Bluff gives the whales a warm welcome

RESIDENTS of the Bluff and surrounding areas came out in numbers to celebrate the annual Welcoming of the Whales Festival held yesterday at the Wessa Treasure Beach Educational Centre in Bluff, Durban.

The festival was aimed at promoting environmental education and the conservation of the marine, while promoting Bluff as a tourism destination.

This was the fifth festival and guests were treated to a market, food and beverages, educational games and activities, rocky shore and wetland guided walking tours, a beach clean-up and more.

The festival was hosted by the Sodurba Community Tourism Organisation, the official community tourism body for Durban South, in partnership with Durban Tourism, ethekwini Municipality, Wessa and Wild Oceans.

Sodurba has held the International Whale Heritage Site status for the past three years.

Amanda Janse van Rensburg, from Isle of Capri Cruises, the legal permit holders for whale and dolphin watching off Durban, said there had been sightings of the whales.

“The first sighting was two weeks ago and since we have done five sightings, four were successful. This morning we saw whales three times from the Wessa route, where we were.”

Suzette Niemand, the chairperson for Sodurba, said the festival served as a mechanism to bring people together to show unity, following the Covid-19 pandemic, July unrest and the recent floods that lashed the province.

She said the target market of the festival was the community and the children from the Bluff and surrounds.

“If we educate children from a very young age, it will go a long way in the preservation of the gems that we have in South Africa because children do not really understand why it is important to look after the environment.

“If we can create enough awareness so that our children can carry that vision forward, then the future generation will certainly have some animals to admire and enjoy,” said Niemand.

She said that being able to host such an event, following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, was a great opportunity to bring people together, promote nature conservation and create business opportunities.

“A lot of people do not know that we have gems at the Bluff so we want to show people what is happening and by doing that, we will get more feet here and our festival can become bigger and become a national event where people from the whole country flood to the Bluff.”

Daryl Govender, a representative of the local ward committee, said: “People need to understand the impact of their footprint in the environment so they can leave a lasting legacy for others to enjoy as we are exposed to climate change and so many factors that are negatively impacting our environment,” he said.

Visitor Linda Maughn said that the beach clean-up was the most important part.

“I have got an absolute passion for cleaning up litter. I hate seeing plastic on the beaches because it ends up going into the ocean and feeding the sea life and I do not like that at all.”