"Greater Saint Lucia Wetlands Area" Saint Lucia Estuary by janiebaxter

Rocktail Bay Lodge is in the north of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal, on a 40 kilometre coastline from that stretches from Kosi Bay to Sodwana Bay. Rocktail Bay is in the centre on one of the most incredible beaches in all of the South Africa.
The area is a World Heritage Site and offshore from Rocktail Bay in the Indian Ocean is the Maputaland Marine Reserve which has diving and snorkelling, with huge shoals of fish, dolphins and whales.
The rustic style lodge, which is the only place to stay here, only has 11 chalets which are built into the trees and have outdoor showers as well as en-suite bathrooms.

Watching Leatherback Turtle

During the summer months from January to March Rocktail Bay Lodge is involved in turtle research and guests can join the guides on research drives at low tide at night helping to monitor the nesting leatherback and loggerhead turtles' numbers and behaviour.
We set off after dinner, often arriving back very late, driving along the beach looking for the turtles digging nests. If they were tagged the details were noted, and if not they were tagged. This can be done while they are actually laying the eggs as the turtle goes into a trance and doesn't notice anything around it.

Sunrise at Rocktail Bay

The area has a variety of animals, birds and plants with Maputaland Marine Reserve, where there are huge shoals of fish, dolphins and whales. The unspoilt and secluded coastline has superb diving and snorkelling and a variety of animals, birds and plant life as well as forest walks and bird watching

We travelled to Rocktail Bay with UK South Africa experts Rainbow Tours

• Pros:Great turtle watching at the right season
• Cons:No big game