Featured Image Credit: GreenwichDiving
Who better to catch a “National Geographic” moment than, well, National Geographic?
Every year thousands of birds and marine species swarm off the South African coast for a natural phenomenon called the KwaZulu-Natal sardine run. Along the province’s eastern seaboard, Mother Nature provides nourishment in the form of a spectacular feeding frenzy, as if she knows another way?
The water temperature drops to a cool 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter months, May through June, which pulls the sardine’s comfort zone closer to shore in a dark mass. Normally, these events occur offshore and are rarely witnessed. Expanding the sardine’s range closer to shore sets the stage for “The greatest shoal on Earth.”
According to Christina Hagen, a Pamela Isdell Fellow of Penguin Conservation at Birdlife South Africa, the stars of the show include: “Albatross, Cape gannets, African penguins, humpback whales, Cape fur seals, dolphins, and sharks.” Hagen shared that the event “Is remarkable because of the sheer numbers of fish and their predators that gather in one place.” She also added, “In terms of biomass, it is larger than the wildebeest migrations of East Africa.”
Now that’s what we like to call an AWESOME ocean. Check out National Geographic’s coverage of the natural phenomenon below: