HOTEL&TOURISM SMARTreport #47

ELITE TRAVEL TRENDS
© South Africa Tourism
The Sardine Run
A BREATH-TAKING UNDERWATER
EXPERIENCE
The “sardine run”: witnessing one of the largest marine life migrations on earth
While the African continent is
renowned for its spectacular
wildlife, it is perhaps lesser-known
for an annual event which, for
adventure travellers and thrill
seekers, is a crazy dream come true.
Millions upon millions of sardines traveling
north form huge shoals, resulting in a wild
feeding frenzy for predators such as sharks,
whales, dolphins and even seabirds, making
a captivating show for divers. Researchers
believe that the sardine run could easily rival
the great wildebeest migration in East Africa
in terms of biomass, with some shoals over
7 km long.
Nicki Gibson, Public Relations, Marketing
& Group Bookings manager for local tour
operator Sardine Run South Africa explains
there are two types of people who dare to
plunge into the midst of this madness:
• The “bucket list” guests: people that fill
their lives with various experiences and
have travelled the world doing so. The
skydivers, bungee jumper happy-go-lucky
people.
• Photographers: They’ve come to get their
best shot and close-up experiences. They
generally, unlike the bucket-listers, tend
to return either annually or bi-annually.
Divers head out with highly experienced
skippers, who have a heads up of what
Sardine Shoals are on their way. Watching
the behaviour of dolphins, birds and various
other aspects, they find “baitballs”. The
baitballs are created by common-dolphins
that herd the Sardines to the surface as a
way of “entrapment”. Sharks feeling the
vibrations start coming in as well as other
game fish. The whole phenomenon is,
says Gibson, AMAZING to see with birds
from the top, dolphins from the bottom
and sharks from the sides. All the while
the Humpback whale migration coincides,
giving divers some special experiences inbetween
baitball time.
“The occasional Orca visit also doesn’t do
any harm to the divers’ experiences”, says
Gibson, adding that their guest list is made
up of people from all over the world: “It’s
made up mainly of Europeans: French,
Belgian, Dutch & Spanish, and Asians –
mainly from China. The age groups vary
from as young as 25 to as high in age as
65. I can’t say ‘old as’ because these ‘older’
demographics are sometimes ‘younger’
than some 30 year olds I know!”
SAMPLE ITINERARY
Day 1
Arrival at King Shaka
International Airport, transfer
to Blue Ocean Dive Resort and
relax after orientation and “prebriefing”
Day 2
Two Dives at Aliwal Shoal (1 x
reef dive & 1 x Shark Dive, no
feeding and no cages) return
to Blue Ocean, have breakfast /
brunch and transfer to Port Saint
Johns (+-5hr drive)
Day 3-7/9/11
Sardine Run Ocean Safari
Day 8/10/12
Transfer back to the airport or
Big 5 Safari