A tragic morning!

Early morning on Saturday the 30th of May, tragedy stuck on a beach in Kommetjie near Cape Town South Africa. A total of 47 pilot whales stranded themselves on the beach and on the rocks just near the beach. The reasons for mass strandings such as these is yet unknown. It is a “common” occurrence and has been happening way before man used sonar equipment and the like. There is still however a debate if the sonar of these magnificent creatures can be interfered with from man made noise in the ocean.

Many of the whales were dragged back into the water and off the rocks but they just seemed to swim back and just strand themselves again. It was a long, strenuous day and thanks go out to all the wonderful volunteers who helped keep these animal wet and cool. There were a few whales which stayed out (at lease we hope so) but there were still numerous whales still stranded till late afternoon when the authorities decided it would be more humane to euthanize them. I decided to leave the beach at this stage as I could not deal with watching these majestic creatures die for reasons that are so unknown to me.

Beach Clean-up

On the 23rd of May 2009 the SANFAN foundation, CPUT Student Affairs, The Green Team, the Department of Environmental Management (Environmental Health) and the Golden Key Society (UCT chapter) organised a joined beach clean-up project at Springfontein beach close to Atlantis on the west coast of South Africa. There were two bus loads of volunteers and we managed to clean up a significant part of the beach. Three hrs later the beach was sparkling clean and we had two truck loads full of trash to cart away. All the participants had a great time and were supplied with a great lunch and free transport. The next clean-up programme is planned for next month at flamingo Vlei in Tableview Cape Town. If anyone is interested in joining on this day please contact Jason Hayden on 084 551 8804.