Rocktail Bay Lodge

Rocktail Bay is situated in the northern reaches of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in an area of northern KwaZulu-Natal known as Maputaland. Here, between Kosi Bay and Sodwana Bay lies an area that is wild, without any development with Rocktail Bay in the centre.

This whole region has been declared a World Heritage Site.

Situated offshore from Rocktail Bay is the Maputaland Marine Reserve, which offers additional sanctuary for wildlife, engendering extraordinary diving and snorkelling with exciting encounters with huge shoals of fish, dolphins and whales.

The lodge is situated metres inland from the warm Indian Ocean and some of the most incredible beaches in all of South Africa. There are in fact 30 km of pristine unspoilt beaches where one can walk for miles without seeing another soul.

There is a fully accredited dive-centre with a diving operation that is unrivalled anywhere in South Africa. We offer boating excursions out to sea around low tide to enjoy scuba and snorkelling on the pristine coral reefs offshore.

The reefs here are very special and have hardly ever been dived, in fact new reefs are continually being found. Snorkellers often dive with dolphins, whale sharks and even whales!

One of the highlights in the summer months is diving with pregnant ragged-tooth sharks when they migrate up north to our area and rest in the caves in the reefs.

Other activities include fly-fishing, walking, swimming and horse riding.

Bird watching is also very good with many Kwa Zulu endemic species regularly sighted. There is the option to spend time in our forest bird watching hide.

The beaches at Rocktail Bay are nesting sites for loggerhead and leatherback turtles and during the summer nesting season visitors may accompany our resident expert on research drives to monitor nesting numbers and their behaviour.