Zebra Shark Adventures

08/11/2022

Yes 🙌

Exposure to spaces such as beaches and rivers leads to greater value being placed in natural settings, study finds

08/11/2022

Progress ♥️

Three zones include nesting grounds for leatherback turtles, critical habitats for Atlantic humpback whale

07/11/2022

Hop along for one of our frogging adventures 🐸 Oceans Alive

30/10/2022

We hosted our first Backyard Birding for Beginners course this weekend. It was a great morning learning how to identify bird families before putting their knowledge to the test . Keep an eye on our socials for more exiting courses coming soon 🦩

24/10/2022

Loved being apart of this great initiative!

24/10/2022

Do you love birds but are not sure how to start identifying them? Let us help you separate the irises from your ibises… bookings are essential! Oceans Alive

13/10/2022

Astronomy, Geology and Meteorology..."THE BIG PICTURE"✨
These are subjects we have to wrestle with as we learn about our place in the universe! Once we're more comfortable with the gargantuan time and size scales, we learn how inextricably bound everything is ☁️

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺
Oceans Alive

12/10/2022

Magnificent Marine Mammals - mouthful much?!

We are beyond fortunate to have all sorts of dolphins and whales visiting our coasts. From the 40 ton humpback whale 🐋 leaping from our warm waters landing with a thunderous splash, to the acrobatic bottlenose dolphins 🐬 surfing in pods! Not to forget the mythological mammals like Kelpies, Selkies and Mermaids too 🧜‍♂️

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺
Oceans Alive

06/10/2022

Seabirds and our crew 🐦 Over the entire course we have slowly learned how to identify birds and have practiced diligently with birding book and binoculars nearby! 🕵️‍♂📓

Although our focus has been on the amazing coastal and marine species, birds are literally everywhere. So we can expect to see anything from Albatrosses to Pelicans or Cormorants and the very special African Black Oystercatchers 🪶

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺
Oceans Alive

02/10/2022

Cartilaginous Fishes - the most important of our oceanic predators 🦈

This much-maligned group of amazing fishes have maintained our marine ecosystems for millions of years.....LONG before humans!

The knowledge gained on our course dispels the irrational, unfounded fears and deepens our appreciation for these threatened apex predators. Every living being has a purpose - none are useless. Knowledge can reconnect us 👨‍🏫

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺
Oceans Alive

📸 Jakob Owens (Unsplash)

01/10/2022

Boney Fishes - a magnificent variety!
From eels and marlins to sardines and mudskippers 🐟 from the "butterflies" of our reefs to high speed sword carriers, every single one vital in it's place!

Their intelligence and complexities are only now being brought to light, as we have learnt on our course. As important as terrestrial animals are, their marine counterparts are actually the major shareholders of this planet. Perhaps we could show a bit of humility in our dealings with these living beings.

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺
Oceans Alive

30/09/2022

Today, we were exceptionally lucky to have Maryke Musson give us a FULL tour of Ushaka Marine World - from pump rooms to the shipwreck 🤩

It was the perfect experience to top off our studies in marine invertebrates and fishes 🦑🦈🐠

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺
Oceans Alive

30/09/2022

We had so much fun exploring the mangroves, and we wanted to share a little more of its beauty with you!

Oceans Alive
Andre' Steenkamp
Elzanne Marais
Jama Jman Bulwana
Athini Mbena

29/09/2022

Throwing it back to sunny explorations with the team☀️

A vital component of our course curriculum is spending time outdoors! Exploring the rocky shores of our coastline is important to understand the symbiotic relationship between the ocean and land. Some of the most adaptable critters are found along our shores and are an integral part of a unique ecosystem.

Oceans Alive

24/09/2022

HAPPY HERITAGE DAY 🇿🇦
The perfect day to celebrate our heritage. And what an amazing natural heritage it is! From the rugged Drakensberg to the deep blue sea; arid or lush, supporting such diversity.

Our focus is on our spectacular marine heritage as a part of the conservation effort. Introducing passionate people to the deep mysteries of our oceans and meeting animals and plants of truly alien appearance!

Ever grateful for our great salty inheritance 🇿🇦

23/09/2022

A mangroves meander...an adventure to an otherworldly ecosystem 🌱

Our candidates learned about the environmental pressures that have formed this extremely important habitat. Tree and animal identification was also practiced as we strolled through this shady buffer between rivers and the sea. A most efficient carbon sink and water filter, nursery for young fish, and a quiet spot with lots of food for inhabitants 🦀 So much to learn!

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺
Oceans Alive

23/09/2022

Invertebrates - a big topic for such small creatures!

This week we started a study on anything without a "backbone"....from giant crabs to painted butterflies, slimy flatworms to cunning octopuses and so many more 🦀🦋🐙 The mind-boggling diversity is actually a lifelong study!

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺
Oceans Alive

22/09/2022

What an experience 🌊

22/09/2022

Marine algae...the "plants" that bind us!

Brown, green or red, we have used seaweed for thousands of years 🪸 We've eaten them by the ton and used them to "firm up" our toothpaste, foodstuffs, and other cosmetics - no one wants runny products 🧑‍🔬 Scientists even use agar from seaweed to grow strange cultures!

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺

Oceans Alive

20/09/2022

Last week, we did water quality sampling as an introduction to citizen science for our Marine Ranger students 💧

We followed the steps set up for accurate data collection - a smidge of scientific process 🔬 Citizen science has become very important for collecting information that is used by the formal sciences - as long as basic scientific steps are followed, we are helping to build a picture of our world. Anybody can help!

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺

Oceans Alive

19/09/2022

Animal Behaviour... yes animals can behave 🐡
As part of last week's course material, we researched, lectured, and observed animals as they behave and interact in their natural habitats. We have so much to learn about ourselves from the behavior of the wild things 🐚

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺

Oceans Alive

16/09/2022

Last Saturday we visited Garvies Beach on the Bluff for our Marine Ranger Project snorkeling practice session 🤿 Not only did we get to spend time in the water, we completed a lesson covering ecology, geography, plant and animal identification 🐳 We are lucky to have a Whale Heritage site so close by on which to learn!

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺

Oceans Alive
Ocean Planet Media

15/09/2022

OUR TRIBE 🐙 STHEMBILE RAHMAN

Sthembile is our rose amongst the thorns🌹In a male-dominated industry, she has cemented her place as a commercial diver and has been known to give the boys a run for their money when it comes to pull-up challenges! She is an avid cyclist seeing more of our city than most 🚴🏿‍♀️ When she experiences something new, she takes the opportunity with both hands and dives in 🦈 She has grown so much over the last few weeks and really embraced learning about marine life and our impact on the environment as a whole. She is exceptionally motivated, and a hard worker and we love having her in our tribe💙💚

Oceans Alive
Andre' Steenkamp
Elzanne Marais

14/09/2022

OUR TRIBE 🐙 ATHINI MBENA

Athini Mbena, our quiet gentleman in the class, is always listening and observing with a welcoming smile on his face. Athini has a natural love for nature and the outdoors which suits him just fine as an aspiring triathlete who believes in keeping fit 🏊🏿 We just love having him as part of our tribe and seeing how he is completely taken his place as a nature ambassador 🌊 With his positive attitude and eagerness to help where he can, he makes a difference to all he meets. He is a budding entrepreneur and we see a bright future for him possibly guiding tourists both locally and internationally 💙💚

Oceans Alive
Andre' Steenkamp
Elzanne Marais

13/09/2022

OUR TRIBE 🐙 SETH FOX

Seth, aka Mr Fox, is the cool cat of our tribe….or should we say fierce fox 🦊 He is one of two Oceans Alive’s commercial divers that has joined our project in order to understand more about marine guiding 🤿 We love his enthusiasm and eagerness to learn and has impressed us with his knowledge of the maritime world. Seth has aspirations of furthering his career in commercial diving, either going in the direction of offshore or conservation research projects 💙💚

Oceans Alive
Andre' Steenkamp
Elzanne Marais

09/09/2022

OUR TRIBE 🐙 JAMA BULWANA

Jama Jman Bulwana has been a part of our team since day one when we met him at one of our reef cleanup operations at Vetchies Beach. He took the initiative to do some beach cleaning on his own and since his first snorkeling experience with us, the bug has really bitten. Jama is continuing his studies with our Marine Ranger Project having completed the marine course and is now on to the terrestrial syllabus🐋 He never goes anywhere without his knobkerrie so he is considered the tribe's unofficial head of security and has re-written the bird book with his original bird names 😜 Jama is an avid nature photographer and the designated selfie-taker because he has the longest arms🤳🏾! We hope Jama will be a permanent part of our team in the future and it's an absolute pleasure having him in our tribe. We see a bright future for Jama in conservation and he makes us proud every day 💙💚

Oceans Alive

09/09/2022

Plants have feelings too...🌿
The Sensitive Plant, Mimosa Pudica, can close and droop its leaves at the lightest touch, to avoid harm. They will rise and reopen after a few minutes just by changing hydraulic pressure in the stem.

Moving plants! Who knew?!

Adventures with Andre' Steenkamp 🗺

Oceans Alive
Lemonade Design Co.

06/09/2022

Can finally reveal our Oceans Alive team home base. Situated at Beachwood Country Club. This artwork masterpiece can only be a Giffy original 💙
Thank you Adreach Group Masakhe Media for the signage.
“No Water No Life
No Blue no Green”
Think about that for a minute…..

01/09/2022

Happy Spring Day 🌺

Today we celebrate the start of spring and thought we'd tell you about one of our favourite flowers seen along our coastline. The Lagoon Hibiscus is found in the dune thickets and forests, and flowers from August to May. It has heart-shaped leaves with yellow flowers that matures to dark pink with a black centre.

29/08/2022

And just like that, we welcome the newest members to the Marine Ranger Project!

The program is growing with the continued support of Oceans Alive and our second group of candidates are well into their studies with an exploration of the Botanic Gardens with Andre' Steenkamp. We'll introduce the students and share their journey over the next few weeks 👩‍🏫

24/08/2022

We are honoured to have Giffy paint our beautiful classroom which is now named "The Rockpool". It was such a privilege working with someone who is just as passionate about the marine environment as us. Come visit at the Beachwood Country Club and see his incredible artwork for yourself 🎨

Oceans Alive

20/08/2022

It’s time to let the proverbial cat or in this case, catfish out of the bag 😂😂😂

At the end of July, our first MGDP (marine guide development program) came to an end. We couldn’t have asked for two more deserving students, Jama and Sips to journey with, and it was an absolute pleasure learning and growing our project with you. Keep an eye on our socials this week if you want to know what Sips and Jama are up to next.

However, we are beyond thrilled to let you know that Oceans Alive is continuing their partnership with us to help turn our vision into a long-term sustainable project so we can change even more lives and make a greater impact on the environment we care so deeply for. Not only have they provided funding for more students they have also provided us with a container that we could convert into our dream classroom.
Thank you to Colin Levin from Oceans Alive for trusting us, for caring and for sharing my and Andre' Steenkamp's excitement and passion for this project. Thank you for making this dream a reality!

We are also very grateful to Beachwood Country Club for being our home base we are looking forward to partnering with you. We couldn’t have asked for a better home, sandy shore, coastal forest, and a mangrove swamp ecosystem on our doorstep. We don’t mind dodging some golf balls to get to these hidden gems🏌️‍♀️

And we just have to give a massive shoutout to Giffy for the incredible artwork on the container classrooms 🖌 Behind-the-scenes videos coming soon!

Thank you again to our pilot project partners, we couldn’t have done it without you Breathe Ocean Conservation Uzwelo Bags Lizzy | South Africa Lizzard | South Africa Lemonade Design Co.

16/08/2022

COOL THINGS LOADING...

Watch our stories for clues to see what's going on 👀

12/08/2022

We can officially announce the continued strategic partnership with Oceans Alive!

With their ongoing support we are able to not only make a difference to our environment but also change lives in the process. We can't wait to share this journey with you 💫

12/08/2022

OCEANS ALIVE CONSERVATION TRUST 🌊

As the main funder for the Marine Guide Development Program, we can honestly say we would not be here without Oceans Alive. They are the most incredible organisation changing hundreds of lives through training and skills development and making a massive impact in conserving our oceans and planet. Oceans Alive Conservation Trust is dedicated to saving and protecting our oceans and coastal environments. They do this through strategic guidance and manage project funding to support scientific research, ocean wildlife conservation, environmental clean-up programs, community awareness programs, social upliftment programs and ocean education programs. This helps to change attitudes and contributes to a sustainable and healthy planet.

We love walking a journey with the team from Oceans Alive Conservation Trust and can’t wait to see how it grows.

www.oceans-alive.org
www.linkedin.com/company/oceans-alive-conservation-trust/

11/08/2022

UZWELO BAGS 🌍

Uzwelo Bags and Zebra Shark Adventures have a lot in common. Not only is both our branding epic (I mean, that background colour is spot on 😉), but we both believe in making a change by empowering families and uplifting communities through skills development, entrepreneurship, and education.

They have taken a unique approach to be part of making South Africa a better place by using waste fabric that normally goes into landfills to make bags of all shapes and sizes. These bags are fashionable, durable and cater for every aspect of South African life from fashion to shopping, travel to work, sport and school. We give Uzwelo Bags a massive thumbs up and use them daily on our adventures ranging from the classroom to the bush.

www.uzwelo.co.za
www.linkedin.com/company/uzwelobags/

10/08/2022

Lizzard | South Africa 🏄 Lizzy | South Africa 🏄‍♀️

Lizzard is a global surfwear and lifestyle brand that produces original surf apparel, bike apparel, wetsuits, accessories and footwear. As the planet gets hotter and the oceans get deeper, Lizzard is committed to doing their part in climate change and are breathing new life into waste by using it to create some of their garments. Their tees are made of recycled products, using 9-12 plastic bottles that otherwise would have ended up in the ocean 🌊

In addition, they’ve partnered with Breathe who are selling their eco-friendly flasks and tumblers, made from great quality stainless steel made to last a lifetime and you'll never have to use another plastic cup again.

https://lizzardonline.com/

10/08/2022

BREATHE OCEAN CONSERVATION 🐳

Sarah Ferguson, Breathe Ocean Conservation founder, lives and breathes “live deeply, tread lightly”. She is a retired national swimmer who holds a Guinness World Record for becoming the first person to circumnavigate Easter Island and has many more inspiring challenges in the pipeline. She uses her passion and talent for pioneering extreme swims around the world to create a platform to educate and inspire people to change their behaviour. Breathe aims to eliminate throw-away plastic pollution by working with like-minded organisations, inspiring the public to create change, and educating future generations on sustainable practices.

Breathe Ocean Conservation and Zebra Shark Adventures have worked on various projects and many reef and beach clean-ups over the years. Our values align with our desire to educate people on ocean conservation. We look forward to many more adventures and projects ahead!

www.breatheconservation.org

09/08/2022

LEMONADE DESIGN CO 🍋

Lemonade Design Co. is a strong women-led creative agency right in the heart of Durban. They believe great design can change the world by bringing art and functionality together. They deliver a refreshing agency experience through meaningful connections and if you can think it, they design it! Their work ranges from brand identity design, packaging innovation and design, graphic design, and digital design. Lemonade Design Co created a brand that speaks to who Zebra Shark Adventures are and what we stand for. We love our look and are proud to partner with the lemons of Lemonade 🍋

www.lemonadedesignco.co.za
www.linkedin.com/company/lemonade-design-company

09/08/2022

🖤 HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY 🖤