Trip details | Umkomaas \ Aliwal Shoal 

After Sodwana we are going to spend few days in a small town of Umkomaas situated at the Aliwal Shoal reef complex. It is famous for numerous sightings of many various species of sharks, where you can try a baited (not fed) diving with sharks without a cage and dive on two amazing wrecks, that have sunk there.

Baited shark diving is quite an experience. You can almostsure to see many sharks, sometimes even dozens of them (black tip oceanic shark, bull shark)! They are not shy and you will have an opportunity to come eye-to-eye with them and take some amazing pictures. Seasonally in summer more big tiger sharks arrive, what takes your adrenaline levels over the roof. The dive itself is a midwater dive between 5 and 10 meter deep, we do not sit on the bottom and wait for the sharks, we swim with them!

Umkomaas (uMkhomazi in Zulu) represents female whales - many of them once used the estuary area of Umkomasi river as breeding grounds. Now, unfortunately, they no longer do, but the number of whales migrating through there is still very large. 

The local coral reef is quite different from the typical tropical reef. Algae prevail here as well as soft corals that cover underwater rocks forming a very interesting topography with many caves and swimthroughs. There are practically no hard corals, which are the main component of a tropical reef in Sodwana Bay. This in itself makes visit here even more interesting, as you get to see and experience the enormous variety of this coast.

The place is designed for more experienced divers, the ocean can be more rough and average visibility is worse, a few meters down from Sodwana and is between 10 and 15 meters. Therefore, this location is planned for the tail end of the trip after getting used to a similar but easier-style diving in Sodwana.

Trip details | Additional Information 

a) Weather and diving. South Africa is famous for its temperate climate. It can be very hot especially in summer from November till April, but its not as humid as in many tropical countries. Winters at the coast starting in May lasting until September are warm with a pleasant 20+ degrees C during the day and a little chilly evenings and nights. There is no "no-go" time of the year with respect to weather. The only concern are South African holidays in December and April when the coast becomes swamped by local holiday makers and divers. Christmas, New Year's and Easter time are therefore not the best time for a dive trip, its simply too busy.

Recreational diving to 40m, an average of 20 meters. There are no massive walls withouth bottom (there are but a little further out for technical divers). IMPORTANT: Both in Sodwana, and even more so in Aliwal, the ocean can be choppy on the surface - people who have a big problem with seasickness should properly consider whether they are willing to fight it, unfortunately. It can also be flatish but on average there is always something moving (though a stay on the boat is not long). Conditions of diving (surge, currents, visibility) can change almost on a daily basis.

b) Visas. Generally citizens of most countries can aquire an at least 30 day tourist visa on arrival at the airport.

c) Safety issues. Be careful. Do not leave valuables in plain sight. Paradoxically expensive diving equipment can be left in the middle of the street and no one would be interested in it, but high-end electronic devices are stil a catch. Do not walk alone at night, rather stick with the group.

d) Health care. There is decent health care not far from Sodwana, in spite of its relative seclusion. Half an hour away there is a hospital where many doctors from Scotland and the UK work. Care is therefore respectable, even though this is Africa. The nearest decompression chamber is a 2 hour drive in a city of Richards Bay. The next chamber is in Durban. 4h road. Umkomaas is located 40 min drive from Durban where all health care is quickly available.

e) Diving skill. South Africa does not belong to the easiest dive locations, mainly due to surge (underwater waves), that sometimes haunts the dive sites. Dives are organized so as to avoid it by going a little deeper, where as a rule of thumb it generally disappears. Sometimes, however, it may happen that conditions might not be ideal. The second reason is the launching of the boats through the waves and then the ride on the surface of the ocean, when you have a to hold tight, its a real adventure :). I'm not saying that this place is not suitable for novice divers, as hundreds, if not thousands of local South Africans are trained here each year, but there is a need for flexibility to a variety of conditions. This is not an aquarium with standing water. 

f) South Africa does not formaly require any special vaccines, although it is recommended that standard travel vaccinations should be applied. There is no malaria in this region. There will be some mosquitoes but they are not very intrusive, you should take special care only around sunset.