- Kei Mouth, Eastern Cape, South Africa
How to See Life and Meet Sea Life on the Wild Coast
Kei Mouth is home to some curious residents and not all of them live in houses! Dr Deborah Robertson-Andersson is probably more familiar with these various critters than anyone, so when it came to finding out what precisely lives in our seas and along our picturesque coastline, there was no one better to ask than the good doctor herself.
Meet The Unique Residents Of Kei Mouth – The Rhodoliths
When it comes to the seas themselves, it’s the larger mammals that tend to attract the most interest, even though some of Kei Mouth’s more unusual visitors are found on the beach itself.
For instance, Deborah tells me, we’re lucky enough to find rhodoliths on our beaches which, while they might not sound particularly fascinating, play an essential role in our oceans, producing oxygen and constructing homes and paths that provide both habitats and food for a wide range of other sea creatures.
Rhodoliths wash up from the deep water canyons off the coastline, appearing on the beach as small, reddish-coloured “stones.” They were only discovered on the Wild Coast in 2020 and are the “first example of rhodoliths in South African waters.”
It’s unlikely the presence of rhodoliths will draw many visitors to Kei Mouth, despite it being the “first verified rhodolith bed” in South Africa. Whales and dolphins, on the other hand, have virtually universal appeal.
Have A Whale Of A Time In Kei Mouth
Every year, humpbacks and southern right whales pass by the Wild Coast, using inshore currents to travel between the warm waters off the coast of Mozambique to the cold, nutrient-rich waters of the Antarctic.
Spotting a whale from land is relatively easy, especially if you find a good lookout point, like the lookout decks strategically positioned high above the Kei Mouth coastline. The best time to see whales is between June and November when they make their annual migrations. With increasingly stringent restrictions on whaling operations, your chances improve every year. In fact, research suggests that the population of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales is currently increasing at approximately 10% per annum.
Dolphins are similarly abundant with many large pods passing through the area, and one resident pod hanging out close to Morgan Bay. These pods of bottlenose dolphins usually contain between 10 to 100 individuals, although superpods containing as many as 600 dolphins occur in some parts of the Eastern Cape coastline, such as Algoa Bay.
Widely celebrated for their superior intelligence, bottlenose dolphins are sociable and fun-loving mammals who, recent research reveals, even smile at each other!
Sardine Run: The Serengeti Of The Seas
Although dolphins visit the area throughout the year, they’re most prolific during the sardine run, when sardine mega-shoals make their annual migration from Cape Agulhas, along the Wild Coast to Kwa-Zulu Natal. It’s like the Serengeti of the seas! These densely-packed shoals can contain hundreds of millions of fish, providing dolphins with a smorgasbord of delights.
So abundant are the sardines, that up to 18,000 bottlenose and common dolphins congregate to force the fish into 20m-wide bait balls that attract predators from the skies as well as the sea. Such frantic activity also attracts visitors from around the world, especially divers eager to experience this unique phenomenon first-hand.
The sardine run takes place every winter, usually between May and June, making this an ideal time to visit the Wild Coast and meet its sea life. As an added bonus, the region enjoys a very mild winter with frequent sunny days and temperatures hovering in the low to mid-twenties (℃).
Even if you’re not a diver, you could head out to sea on a whale watching or fishing charter, such as those run by Wild Coast Charters, that give you a front-row seat to one of nature’s most spectacular marine migrations.
A Coastal Birding Paradise: Rare Avian Treasure of Kei Mouth
Deep-sea excursions aren’t for everyone, and you might prefer to restrict your explorations to the beaches, rockpools and estuaries rather than heading out into the ocean. Aside from the resident bird life, which is diverse in its own right, Kei Mouth is also celebrated for its rare visitors, which include some so-called megas that, in the birding world, refer to exceptionally rare species that birders travel great distances to observe.
In 2021, for instance, birders flocked to our little coastal village for a glimpse of the rare sooty gull – a bird never previously recorded in the region. More recently, the SA Rare Bird News Report published on 28 November last year mentioned a Baillon’s Crake on the eastern side of the Kei River – a sighting only experienced birders will really appreciate the significance of.
Beneath the Surface: The Hidden Heroes of Kei Mouth’s Ecosystem
In addition to the varied and colourful birdlife, there’s also plenty living underground with the area supporting healthy populations of both mud and sand prawns. These may not draw that many visitors to the area, but they are nevertheless quite fascinating in their own right. Not only are mudprawns more closely related to crabs than prawns, but they also have an astonishingly wide tolerance for salty and freshwater environments, making them one of the few organisms that can pass easily between the two.
Sandprawns are a very different kind of creature, but play a similarly vital role in our delicate coastal ecosystem as their muddy cousins. Not only do they control the abundance of phytoplankton, but they also maintain the health of the Morgan Bay estuary through their constant burrowing activities.
By regulating phytoplankton levels, sandprawns help prevent harmful algal blooms that could otherwise produce toxins dangerous to marine life and humans alike. They also act as a crucial food source for many fish species and wading birds that frequent the Kei Mouth region. Their presence indicates a healthy, functioning ecosystem and their sustainable populations help ensure the continued productivity of these waters.
It’s Time to See Life and Meet the Sea Life
If this article has captured your imagination, why not come to Kei Mouth for a weekend and discover the Wild Coast’s underwater treasures for yourself?
Deborah recommends taking kayak trip with Great Kei Adventures that will introduce you to much of the life thriving in our river estuaries, or embarking on a simple walk along the beach that could reward you with the pleasure of discovering colourful rhodoliths and spotting dolphins as they leap through the surf.
You could also head over to the Hazel Jefferies Shell Museum where a world of rare shells and other marine specimens provide a fascinating insight into life on the Wild Coast.
Comments
I can’t agree more.
What a beautifully written piece! Thank you for showcasing this
hidden gem so vividly!
We just loved to hear all these beautiful interesting facts, so precious to us at both Kei and Morgan Bay.
Please do have another get together to share more
Thank you Dr Debs. We all enjoy your informative talks and your valuable input into the communities of Morgan Bay and Kei Mouth.