The African black oystercatcher Haematopus moquini is one of our resident breeding coastal bird species. It can often be seen on Lookout Beach and other coastal areas in Plettenberg Bay, but ranges from Luderitz in Namibia to Mazeppa Bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. They have a very distinctive appearance with all black feathers, READ MORE
Terns are beautiful, elegant seabirds, closely related to the gulls, skimmers, and skuas. Here in Plettenberg Bay we are fortunate to be able to see a few different species, but by far the most common is the coastal and pelagic swift tern Thalasseus bergii. Swift terns, or greater crested terns, are intermediate sized terns with READ MORE
There is perhaps not a more distinctive call in all of Africa than that of the African fish eagle Haliaeetus vocifer. Expressed in flight or perched, with the head thrown back, the evocative weeah-kyow-koy-koy-koy is a well-known sound in Africa. African fish eagles are found throughout most of Africa, having an Afrotropical distribution, and are READ MORE
A lesser seen mammal on the beaches and estuaries of the Garden Route is the Cape clawless otter Aonyx capensis. They are just fantastic creatures, growing to between 12-18 kg and 110-160 cm in length (roughly a third of which is the tail), though males tend to be larger than the females. Each foot has READ MORE
With the summer season arriving and the weather warming up, you’ll find more people out and about, but you will also find the snakes of the region are becoming more active too! One of the species people most commonly mentioned are the “puffies” – the puff adders Bitis arietans. Puff adders have an extensive range, READ MORE
Robberg Nature Reserve has a host of interesting species to find and see. While some of these, like the caracal, are a rarer sighting, animals like the rock hyrax Procavia capensis are plentiful and you can often find one basking on a rock in the sunshine. Hyrax are more commonly known as dassies by South READ MORE
In Plettenberg Bay we are fortunate enough to have three species of dolphins that frequent the area, and one of these is the long-beaked common dolphin Delphinus capensis. As the name may suggest, this species has a long, narrow, pointed beak, while another diagnostic feature is a ‘criss-cross’ figure-of-eight or hourglass shape on the sides READ MORE
The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin Sousa chinensis is a resident species along our coastline, and is the iconic species of the Plettenberg Bay Hope Spot (www.sst.org.za/hope-spots/plett-hope-spot). The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin is a widespread and highly variable species. Humpback dolphins range from the east coast of Africa, northern Indian Ocean, along the southern coast of the Middle READ MORE
It is surely now widespread knowledge that at the base of Robberg Peninsula on the protected bay side there is a very large breeding colony of cape fur seals Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus. They are a charming species, whose antics in the water and on land can keep me entertained for hours, despite being noisy and READ MORE
The African Black Oyster Catcher is a common, endemic resident species and was the second most threatened bird species in South Africa. How did we get them back in number?, we banned 4-wheel driving on the beaches.