EXPLORING THE PETRIFIED FOREST
- O&A Team
- January 26, 2022
- Features, Places
- featured, The Mzamba fossils, The Petrified Forest, Wild Coast Sun
- 0 Comments
A visit to the Petrified Forest sounds like it comes straight out of a horror movie – but instead it’s a first-hand experience of the beautiful natural formations along the panoramic beaches that make up the Wild Coast.
Situated just 2km from the Wild Coast Sun, Sun International’s only beachfront resort, this is probably one of the most unusual coastal experiences on offer.
The four-star resort is perfectly situated next to the Petrified Forest and offers guided tours that are likely to take you back about 80 million years.
If you think that you are about to wander through a forest in the traditional sense, think again. This forest does not stand tall next to you but rather underneath you. As you walk, you will see 80-million-year-old fossilised trees and deposits on the rocks.
Believe it or not, these trees did not actually grow where you find them. Instead, they were washed down rivers and deposited there millions of years ago. The wood then submerged and became waterlogged. Marine worms penetrated them and the wood became silicified (converted into silica).
When volcanic material buried the remains of these trees, they became ‘petrified’ and literally turned to stone.
The reefs in which the forest is embedded stretch along the coast to a series of cliffs and overhangs known as White Man’s Cave. This was named after shipwrecked Portuguese sailors who sheltered in them during the 1800s.
This stretch of coastline is home to another series of fossils known as the Mzamba fossils.
These are made up of sandstone and limestone deposits containing fossils that date back 80 million years to the Upper Cretaceous period and include marine shells, bivalve shells, coiled ammonites, echinoids (or sea urchins) and even a fossilised sea turtle and enormous clam shells.
As visitors to this unique place will tell you, the average person walking along the beach is probably completely unaware of what lies below their feet. Therefore, a local tour guide is invaluable if you are to truly appreciate the history and sights from the Cretaceous period.
Enter Lonwabo Dlamini, a very knowledgeable local man who is able to introduce the petrified trees, fossilised rocks, shells, animal and dinosaur fragments with great excitement – almost as if this was his first tour, rather than his 100th.
The tour meeting point is at the parking are of the Wild Waves Water Park and guests wander down a short path onto the beach where the 2km (two-hour) tour starts.
The site was discovered in 1824 by Pioneer HF Fynn and brought to the notice of the scientific world by Captain JR Garden in 1855.
Kick off your shoes and walk along the rocks and discover the tree and log formations as well as beautiful examples of tightly coiled ammonites, echinoids (sea urchins) and bivalve shells with the magnificent Indian Ocean on one side and a 10-metre cliff on the other.
For petrified forest guided tours, at R90 per person, contact Bheki Nzimande on (063) 338 8766. Tours are aligned to low tide, so times vary, liaise with the tour guides to schedule.
Hiking enthusiasts looking for a more challenging experience, can get in touch with Lonwabo Dlamini on (078) 631 2730 for inland guided tours.
Your options are 8km half day tours or full day tours that range between one day or up to eight days hiking, where you do between 15km – 21 kms a day. All full day tours start inland with guests hiking through the wilderness. They end on the beach at the petrified forest.
The four-day hike is 83kms long. Hikers spend nights in homestay villages and experience the hospitality of the locals. The fee is R4,000 per person and includes catering in the villages and packed lunches and transport back to the Wild Coast Sun.
Tips
* Apply sunscreen
* Wear slops as you walk through water and would need to carry your shoes
* Pack lightly if you pack anything at all – you only need water if it is a hot day
