Experience the Thrill of Swimming with Dolphins During the Sardine Run

Off the eastern coast of South Africa, one adventurer dives into a wildlife spectacle unlike any other.

“Okay, they’re coming back — get in the water! Go! Go! Go!” our skipper, Walter Bernardis, shouted as I pulled on my fins, shoved a snorkel into my mouth, and slid off the Zodiac into the Indian Ocean. With my head underwater, I heard them before I saw them. Clicking and whistling sounds zipped through the sea, and suddenly they were everywhere — thousands of common dolphins diving beneath me, leaping high above me, their bubbles shimmying past me. I kicked as hard as I could to keep up, but just as quickly as they’d arrived, the dolphins left me breathless in their wake.

Like me, the dolphins were following the sardine run, an ecological phenomenon in which billions of the fish migrate up South Africa’s eastern coast each June and July. The annual journey — a sort of aquatic version of the famed Great Migration of wildebeests from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara — attracts great numbers of predators: common dolphins, sharks, Bryde’s whales, sailfish, manta rays, and seabirds, especially Cape gannets. Though the event has long drawn serious divers, it has not typically been on the radar of high-end travel outfitters. However, South Africa–based andBeyond aims to change that with its 10-night expedition centered on the sardine run, which will visit the country’s Wild Coast, as well as andBeyond’s Phinda Private Game Reserve, near the border with Mozambique.

I was fortunate to preview a six-night expedition in 2021, which, like forthcoming andBeyond adventures, was organized with the assistance of Bernardis’s dive company, African Watersports, and the nonprofit Oceans Without Borders (OWB). Profits from the Wild Coast trips will benefit OWB, and guests will be hosted by marine biologist and OWB program manager Tessa Hempson.

“Oceans really have no borders,” Hempson shared with me, noting that the migration brings together species from across various oceans, some from as far afield as Antarctica. “So the sardine run has a ripple effect through multiple ecosystems.”

Back in the water, I got a closer look at what’s known as a bait ball, a school of sardines swimming as a close-knit unit to protect one another from predators. I watched thousands of slender fish, switching directions en masse with a flick of their silvery bodies. Three more dolphins surged past in a chatter of clicks, prompting the sardines to dart away. A blacktip reef shark emerged from the murky depths and cruised languidly below me before disappearing again.

I resurfaced, only to have Bernardis inform me that there were likely dozens more sharks underneath us, circling the bait ball from below as dolphins worked it from the sides. I felt exhilarated to be bobbing away in the core of this dynamic ecosystem. (Bernardis shared that it can get even more lively: in his two-decade career as a guide, he’s often witnessed a Bryde’s whale swallowing a whole chunk of a bait ball.)

For such a well-documented phenomenon, there remains much for scientists to learn about the migration. A recent study discovered that the phenomenon is driven by a current of temporarily cooler water in the Indian Ocean. The same study warned that climate change, and consequently rising ocean temperatures, could alter the timing of the sardine run — or even threaten its existence. For her part, Hempson hopes guests will aid in tracking data on wildlife sightings and underwater bioacoustics such as whale songs.

One thing’s for sure: experiencing the sardine run is addictive. Obsessives return year after year, Bernardis conveyed to me, hoping to catch the perfect combination of weather and sea conditions that can elevate the event to an even more spectacular experience.

My own trip was slightly tempered by limited visibility under the waves because sediment had been stirred up by heavy rains. Nevertheless, our days at sea were thrilling — and exhausting. My group spent four nights at Mbotyi River Lodge, which overlooks a sweep of golden sand on the Wild Coast. Each morning, we rose at dawn, enjoyed a light breakfast, then donned our wetsuits and took to the boat. I often lay flat along the bow, peering over the edge as dolphins swam alongside us, almost within touching distance. One morning, one of the dolphins briefly surfaced — and sharply expelled a shot of salt water right in my face. We spent five or six hours on the water, transitioning in and out of the boat, supported by the pilot of a microlight aircraft whose task was to spot bait balls, humpback whales, and common dolphins from above, relaying the coordinates to Bernardis by radio.

After three full days of sardine spotting, our group journeyed up the coast to Phinda. The forests and grasslands of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province may seem to have little in common with the Indian Ocean. Nevertheless, Hempson stated that this combination will illustrate to visitors “how intricately the marine and the terrestrial are connected.” Observing conservation efforts in both environments will provide a broader perspective on issues such as humankind’s overreliance on plastics, which often end up in the sea, and the fact that fenced wildlife preserves, common in South Africa, may not adequately serve at-risk ecosystems. “The ocean challenges many of the models we have in conservation,” Hempson noted.

I’d previously visited Phinda but hadn’t had the chance to explore nearby Sodwana Bay, one of South Africa’s most sought-after diving destinations. This time, I took to the water, jumping in to swim with a pod of bottlenose dolphins. The animals were curious and playful, displaying a relaxed demeanor compared to the common dolphins we’d observed during the sardine run, swimming nearly nose-to-nose with us before diving away.

Just hours later, we returned to the bush, where we observed a black-maned lion and a lioness feasting on a giraffe carcass as the setting sun cast streaks of magenta across the sky. There are few places where you can swim with dolphins in the morning and watch lions in the evening. Nonetheless, I found myself nostalgic for the rough Wild Coast waves — and the drama that lay beneath. I had joined the ranks of sardine-run enthusiasts. I was hooked.

andBeyond offers 10-day sardine run trips starting from $14,400 per person.

A version of this story first appeared in the April 2022 issue of GoTravelDaily under the headline On the Run.