Braving ‘Wild Swim’ with sharks in ocean fundraiser
Coming face-to-face with a shark might be the stuff of nightmares for some, but not so for participants taking part in next week’s The Wild Swim on the Wild Coast.
In preparation for the grueling 22km swim in the Pondoland Marine Protected Area starting on April 26, some of the swimmers got up close and personal with the ocean’s “men in grey suits” on a shark dive off Aliwal Shoal near Durban on Thursday.
Cera-Jane Catton, the lead safety diver for The Wild Swim, and organiser Fred Kockott faced off with some of these giants of the deep.
Kockott had a hairy moment when his head was knocked by the dorsal fin of one of the sharks – but fortunately he lived to tell the tale and will still be taking part in The Wild Swim next Friday.
For Catton, who has vast experience swimming with sharks, the outing was the proverbial walk in the park–- to the point that she had no problems at all looking one dead in the eye.
The Wild Swim seeks to raise funds for eco-tourism and marine conservation along a 22 km stretch of the Wild Coast earmarked for heavy minerals mining.
Eight participants in the fund-raiser will take on the relatively unchartered waters between the Nzamba river and Mtentu estuary over seven days, starting on April 26.
The group aims to raise R250,000 for Africa!Ignite and Sustaining the Wild Coast, which both have an interest in ecotourism, marine conservation organisation WildOceans, the Pondoland MPA, and Roving Reporters’ associated environmental journalism training programme.
“There will be four safety swimmers accompanying the group.”
Daily Dispatch night news editor Mike Loewe is one of the eight swimmers.