The venue for this talk was to thank the sponsors for the So Durban welcoming the whale’s festival. The Mc was Sidney Govindsamy Dr Erin Erin Ross-Marsh from Sea Search Research/Conservation, gave a talk on whale communication followed by us and then a fashion show by a bluff designer which happened to include the bluff Councillor Zoë Solomon who was wearing a shirt designed by Sbu from 4ever Trendy.
The Saturday was the day of the festival and included a large education component of which MACE Lab my research lab at UKZN continued to support. Durban NSRI Station 5 used the festival as one of their training days and highlighted some of the work that the NSRI does. The morning was a beautiful, Durban winters morning and the whales seemed to enjoy the festival. There was also a craft market and food section, and the hit of the festivals were the ricksha tours of the bluff area. This would not have been possible if not for the councillor who paid for tree branches to be removed from her own pocket so that the topless buss tours could go ahead. Learning about the bluff history was a highlight for many festival goers.
For us personally our highlight was on Sunday when we attended a tour of the Union whaling station. This was the largest whaling station in the world, and we were guided by the grandson of Abraham Larson and Peter and Jenny Forude who were the chemist/ managing director and microbiologist at the station until it closed in 1975. This was a fantastic opportunity to see history come alive and highly recommended tour. I have been to the whaling museum in the Azores which was an old whaling station, and I wish SoDurba all the best in making this a national heritage site to go along with the bluff heritage site. I spent the time in the car engrossed in two of Peters Books which I had signed. By the time I finished reading them we were at our next stop on the whale route.
We were hosted by one of the festivals main instigators Helga du Preez, and Sodurba CTO chairperson. at guesthouse and this was a truly wonderful experience.
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Attendance: 80
Festival: 7000