Further call made to declare the area a national heritage site

CAPTION: Petrified Forest, 80-million-year-old fossilised trees and deposits on the rocks

First held in 1973, World Environment Day raises awareness around the importance of caring for the planet and is celebrated annually on 5 June. It is supported by many non-governmental organisations, businesses, and government entities, and represents the primary United Nations outreach day supporting the environment. Wild Coast Sun is proud to be part of this annual event, which grows more important each year as climate change and global warming take their toll.

Two kilometres from the Wild Coast Sun, on the beach, are the Mzamba fossils and Petrified Forest, in the northerly reaches of the Wild Coast. When you think petrified forest, you may expect to see a forest in the traditional sense, but this 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.

A series of marine fossil beds, which are actually fossilised logs embedded in rocks, are exposed in a series of prominent reefs just south of the Mtamvuna River, past Thompson’s lagoon. The wood was once part of a forest, carried downstream by rivers and waterlogged in the shallows of the coast.

On 5 June 2025, Wild Coast Sun invited staff, members of the local municipality, and local conservation groups, to a guided tour of the Petrified Forest. The 40 participants included those from the Winnie Madikizela Mandela local municipality, with representatives from the Environmental Department, Waste Management, Tourism, and Alien Plant Control. Members of the SAPS were there too, along with representation by local ward counsellors, TM Deep Sea Fisheries, Mbizana Guides Association, and South Coast Treewalkers.

CAPTION: Some of the forty staff, members of the local municipality, and local conservation groups on the Petrified Forest tour on World Environment Day on June 5

The tour was led by Wild Coast Sun’s environmentalist Sonja Stroud and tour guide Mazwe Nzala, with the aim of creating awareness on the importance of the fossil beds, finding solutions to protect the site, and to nominate it as a national heritage site.

Way back in 2005, Wild Coast Sun previously nominated the area to be declared a national heritage site with the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA).

“We hope the key stakeholders who attended the tour will help support and drive this.”

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. In this stretch is another series of fossils known as the Mzamba fossils.

CAPTION: Caves on the beachfront lined with fossilized shells

These are 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 (sea urchins) and, incredibly, a fossilised sea turtle and enormous clam shells.

“The people who attended the tour were amazed at the wealth of fossils and information they received,” said Stroud. “They did not realise how important the site is until now. This gives me a great sense of achievement, that with this tour, we have reached the hearts and minds of the environmental science community and awakened the eco warrior spirit in them.”

Wild Coast Sun has long adopted responsible tourism as a management strategy to ensure sustainable management of natural resources.

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