SARDINE RUN 2025
Experience the Sardine Run on South Africa’s Wild Coast — a raw, spectacular event where shoals of sardines, hunting predators, and migrating humpback whales converge in winter. With 16 years of experience on and under the water, Animal Ocean offers a true African ocean adventure, far from the tourist trail. Built for photographers, our trips are designed to get you in position to capture real moments, not just witness them. If you want to shoot powerful wildlife images and experience the ocean at its wildest, this is where you want to be.
DATES and Rates - 2025
R39 500 - SHARED ROOM | R43 500 PRIVATE ROOM
ADD ON'S
WHATS INCLUDED
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add SCUBA - R4000
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add shuttle from East London to Mdumbi return - R3000 p/p
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*Private shuttle options available
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Full snorkeling equipment - R1000 for the 6 day trip.
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Fully Catered - Breakfast, Boat Snacks, Lunch & Dinner
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2 Marine guides per vessel
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Photographic table on the boat
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Accommodation
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Basic Wifi. Good for emails and WhatsApp
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Weights and weight belts
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1x 10l steel din SCUBA tank on SCUBA option
2025
EXPEDITION - ZERO (New)
Arrive 13 June - depart 20 June
2 places available
2025
EXPEDITION ONE
Arrive 21 June - depart 28 June
Fully Booked
2025
EXPEDITION TWO
Arrive 29 June - depart 6 July
Fully Booked
2025
EXPEDITION THREE
Arrive 7 July - depart 14 July
2 places available
DATES and Rates - 2026
R40 500 - SHARED ROOM | R45 500 PRIVATE ROOM
"Add On's" and "What's Included" remain the same
EXPEDITION 1 - 2026
EXPEDITION 2 - 2026
EXPEDITION 3 - 2026
Arrive 11 June - depart 18 June
Boat 1 - 8 places available
Boat 2 - Reserved
Arrive 19 June - depart 26 June
Boat 1 - Reserved
Boat 2 - Reserved
Arrive 27 June - Depart 13 July
Boat 1 - Reserved
Boat 2 - Reserved
EXPEDITION 4 -2026
EXPEDITION 5 -2026
Arrive 14 July - Depart 21 July
Boat 1 - Reserved
Boat 2 - Reserved
Arrive 22 July - Depart 29 July
Boat 1 - Reserved
Boat 2 - 8 places available
Not Included
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Flights to East London, South Africa.
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SCUBA supplement
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Snorkeling equipment - small extra fee for a complete or partial set
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SCUBA equipment hire - BCD and Regulator
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Transport to Mdumbi, arranged on request
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Gratuities
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Alcohol
Available at Mdumbi
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Great massages with Lindeka
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Oysters from the locals
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East Coast rock lobster from the fishermen
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Milkshakes, Coffee, and Tea
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A selection of beer and spirits is available nearby
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Animal Ocean will have a range of wines available at cost price.
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Laundry service is available
Wildlife Photography with Steve Benjamin
Steve is an ocean and photography addict and has built his life around the ocean since 2009. He has led sardine run trips for the last 15 years; a passion project he loves to share each year. Steve has advised, facilitated, and assisted on expeditions with National Geographic magazine and the BBC’s Blue Planet II. He loves creating wild ocean experiences and rare photographic opportunities for clients. Join him on the Sardine Run for an action-packed adventure that you won’t forget! See more of his photography on Instagram.
Mdumbi - Eastern Cape
We enjoy operating out of Mdumbi because it’s close to the Agulhas Current, which gives us consistently good visibility during the Sardine Run. The strong current and nearby continental shelf drop-off mean that even when rivers are flowing or swell stirs up sediment, the water is often quickly replaced by clean, blue ocean.
We base ourselves at Mdumbi Backpackers, where the rolling hills overlook both the estuary and the sea. Each morning, it’s just a short walk down the hill to where we launch the boat — simple, scenic, and right on the doorstep of the action.
We're also one of the few operators working in this area, which keeps the animal activity largely undisturbed. For all these reasons, Mdumbi remains one of our favourite bases for the Sardine Run.
The Daily Routine
We start the day early at 6:30 am. A basic cold breakfast will be waiting at 6:30am, after which we will kit up and go. From 7:30am we are on the water with the whales, dolphins, and sardines. The afternoon from 4-6 pm is yours to relax, before dinner at 6 pm. Each day promises to be an adventurous wildlife and yoga experience.
What To Expect ...
Encountering the ocean in this unique way means being exposed to the water, wind, and sun for the day on the boat (8 hours). Ocean conditions can vary, so those prone to seasickness should bring the necessary preventive medicine. Bring sunscreen, a windbreaker, a hat, sunglasses, and a buff. Mdumbi is a rural village, with no shops or facilities. Bring all your essential items for this time. The evenings can be chilly, and we will be there in the mild South African winter month of June. Temperatures, on land, range from 14-21C in this season. Bring warm clothes for the evenings.
The water temperature ranges from 16C – 22C. We recommend at least a 5mm wetsuit with a hood. Long-blade freediving fins are highly recommended as the action is fast moving and you need to fin to keep up. We provide weights and weight belts with other equipment available to rent if requested.
SCUBA diving is an available option BUT divers must be well trained and comfortable in the water. The conditions are difficult with often poor vis, fast-moving action, big sharks, and open water. We advise that freediving or snorkeling is the better way to experience the Sardine Run as a whole but for some scuba divers, you may want the SCUBA option for photographic purposes. We provide weights, belts and 1 x 10l steel tank. Other equipment can be rented from us if needed.
Accomodation
The rooms you will be staying in are basic Xhosa-style round houses, called Rondavels. These are traditional African huts with no en-suit bathrooms. There is electricity in the rooms, but shower and toilet facilities are all located in a central building a short walk away. You can connect to Wifi from most of the rooms, but not all. Wifi is always available in the central dining and reception.
Getting to Mdumbi
The best way to join us is to fly to East London airport. East London is 6 hour drive away from Mdumbi. Our shuttle and Self-drivers must depart East London by 12:00 to arrive on time. No
Email us at info@animalocean.co.za to get on board and experience the ocean as you have never before!
What Makes a Photographic Sardine Run with Animal Ocean Different ?
Not all Sardine Run trips are created equal. At Animal Ocean, we run expeditions built specifically for photographers — not just to see the action, but to shoot it well. This isn’t luck. It’s deliberate. It’s about patience, positioning, and understanding the ocean.
I’ve spent the last 16 years diving and skippering these waters — and that’s rare. I know how important the boat’s position is. The moment something happens, I’m in the water, learning, reacting, adjusting. And that mindset is shared by the whole team. We’re topside and underwater people. We talk about behaviour constantly, and we use what we know to get you in the right spot.
We’ve worked with the best in the business — BBC, Netflix, Disney, PBS — and the footage and photos from our trips have gone global. From Blue Planet II to supermarket trucks and conservation campaigns, images from our boat have changed the way people see the ocean.
This is a photo-first trip. Whether you’ve got a GoPro or a RED, we plan around shooting — timing, framing, lighting, movement. The boat’s kitted with a raised camera table, space for gear, and a crew that understands how to handle equipment in real conditions.
We recommend having a wide-angle lens for close action, and a 200–400mm zoom for distant dolphins and birds. A dedicated topside rig and a separate underwater setup or GoPro will let you make the most of every opportunity — from fins beside the pontoon to dolphins surfing 50m away.
At the end of the day, we review, discuss, and share what we’ve seen. It’s about learning, experimenting, and chasing those rare, powerful moments that make this work meaningful.
If you want to experience the Sardine Run with intent, with access, and with the time to shoot it properly — this is the trip.
Animal Encounters - Species List
The Sardine Run is about far more than just chasing bait balls — it’s a full marine safari. Each day, we read the ocean, interpret animal behaviour, and follow our instincts to find the best opportunities to observe and photograph life at sea. It’s a process shaped by years of experience, patience, and time on the water.
Below is a list of the species we have encountered ( on our Sardine Run expeditions, grouped by how likely you are to see them on a typical 6-day trip.
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Common species are those we expect all guests will encounter.
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Uncommon species are seen just a handful of times across a full season.
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Rare species are special sightings — creatures we’ve only encountered a few times over many years along the Transkei coast.
MARINE SIGHTINGS
Common Sightings
(90-100% chance of seeing)
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Common Dolphin
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Brydes Whale
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Humpback whale
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Dusky Shark
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Spinner shark
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Bronze Whaler
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Cape Gannet
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Cape Cormorant
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Subantarctic Skua
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Kelp gull
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Swift tern
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Sooty shearwater
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White-chinned petrel
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Indian yellow-nosed albatross
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Eastern little tuna
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Loggerhead turtle
Uncommon Sightings
(30% chance of seeing)
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Cory's shearwater
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Blackbrowed albatross
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Pantropical-spotted dolphin
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Southern Right whale
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Humpback dolphins
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Cape fur seal
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African penguin
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Shy Albatross
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Antarctic Prion
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Manta ray
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Sailfish
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Green turtle
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Yellowfin tuna
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Ragged-tooth shark
Rare Sightings
(1% chance of seeing)
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Great White shark
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Tiger shark
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Bull shark
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Whale shark
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Black Marlin
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Minke whale
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Orca
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Sunfish
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Offshore Bottlenose dolphins
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Risso's Dolphin
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Giant Trevally
Bait Fish Identification
If you’re joining us on the Sardine Run, you're hoping to witness one of nature’s most spectacular events: the massive shoals of sardines moving north along the coast on their spawning migration. With luck, the action unfolds while we’re on the water, ready and waiting. But sardines aren’t the only baitfish out there. Several species of small, silver fish attract predators during this time — each with its own unique strategy to avoid being eaten. These responses create what we call “baitballs,” though not all baitfish behave the same way.
Saury, for example, don’t form tight schools. They stay near the surface and scatter wildly when chased, triggering scattered dives from Cape gannets and fast, unpredictable lunges by dolphins. This kind of activity is best observed from the boat — there’s no single target for divers.
At the other end of the spectrum are sardines. They form slow-moving, dense bait balls — the ones we’re hoping to find. These fish pack tightly together to reduce individual risk, and when this happens, we can often get in on SCUBA and observe the feeding from the water. Red-eye round herring behave similarly, though their bait balls are looser and more reactive — with larger gaps between fish and a quicker response to predator pressure.
There’s a lot to interpret on the water. Part of what we offer is helping you understand what you're seeing — the species, the behaviours, the dynamics — so you can better appreciate and photograph this remarkable ecosystem.
