: iSimangaliso has field rangers who patrol the coast daily, nightly, and when needed.
A vital part of conservation is the transferring of an understanding to the public. Turtle Tours help achieve this. Learning about the turtles as you watching the females struggle up the sand to lay their eggs and/or watch the eggs hatch and the little ones race to the safety of the sea, is both interesting and a moving experience.
For iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, conservation without borders, means holding the Park to the highest standards, to inspire change across ecosystems, no matter where they are located in the world. Adapted from iSimangaliso Wetland Park Blog.
The Turtles:
Turtles are reptiles. 5 species of sea turtle are found off the KZN coast: loggerhead, leatherback, hawksbill, green and olive ridley. Only the loggerhead and leatherback turtles nest along our shores.
iSimangaliso’s sands conduct heat, and this is vital to the survival of the turtles. The ilmenite mineral in the sands is critical as the turtles have no sex chromosomes, so when they hatch in temperatures above 29° Celsius … it’s a female and if the temperature is below that, it’s a male. Without the ilmenite’s warmth, most hatchlings would end up as males, effectively dooming the population to extinction.
Long term, Climate Change will disturb the ratio of male and female sea turtles as the rising temperature of the sand will mean female births Climate Change is also raising sea levels and creating more extreme weather events, which also harm the turtle’s coastal habitat.
Did you ever wonder how the sea turtles keep their osmotic balance? All sea turtles have a lachrymal gland behind each eye that eliminates the excess salt gained from ingesting sea water. When they exiting the water, this secretion gives the impression that the turtle is crying.
How do turtles manage to find their way back to where they hatched? They’re able to do so with the help of Earth’s invisible magnetic field, which sea turtles use to navigate at sea. Each stretch of coastline has its own magnetic signature, and these turtles remember and use them as guides.
So let’s find out more about each.
Leatherbacks swim relentlessly, almost non-stop all day, every day, using their hydrodynamic shape to cruise effortlessly through the open oceans. In just a few months they can cover several thousand kilometres. They can hold their breath for up to an hour, diving to more than 1 000 metres below the sea (where it’s pitch black), chasing giant jellyfish to gobble up. This is deeper than any other large creature, besides sperm and beaked whales.They are the fastest reptile, clocking up a swimming speed of 35 km/h. And they are unique in the reptilian world, because they can generate their own body heat.
Females will swim around the world and return to a beach near to where they themselves hatched decades previously. They are supreme navigators with remarkable memories. Every year, for the past 100 million years, female leatherback turtles have emerged from the ocean – mostly at night – to lay their eggs on beaches. During summer about 70 to 80 female leatherbacks return from their epic travels across the world’s oceans, to find their way back to the iSimangaliso beaches.
250 to 750 kilograms, is an average weight for a leatherback female. Sometimes they can reach almost a ton. The head – including that razor sharp beak that munches giant jellyfish in the deep ocean – is the size of a man’s head
Unlike other turtle species, which have hard shells, leatherbacks have a streamlined, leather-like carapace. Females will lay as many as 10 clutches in one breeding season, each clutch with an estimated 80-100 soft shelled eggs.
Leatherback turtles are now listed as a critically endangered species. Not because they’re at the end of their natural evolutionary lifespan, but because we’re killing them. They swallow our plastic bags, thinking they’re jellyfish, then choke and drown. They are highly sensitive to pollution, and are often hooked and drowned by long-line and net-trawling fishing vessels.
Loggerhead Turtles
The Loggerhead sea turtle is the largest hard-shell sea turtle in the world. They are typically 36 inches long. Their reddish-brown shell, or carapace, is heart shaped. Their front flippers propel them through the water like wings, and their hind feet stabilize and steer them. While adults males generally weigh around 250 lbs loggerheads of more than a thousand pounds have been found.
The Loggerhead is considered a “keystone species,” meaning that other animals in its ecosystem depend on it for survival. These turtles feed on sea bottom invertebrates, their strong jaws allow them to crush conchs, bivalves, and horseshoe crabs, whose shells pass through their digestive systems and, upon excretion, fall back to the bottom of the ocean for other animals to eat as a calcium source. They also eat Portuguese men of war, squids, fish, corals, even hatching turtles from their own species and sometimes seaweed and sargassum.
Predators also rely on loggerhead hatchlings for food, while more than a hundred species of animals—including barnacles, crabs, and algae—live on their shells.
These turtles have an enormous range that encompasses all but the coldest of the world’s oceans. They prefer coastal habitats in temperate and subtropical regions, though they often frequent inland water bodies and will travel hundreds of miles to reach them.
Mature loggerhead females often return to the beach where they hatched to lay their own eggs, sometimes travelling thousands of miles. Females have sperm storage, where they can hold sperm from different males until ovulation. Multiple fatherhood is frequent along sea turtles, having the same hatch from different fathers. The Loggerhead sea turtle has a low reproductive rate, the age of sexual maturity (within 17–33 years) plus the short lifespan of this kind of sea turtle (47–67 years), have put them on the list of Endangered Species. Along with their sensitivity to pollution and climate Change..
While female aggression is unusual in marine vertebrates, it is fairly common in these turtles. The ritualized fight over feeding grounds can go from a simple threat to a full battle with different results. When the water gets too cold (13 to 15ºC), the loggerhead becomes lethargic. Floating in the same position for up to 7 hours, coming up to breathe for only 7 minutes, the longest dives recorded for marine vertebrates that breathe air.
Turtle Tours: From November to February.
iSimangaliso has a strict policy as to who gets licenses to lead Turtle Tours.
At each of our recommended places to stay on the coast, they will refer you to their specialized guide.
If you are outside the park or based in St Lucia town or at Cape Vidol, please contact excellent Shakabarker Tours.
SunDay Off!
- Mon09:00 - 17:00
- Tue09:00 - 17:00
- Wed09:00 - 17:00
- Thu09:00 - 17:00
- Fri09:00 - 17:00
