Tracking our turtles: Nobomvu is nearly at her two-year mark

It has been 640 days since Nobomvu, an adult female loggerhead turtle with an inspiring story, was released back into her ocean home!

Rescued in 2021, entangled in a 50kg fishing net, Nobomvu was dubbed the “Red Lady” by the turtle team after her unusually red colouration. Nobomvu’s years in rehabilitation were tough, making her release all the more emotional for the team that helped her to heal successfully. Now that she has been reunited with her ocean home for nearly the same time that she spent in rehabilitation, our team is thrilled that her satellite tag is still transmitting.

Since her release into the waters off Cape Point in December 2023, Nobomvu has clocked an incredible 25 000km and held steady at an average of 40km per day. You go, girl!

When we last checked in with her in August, Nobomvu had just started moving south after her meandering journey around the southwestern waters of South Africa. She was perched right at the edge of the African continental shelf, about 270km offshore from Witsand.

Over the past two months, she first headed westward all the way to the Southeast Atlantic Seamounts Marine Protected Area (MPA), before cutting a straight line southeast through South Africa's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to a point 600km south of Mossel Bay.

Most recently, Nobomvu turned north again to spend some time in the Agulhas Bank MPA. This MPA is affectionately known as the “turtle tuck-shop”for its abundance of food sources. This MPA is incredibly special: One of the underwater plateaus it protects rises 2 000m above the seafloor, yet it is still more than a kilometre below the surface! It’s also a vital foraging ground for leatherback turtles, who gather there to feast on jellyfish. Maybe Nobomvu snuck in some snacking?

From there, she continued north to the waters off Gqeberha, where she hitched a ride in the warm Agulhas Current, which was moving southward with speed. Right now, Nobomvu is 140km south of Jeffreys Bay, caught up in the strong southward current along the edge of the continental shelf.

The big question is: Will she keep exploring the waters around the Cape, or is she perhaps wanting to start moving northward to South Africa's nesting grounds? As an adult loggerhead female, Nobomvu has the incredibly exciting potential of one day contributing to the continuation of her endangered species. We will have to wait and see what her next move is!