We are the Local Dolphins of Ponta! An inshore species of that live in the coastal shallows of the Lubumbo Transfrontier Conservation Area that links South Africa, Mozambique & Swaziland.

 

We frequently cross between Mozambique's southern most marine protected area and the iSimangaliso World Heritage Site and travel as far down south to Sodwana Bay! 

 

Some of us are resident, in that we are sighted over all the seasons, over a number of years. while the transients visit occasionally.

 

We are Tursiops aduncus - commonly known as the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin. Our inshore cousin Herme is of the Humpback Dolphin tribe - Sousa plumbea... In 1996 we had our first media debuts on TV and in print and by 1997 a citizen science project was developed to collect baseline data and imagery on us! 

 

Nearly three decades later 255 of us have been catalogued and thanks to the care of local operators, partners and visitors, protective measures have been put in place to protect our kind and our home.

 

When visiting the Marine Reserve please take a moment to familiarise yourself with our cetacean family, where we occur and what to do if in the event you encounter us at sea and remember in our Park, we are protected, which means no-one is permitted to swim with us, unless on a permitted dolphin concession boat.

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- Learn more about how to keep us safe -