People around the world have heard of the extraordinary annual Great Migration of over two million herbivores in search of grazing in East Africa. Some have heard of the similar smaller migration in Botswana. However there are relatively few people outside of coastal Southern Africa who have heard of the incredible annual marine migration of sardines.

Every year during or around June millions of sardines move northwards up the coast of Southern Africa. This phenomenon may be as important for the coastal ecosystem as the mammal migration across the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Just like the mammal migration, the sardines are followed by scores of predators in a feeding maelstrom. Whales, about 23,000 dolphins, 100,000 Cape Gannets, and thousands of sharks and game fish hunt the shoals as they head northwards towards the warmer waters of Mozambique. In this migration humans are also predators in some cases catching shoals with nets right from the shore.

You can witness this incredible marine migration. First you’ll see thousands of Cape Gannets diving in formation from 30m at 90 km/h and reaching 10m depths. They also help identify the locations of the shoals. Sometimes only snorkeling gear is required for a closer look at the action but some real adventure awaits experienced scuba divers.

"...Below the waves, the noise is deafening as the dolphins shoot past at an incredible pace, communicating with their distinctive echo-locating clicks. Within minutes, 20 bronze whaler sharks surround us. These magnificent creatures have us mesmerised until an inquisitive female swings directly towards one of the divers and veers off at the last moment. We ascend to the boat, hearts pounding. We were getting close..."

From BBC News article on "The Greatest Shoal on Earth"

This is real shark diving and an incredible experience. Are you ready for it?

For More see:
(1) National Geographic “South Africa’s Teeming Seas"
(2) Photograph
(3) Peter and Stefania Lamberti of Aquaviaion together with Doug Perrine have captured incredible footage of this event which has been screened on the National Geographic Channel and BBC's award-winning Blue Planet series and in their one-hour documentary "The Greatest Shoal on Earth".

Those of you who found our Green Hunting Elephants (i.e. non-lethal hunting) post on February 5th interesting might also be interested to hear more about one of the stars of this program: Mac the elephant.

I received an email recently from Steve and Michelle Henley with an update on Mac's condition and progress. That email follows below.

Here is some useful jargon before you read it:
KNP = Kruger National Park (in South Africa)
APNR = Associated Private Nature Reserves
Musth = a periodic condition in bull elephants characterized by a thick, tar-like secretion called temporin from the temporal ducts and, far more notably, by highly aggressive behaviour. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musth)

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From: Henley
Subject: Following Mac

Dear Landowners and interested parties,

We would just like to tell you all about the exciting news that Mac is back within the APNR and he is looking as impressive as ever!

For those of you who have not yet met Mac or heard about him, we have attached a picture of him and what follows is some background information: Every year since we first collared him in 2002 he has made an annual trek from Shingwedzi in the KNP to the APNR when he comes into musth. Mac gets his name from Tony McClellan, who first sponsored his satellite collar. He moves a distance of approximately 200km in 10 days from the north of Kruger to the south of Timbavati PNR. Last year we were sorry to hear that he was found in very bad body condition with a serious foot injury. The Kruger National Park kindly darted him and treated his wound. Because of his injury and bad body condition he skipped his annual musth cycle and never came down to the Private Reserves. This year we went to check up on his body condition to find him fat and healthy by the end of March. We were sure that he would make his incredible journey when he comes into musth which usually occurs between mid-April to mid-May. He came into musth on the 1st of April and regrettably we missed part of his journey south because of his early musth cycle. Nevertheless, the BBC Natural History Unit wanted to produce a story on Mac as part of their series 'World on the Move'.

Steve and I were asked to follow Mac on his journey southward and we were kindly granted permission to follow him day and night through Kruger into the Private Reserves along management tracks and into the remote wilderness areas of the Kruger. We have had an incredible time and have recorded some of our experiences for the BBC website. Below and attached you will find more details on the programme and also the website where you can read up on some of the reports (at the end of this email). We have just returned from following Mac. When he was about 3km north of the Olifants river we decided to come out at Phalaborwa gate (Saturday morning) and to wait for him as he entered the APNR as we were advised that we would struggle to follow him south of the Olifants and between the APNR. We rushed up to meet Mac and caught him coming into the reserves along the Rietvlei/Ntsiri cutline in the APNR (late Saturday afternoon). When we left him he was still moving south and had just reached Ndolphu.

We hope that now that he is in the APNR you will have the privilege of meeting up with this gentle giant. We will keep checking up on him periodically now that he is back in the heart of the APNR...

Take care

Michelle and Steve Henley
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For the latest on Mac’s progress you can also visit BBC Radio’s “World on the Move”. WOtM tracks the migration of animals:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/worldonthemove/reports/mac-on-the-move-day-nine/

I recently returned from a fantastic trip hosting a journalist, Daniel Levin, and a photographer, Travis Brimner, doing an article for Forbes Traveler (www.forbestraveler.com). We hosted them at some of Roar Africa's favourite boutique lodges. Lodges chosen because they, like us, are family-run enterprises. They respect the land and their communities and offer luxurious and personalized service for discerning travelers.

"Respect is what defines our philosophy,” says Nick More, Chalkley’s great-grandson. With his brother, Robert, More owns and runs the Lion Sands Private Game Reserve. "My great-grandfather has inspired four generations of our family to protect and respect this land, and those who come to visit discover a personal connection amidst incredible luxury,” he adds. “And it stays with them well after they leave.”

Some of the Lodges featured are:

• Lion Sands Ivory Lodge, Sabi Sands/Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa
• Pondoro Lodge, Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa
• Tongabezi, Victoria Falls, Zambia
• Stanley Safari Lodge, Victoria Falls, Zambia
• Chiefs Camp, Moremi Reserve, Botswana
• Londo Lodge, Mozambique
• Sandibe Safari Lodge, Okavango Delta, Botswana
• Makakatana Bay Lodge, St Lucia, South Africa
• Mushara Lodge, Etosha National Park, Namibia

For the full article and pictures go to:
http://www.forbestraveler.com/resorts-hotels/boutique-african-safari-lodges-story.html

See also our review of 1933 at Lion Sands here and other select Roar Africa accommodations here.

Last month I took some of our guests to visit one of the Uthando sites near Cape Town.

What really struck me was that we were in the Free Burgher's original "Valley of the Vines" surrounded by ultra smart 300 year old Cape Dutch mansions; as grand a set of homes as you will find anywhere in the world, and a shanty town. Circumstances of space and poverty caused a squatter settlement to find a tiny piece of ground and like mushrooms suddenly there were thousands of people living here. Mostly Xhosa people who do not speak English or Afrikaans. Parents from this shanty town probably work in the fishing factories of Hout Bay.

With this scene and background James from Uthando took us into a shanty school, into a hall and there on the stage sat a teacher with about 20 street children successfully playing violins, cellos and other sophisticated musical instruments. The two extremes of the world met by playing music. It was an incredible experience and it left me speechless just looking and listening to the music.
Uthando South Africa (Love South Africa) is a non-profit we support. Their mission is to raise funds to support a broad range of grass roots, community based, sustainable, innovative and empowerment projects with substantial and enduring value to the most destitute and marginalized communities in South Africa.
http://www.uthandosa.org/

The Free Burghers were Dutch ex-VOC (Dutch East India Company) employees released from service and granted land under certain conditions. They settled, traded with and competed with the local Khoikhoi pastoralists. They later became known as Afrikaners or Boers.
http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/6.htm