Turtle Tracking
Guests at Kosi Forest Lodge can witness the incredible act of Giant Leatherback and Loggerhead turtles laying their eggs. Turtle tracking is offered every night from 15 November to 15 January. These magnificent creatures return to the Maputuland coastline every year, having swum the length of the African continent, and return to the beach where they hatched.
Research has shown that the mother returns to the same beach and that eggs are laid within metres of where the mother emerged as a hatchling years previously. Guests can view the turtles as they are laying and every precaution is taken to ensure the turtles are not disturbed.
Turtles
There are a number of different turtles found off the coast of Maputuland but only two of these lay their eggs on the Maputuland coast: the Leatherback and Loggerhead turtles.
Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
This endangered marine reptile is the largest living turtle and can reach a total length of 2,1 metres with a weight of up to 365kg. Unlike other turtles, the leatherback has no visible shell. Instead, it has a carapace made up of hundreds of irregular bony plates, covered with a leathery skin.
Well adapted to life in the ocean, the leatherback has well-developed front flippers that propel it through the water. It is one of the few animals that feed exclusively on jellyfish and can dive up to depths of 300m.
The life expectancy of leatherbacks is not known, but first breeding is thought to be between 10 and 15 years old. Female leatherbacks come ashore to nest every 2 to 3 years. The females nest at high tide on moonless, summer nights and lay 6 to 9 clutches of eggs. Each clutch contains 100 to 120 eggs. Seven weeks later, when the eggs hatch, the hatchlings must make their way to the ocean quickly to avoid predatory seabirds.
Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta)
The Loggerhead, so named because of the shape of its head, is another endangered marine reptile. It is a large, brown turtle which can grow up to 1m long and reach a weight of up to 130kg. Its shell has scutes, which don’t overlap and are smooth.
The loggerhead’s limbs each have two claws, which it uses to hunt for crabs, mussels, shrimps and a variety of fish. Nesting takes place at night from the end of October through to January. The round, white, leathery eggs – as many as 120 in a clutch – are laid in the sand and then covered with packed sand.
It is an unforgettable experience to witness these enormous creatures laying their eggs. The hatchlings emerge from the nest about 60 days after being laid and it is incredible to watch the youngsters emerge from the nest simultaneously. It’s a struggle for survival as they dig 40cm to the surface and crawl, en mass, some 50m to the sea, where they often fall prey to kingfish and seabirds. The survival rate is less than one in 50.