Our intern from the University of Lagos, Heritage Kehinde flags off our ‘Flight from the Pages’ series with her fascination for Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa which she read about in Suwobona the inflight Magazine of the South African Airline.
Flight from the Pages is a learning concept about reading of interesting places, people and events flight magazines of international airlines focus on in their flight magazine.
Invariably our interns get to travel to places by reading about them ahead of the day they would fly there on the airlines.
“When I visit South Africa, I will ensure I visit the Two Oceans Aquarium at Cape Town in South Africa” This was my comment after reading Tiara Walters’ experience on her visit to the Aquarium in its 20th year in the June 2015 edition of the South African Airways magazine, Sawubona.
.I couldn’t help but wonder at the interesting details captured in the three-page story, getting to learn the names of different sea creatures apart from the generic name “fish”, such as northern rockhopper penguins, powder-blue surgeons, pencil surgeons, loggerhead turtles and cow sharks.
I was thrilled to discover that the aquarium’s tanks house 250 marine and freshwater species that whirl, reel, swim and sway through four million liters of purified water, leaving a hint of how breathtaking the view will be.
I chuckled when I read the comment of the Operation Manager, Tinus Beukes, while he discussed with Walter, “Fish don’t get along generally…But one day, two pencil surgeonfish start fighting. Now you’ll find Now you’ll find a powder-blue surgeon waiting lekker peacefully all along. Then this oke sees the pencil surgeons have started boxing and he thinks: ‘Jeez, something’s happening, hey!’ So he goes and looks for his own buddy. Then they start boxing, too.”Next morning you get there and the whole tank starts boxing. It’s like managing an unruly classroom.”
READ ALSO: Our interns’ amazing scorecard
Apart from the aquarium’s aesthetics and outlandish creatures, one value of the institution that was emphasized is the passion for marine conservation which I think is vital owing to the fact that some wild African penguins and other creatures could be extinct in 20 years. Not only is the institution walking towards this but has gradually made an impact when, Hailey McLellen, penguin activist and environmental campaigner came up with the concept “Rethink the bag” an initiative put in place to ban the use of plastic shopping bags on the premises of the institution.
Shopping bags and plastic litter could destroy marine life when they are swallowed or become entangled in fins or flippers. Her campaign was a success, as this was not just employed within the premises of the aquarium but also inspired SA first town to go plastic bag free.
Reading this article spurred me to check for terminologies, places and relevant details, which I think you might have done the same reading this review. It’s interesting to know that Africa is contributing immensely to the global trend of climate and nature conversation through initiatives like this. Although an attractive sport for tourists, Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape town is indeed redefining the way we look at Aquariums.
Watch out for what caught the attention of the other interns from the magazines they read.
