June Marine Awareness Camp: a ray of sunshine!

22nd August 2014

Words by Eleanor Yeld Hutchings

As the school gates closed at the start of the winter holiday, 24 excited Grade 5 children boarded a bus at Capricorn Primary School and were transported to the Soetwater Environmental Education Centre, where the team from the Save Our Seas Foundation’s Shark Education Centre was waiting to welcome them.

The Cape’s wet, cold and windy winters are notorious, and holding a camp in June can be quite a gamble! But the storms stayed away and despite some chilly nights the days were sunny and clear, and allowed the children and staff to take full advantage of all the planned activities.

No time was wasted as the group plunged headlong into the first of a whole range of activities that kept them busy from dawn to dusk – and well beyond! Starting with a team-building exercise that involved making marine-themed sand sculptures, coming up with team names, and performing a song and dance, things just got better. An exploration of a Khoi shell midden, some over-excited sand hoppers and kelp lice, and a picnic lunch completed the afternoon.

Some of the highlights of the whole camp were up next on the itinerary. The fabulous interns from the South African Shark Conservancy (SASC) were along for the camp, and they had not only prepared a fascinating shark talk that turned into a lively debate, but they also brought along a real shark that they dissected with the children. This was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

A night hike through the coastal veld and up into the dunes was another real high point of the camps. What started out as a scary venture into the unknown, yielded strange creatures, glowworms, new sounds and the Milky Way spread out across the sky, as well as a race down the soft, twisting sand path in the pitch dark, just for some added adrenalin.

The sunny weather continued throughout even prompting most of the children to take a mid-winter dip in the icy Atlantic Ocean after tackling a couple of the obstacle course stations. It was clear that there were some future Marine Explorers in the group!

Soetwater is home to a huge number of birds of many different species, and also boasts a beautiful rocky shore packed full of weird, wonderful and interesting creatures. So exploring the wildlife, both in the skies and under the water, was a huge hit with everyone, and the children were bowled over with the diversity of life that exists along our coastline. The staff were kept busy answering questions and being shown new, exciting discoveries. In fact, the only down side was that we couldn’t spend more time on every activity!

As the camp drew to a close and the children left to start the rest of their winter holiday, it was great to hear the positive impact that the past three days had had on each and every one of them, and to see the excitement and connection with which they approached the natural environment and all its wonders. We hope that they all take this experience home and share the messages that they learned on camp, and we look forward to seeing some of them again as part of the new Marine Explorers intake.