SOUTH AFRICA OUTDOORS

Sodwana Bay Lodge was opened in 1989 as a joint initiative between business, the KwaZulu government and the local people and is the largest employer in the area after the KZN Ezemvelo reserve.

The hotel is part of a larger complex consisting of Timeshare cottages and privately owned houses and is proud to be part of the “Elephant Coast” marketing initiative.

The name Sodwana derives from the Zulu word “odwa” meaning ‘little one on its own’ referring to the small stream which breaches the dunes from the Mgobozeleni-Shazibe lake system.

This estuary is the only substantial breach in the dunes from the St. Lucia in the south to Kosi bay in the north, a distance of 170kms.

Accessibility to the beach that this breach provides, as well as protection offered by Sodwana bay itself, has provided a base from which divers can explore the southernmost coral reefs in the world.

Sodwana is situated on the tropical Mozambique Coastal Plain and forms the northern boundary of the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park. The park was inscribed as a World Heritage Site because if its exceptional biodiversity, superlative beauty and unique ecological processes.

Sodwana is ideally suited to provide visitors with a base from which they can experience African wildlife, sea life and birdlife without traveling vast distances.

Within a radius of 100kms are to be found the Hluhluwe, Mkuze and Tembe Elephant Park game reserves: numerous private game and hunting ranches, including Phinda resource reserve; St. Lucia, Lake Sibiya, South Africa’s largest natural freshwater lake, and the warm Aghulas current with its unique coral reefs.
 

The geographical location of Sodwana Bay is S27° 28min / E32° 35.6 min. Less scientifically, it is situated on the South African East Coast, approximately 70 kms south of the Mozambique border.

There is evidence that the Maputaland coast has been inhabited since the early Stone and Iron Ages.

Much later, Arab and Portuguese traders made use of the sheltered Sodwana Bay to stock up with food and fresh water.

Although Sodwana was surveyed in 1888 as a possible harbour by Colonel Jesser Coope (after whom Jesser Point is named).

It was only after 1973 at the start of the Mozambique Civil War, that Sodwana became a popular destination for fishermen and divers.

In 1950 the Natal Parks Board established a Reserve and today it is one of the Boards most popular resorts