Travel bucket list idea:
Umkomaas, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Made famous by the Blue Planet tv series, this extraordinary natural spectacle sees billions of sardines migrate up South Africa’s Eastern Coast.
Every year between February and August, the gigantic fish shoals – up to 7km long, 1.5km wide and 30m deep – spawn in the cool waters of the Aghulas Bank off the coast of Cape Town, before riding the current northwards to the Aliwoal Shoals.
They’re followed by almost every denizen of the deep. Bryde’s and humpback whales, sailfish, blacktip sharks and thousands of dolphins amongst others gorge themselves in a vast feeding frenzy unlike anything else witnessed on Earth.
The migration even rivals, in terms of biomass, the wildebeest migration, another extraordinary wildlife migration spectacle.
If you want to see the action from under the water, the main base to access the Sardine Run is Umkomaas, a small village on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – 40 minutes’ drive south of Durban. For more info, see South African travel blogger Mimmie’s blog post about it.
Dive companies will take you out to scuba dive into the melee on full-day trips – see our recommended tour operators.
The fish shoals arrive at the Aliwal Shoal in June and July. Diving trips run daily during this period.
Our writer’s recommended tour operators to book with
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Highly experienced and professional shark diving specialist offering diving/snorkelling with blue and mako sharks, and cage diving with great white sharks, in Cape Town. They also organise diving trips to see the Sardine Run, and shark diving in Bimini to see hammerheads and tigers.
Umkomass, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
The biggest of the local dive operators, offering diving on the Aliwal Shoal with tiger sharks, ragged-tooth sharks, manta rays, dolphins and whale sharks, and special dive packages to witness the great ‘sardine run’. They cater to all levels of experience.
