Qualla: The Sardine Run https://qualla.com/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: The Sardine Run https://qualla.com/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run The Sardine Run: Introduction https://qualla.com/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run/ From a spotter plane a thousand feet above the KwaZulu-Natal coast, it looks like an oil slick -- a dark, shifting ribbon stretching for kilometers along the shoreline. Then the ribbon moves. It pulses, contracts, and fragments as thousands of dolphins slam into it from the sides, driving portions of the mass upward until the surface boils. Cape gannets fold their wings and drop like white arrows into the chaos. A Bryde's whale lunges through the center with its mouth open. This is the sardine run, and it happens every winter along the east coast of South Africa -- billions of Southern African pilchard migrating northward in shoals so vast they rival East Africa's great wildebeest migration in sheer biomass. It is one of the few wildlife events on Earth that is genuinely visible from the air.

Read more: The Sardine Run on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/d/w/h/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run-wk/kdwh-the-sardine-run-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Sardine Run: A River of Silver https://qualla.com/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run/ Between May and July, the sardines spawn in the cool waters of the Agulhas Bank off South Africa's southern tip, then follow the coastline northeast toward KwaZulu-Natal. The migration is driven by a seasonal cold current that develops along the east coast, running inshore and co...

Read more: The Sardine Run on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/d/w/h/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run-wk/kdwh-the-sardine-run-a-river-of-silver.mp3 0:06 2 full The Sardine Run: The Bait Ball https://qualla.com/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run/ The spectacle reaches its peak when dolphins begin herding sardines into bait balls -- densely packed spheres of fish ten to twenty meters across, compressed by coordinated attacks from multiple dolphin pods working together. An estimated eighteen thousand common dolphins partici...

Read more: The Sardine Run on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/d/w/h/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run-wk/kdwh-the-sardine-run-the-bait-ball.mp3 0:06 3 full The Sardine Run: The Waiting Game https://qualla.com/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run/ Divers travel from around the world for the sardine run, but the ocean makes no promises. The run's timing varies from year to year, and some years the shoals barely materialize along certain stretches of coast. Operators use spotter aircraft to locate the action, radioing coordi...

Read more: The Sardine Run on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/d/w/h/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run-wk/kdwh-the-sardine-run-the-waiting-game.mp3 0:06 4 full The Sardine Run: A Migration Still Half-Understood https://qualla.com/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run/ For all its visual drama, the sardine run remains poorly understood from an ecological standpoint. Researchers believe the migrating sardines may be a genetically distinct subpopulation, separate from sardines that remain on the Agulhas Bank year-round. Why this particular group ...

Read more: The Sardine Run on Qualla

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/k/d/w/h/diving-in-south-africa-sardine-run-wk/kdwh-the-sardine-run-a-migration-still-half-understood.mp3 0:06 5 full