Coral Divers
Dive resort: cabins and safari tents · Sodwana Bay section · Coral Divers
Budget
Inside the park
Owner/family-run
A South African dive resort inside the Sodwana Bay section with ensuite cabins, standard cabins and safari tents, and a PADI dive centre launching 7.2 m twin-outboard boats for up to 11 divers from Jesser Point. Its 2026 rate sheet starts at R225 a person for a safari tent in low season, the cheapest current published bed in the park, with a 2 Mile reef dive from R460. It charges an overnight fee of R100 to R130 a person on top, and further reefs carry a surcharge per dive. It is owner-run with no group behind it that we could find. Choose it if diving is the point; skip it if you want a lodge.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Safari tents from R225 a person in low season
- Dive centre and boats on site
- Courses from Open Water up
- Inside the park at Sodwana
Cons
- Bed only: meals and dives cost extra
- Overnight fee of R100 to R130 a person on top
- Surcharges for dives to the further reefs
- Busy in school holidays
What's here
- En-suite bathrooms
Arranged from the lodge:
- Boat trips
Read from Coral Divers's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. iSimangaliso Wetland Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entryGate fee and conservation levy plus the R12 accommodation levy, counted per day because no official document says whether multi-night guests pay the gate fee once.
- $9per person, per day
- VehicleR74 car fee, counted per day for the same reason.
- $5per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $69 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
Sleeping inside the boundary is what keeps that low. Overnight guests add the R12 accommodation levy per night, against $8 a day for anyone driving in from outside.
These are the 2024/25 rates, which expired on 30 November 2025; no newer table has been published. Sodwana, the Coastal Forest and Kosi Bay charge about half (R71 per international adult). Lodges in St Lucia town are outside every gate.
The full fee schedule for iSimangaliso Wetland ParkRates at Coral Divers
From R225 per person, safari tent (2026). Coral Divers' own 2026 rate sheet (1 February 2026 to 31 January 2027), bed only, per person per night, low / mid / high season: safari tent R225 / R260 / R395; standard cabin R615 / R710 / R770; ensuite cabin R875 / R1,010 / R1,100. Coral Divers adds a 'KZN Wildlife' overnight fee of R100 (low) or R130 (mid and high) per person. 2 Mile dive R460 to R570; Open Water course R6,360 to R7,950. The Sodwana gate fee is extra; the rate sheet marks its own gate figures '2026 tbc'. VAT treatment is not stated.
Room only. Meals, activities and park fees all come on top.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Rates checked against the research dossier of 24 September 2026. State-camp prices come from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife's 2023/24 tariff (1 November 2023 to 31 October 2024), the last official camp tariff that could be read; treat them as a floor, because iSimangaliso has published none since it took the camps over on 1 March 2026. Thonga Beach Lodge, Kosi Forest Lodge, Coral Divers, Mabibi Beach Camp and Umlilo Lodge are priced from their own sites. Every figure marked 'reseller rate' comes from SA-Venues, LekkeSlaap, Siyabona or a booking agent, uses that site's 'from' price, and usually prices a room for two; we halve it to give a per-person figure. Dollar figures use R16.36 to the dollar (24 September 2026) and are rounded. Gate fees are extra everywhere except in St Lucia town: R62 per South African adult and R130 per international adult at the dearest gates on the 2024/25 table, which expired on 30 November 2025 with no successor published.
Questions about Coral Divers
What does Coral Divers cost in 2026?
Its own 2026 rate sheet gives R225 to R395 a person for a safari tent, R615 to R770 for a standard cabin and R875 to R1,100 for an ensuite cabin, bed only, plus an overnight fee of R100 to R130 a person.
What are dive excesses at Coral Divers?
Coral Divers says dive excesses are surcharges covering the extra distance to the further reefs (5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 Mile), charged per person per dive on top of the dive price.
Is Coral Divers good for families?
We found no published child policy for the accommodation. Ask about minimum ages for courses when you book.