It is in the Sodwana Bay National Park, and the Maputaland Marine Reserve, and is a popular recreational diving destination.

Sodwana Bay National Park is a narrow strip of forested sand dunes located along the east coast.

The bay is near the southern end of the tropical western Indo-Pacific marine ecoregion, and reef-building corals are present.

The 50 km (31 mi) reef complex is the habitat of a wide diversity of resident and migratory species.

Sailfish, king mackerel, kingfish and other pelagic species of game fish migrate south down the east coast of Africa and since the activities of sea pirates off the coast of north east Africa healthy populations of pelagic game fish again reach all the way south off the coast of South Africa which has re-established Sodwana as a sport fishing destination for pelagic species.

In the March 2011 issue of National Geographic, a short article titled Ancient Swimmers appeared, discussing the discovery of coelacanths in the depths of Sodwana Bay and the surrounding area.

A small section of the written article explains that: "Since this chance sighting, Latimeria chalumnae have been found in several pockets in and around the Indian Ocean.