Durban - The light from a bright moon shone over the waves towards us as we drove along Sodwana Beach, sending thousands of ghost crabs scuttling out of our way.
Sitting on the back bench of the game-drive vehicle, it felt like we were on safari, except our quarry was not one of the big five.
Instead we were looking for the telltale signs of female leatherback turtles coming ashore to make their nests above the high-water mark and laying their eggs.
The signs are not hard to miss. These giant turtles make tracks like tractor tyres as they heave their way on to the beach and seek out a nesting spot.
Several companies have concessions from Isimangaliso Wetland Park to conduct turtle tours and we had joined one of these. There were 10 of us in the vehicle; four from Durban, two young Dutch engineering interns who had driven down from Pretoria, a German couple from Liepzig and our two guides.
We were staying at a time-share chalet at Sodwana Bay Lodge. We paid R500 each to the people at the resort’s reception and were told the evening tour lasted from 8pm to 2am.
We were fetched from our resort and picked up the German couple on our way to the beach.
Now we were driving along the beach, eyes alert, marvelling at the beauty around us.
Occasionally we came across anglers and our guides carefully drove under the fishing lines, our torch light cutting through the night to catch the glint of the line as we edged forward.
Some 40 minutes into our drive we first spotted the tracks, the torchlight following them before picking out a turtle, flailing her flippers on a dune and throwing up flurries of sand as she made a nest.
We gathered round, keeping a respectful distance as she went on with her work.
Our guides pulled us aside to share their knowledge about these amazing animals.
Back at the vehicle we were offered cooldrinks, coffee, tea and biscuits.
A little while later they called us back to where the turtle was still busy.
They gently cleared some of the sand away and showed us as she laid her eggs in the nest.
According to the guides, leatherback females lay about 1 000 eggs in a season, coming back to land to lay 120 eggs at a time in a nest. They also try to fool predators by making false nests.
After the eggs hatch, less than a handful of the hatchlings make it to adulthood as birds, crabs and fish prey on them.
Our 60-year-old female then started filling the nest with sand, tamping down the sand over the eggs to protect them.
We drove further along the beach and found three more tracks where turtles had come on to the beach that evening and already returned to the sea.
On our return journey we stopped near our old friend’s nest and watched as she made her way back to the sea.
Once the water started lapping around her, the forward movement of her flippers took on greater energy.
Eventually the beam of our torch could no longer pick her out as she ploughed through the waves. - Independent on Saturday