The coastline tour is just one of Wild Coast Sun’s leisure activities 

CAPTION: Did you know that when volcanic material buries trees, the trees are petrified and literally turned to stone? You can tour Port Edward’s petrified forest.
Did you know that when volcanic material buries trees, the trees are petrified and literally turned to stone? You can tour Port Edward’s petrified forest.

Wild Coast Sun, Sun International’s only beachfront resort, has been a family holiday destination for over 40 years, with an abundance of activities to choose from.

Situated near Port Edward on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal and just within the Eastern Cape border, the area is known for its breathtakingly beautiful and unspoilt beaches.

The four-star resort is perfectly situated next to a petrified forest and offers guided tours to those who wish to embrace the beauty of the coastline.

When you think petrified forest, you may expect to see a forest in the traditional sense, but you would be wrong. The forest does not stand tall next to you but rather underneath – as you walk, you will see 80-million-year-old fossilised trees and deposits on the rocks.

An oblivious person walking along the beach will be completely unaware of what lies below their feet; therefore, a tour guide is essential to appreciate the history and sights from the Cretaceous period and volcanic remains.

The tour guide, Lonwabo Dlamini, is very knowledgeable and he showed our tour group the petrified trees, fossilised rocks, shells, and animal and dinosaur fragments with great excitement, as if we were his first tour, not his 100th.

The tour meeting point is at the parking of Wild Waves Water Park and 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.

The cliff also consists of fossil material, and you follow it along the coast until you get to a series of caves, known as the “White Man’s Caves” – named after shipwrecked Portuguese sailors who sheltered in them during the 1800s.

Wild Coast Sun, Sun International’s only beachfront resort, has been a family holiday destination for over 40 years, with an abundance of activities to choose from.

Situated near Port Edward on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal and just within the Eastern Cape border, the area is known for its breathtakingly beautiful and unspoilt beaches.

The four-star resort is perfectly situated next to a petrified forest and offers guided tours to those who wish to embrace the beauty of the coastline.

When you think petrified forest, you may expect to see a forest in the traditional sense, but you would be wrong. The forest does not stand tall next to you but rather underneath – as you walk, you will see 80-million-year-old fossilised trees and deposits on the rocks.

An oblivious person walking along the beach will be completely unaware of what lies below their feet; therefore, a tour guide is essential to appreciate the history and sights from the Cretaceous period and volcanic remains.

The tour guide, Lonwabo Dlamini, is very knowledgeable and he showed our tour group the petrified trees, fossilised rocks, shells, and animal and dinosaur fragments with great excitement, as if we were his first tour, not his 100th.

The tour meeting point is at the parking of Wild Waves Water Park and 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.

The cliff also consists of fossil material, and you follow it along the coast until you get to a series of caves, known as the “White Man’s Caves” – named after shipwrecked Portuguese sailors who sheltered in them during the 1800s.

Tours are conducted during low tide so that you can make your way along the coast around to the caves.
Tours are conducted during low tide so that you can make your way along the coast around to the caves.
A series of caves that Portuguese sailors who sheltered in them during the 1800s – not only is the tour interesting but makes great Instagram photographs.
A series of caves that Portuguese sailors who sheltered in them during the 1800s – not only is the tour interesting but makes great Instagram photographs.
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