What’s happening in the Shark Education Centre?

For quite a while now, the Save Our Seas Foundation’s Shark Education Centre has had these two signs up and its front door has been firmly closed.

renovations sign

renovations school groups

While we have been running our educational programming with schools, the centre has been closed to walk-ins and the general public, citing ‘renovations in progress’ as the reason. But from the outside there doesn’t seem to be much going on – and that’s because the centre is housed in a heritage-status building and structural renovations are highly regulated and controlled. We haven’t been doing structural (or external) renovations, so very little of what is happening is visible from the outside. This has prompted many queries about what exactly these renovations are – or even if there are any happening at all!

Well, let me assure you that from inside the building it is abundantly clear that many changes are taking place. And furthermore, that there are some extremely exciting things happening. So here’s a sneak peek at the projects being worked on all over the place. And never fear, when we re-open to the public you will know all about it and hopefully you’ll come and join us to explore all the wonderful new exhibits and features of the Shark Education Centre. Stay tuned…

paint testers on wall

Our beloved fish were released into the wild at the end of 2014 as we do some necessary maintenance to our tank. When we’ve finished, it will be bigger, better and more ‘hands-on’ (hint, hint!) than ever before.

empty aquarium and ramp

When we host school groups, it often occurs to us that it would be wonderful for the pupils to have their own entrance, a ‘base camp’ area suitable for crafts and other messy projects, and somewhere to store their bags and snacks. And wouldn’t it be even better if this place were an immersive experience itself, or perhaps it could take the children on a ‘voyage’?

garage renovations

The size of our building and of our fish tank does limit the animals that we can keep, but it shouldn’t limit what we can show you, or even let you touch and feel! On the shores of False Bay we are already so close to many varied marine habitats and their diverse shark inhabitants, but we thought it would be even better to bring them into the centre itself.

wall

3d anemone

This is only a taste of what is happening – and what’s to come. Please be patient while we work. We promise it will be worth it!