Whale-based tourism takes a gigantic leap
AGROWING number of environmental stakeholders, associated investors, archivists and tourism operators, believe Durban’s blubbery and blood-soaked whaling past should be turned into a signature ecotourism enterprise for KwaZulu-Natal.
Given that Durban once had the biggest land-based whaling station in the world, some argue that no other city could beat Durban in offering educational insights into how Durban’s whaling past is inspiring young people to promote whale conservation. This includes five young tourism guides from uMlazi who, with no experience at sea or knowledge of marine life, are running pilot WhaleTime tours at Durban’s Maritime Museum.
Stakeholders are also punting for the old whaling station on the Bluff to be converted into a landmark heritage site that offers cultural, social and conservation education. Among them are Andrew Venter, Wildlands chief executive and producer of the award-winning documentary, Blood Lions.
“There’s a movie in the making here,” said Venter, soon after watching three separate pods of dolphin bow surf alongside the research vessel, the RV Angra Pequena, 1.5km offshore from Durban’s old whaling station on the Bluff. “There’s a deep, rich tapestry of stories here. If documented properly, it would become a fascinating conservation success story on how experiences of those once involved in whaling have inspired whale conservation.”
Grindrod executive director David Polkinghorne agrees, recalling days as a young child in the 1960s when his father took him on harbour cruises passed the old whaling station, then situated near the entrance to the port.
“I will never forget all the blood and blubbery muck in the water – and the stench,” he says.
Venter and Polkinghorne are the brains behind the Blue Fund – a joint Wildlands – Grindrod initiative that is supporting marine conservation, including an Ocean Stewards programme and Wildlands’s recently launched WhaleTime project.
Set up last year, the Ocean Stewards programme has seen more than 32 marine science students take part in offshore research expeditions along the KZN coast, mapping biodiversity zones for inclusion in a network of Marine Protected Areas. The associated WhaleTime project involves “citizen scientists” in monitoring the annual migration along the KZN coast.
People take part by posting photos of whales they see on the website, www. whaletime.co.za, along with the GPS position of where each was taken and other information about the encounter. The theme of the project is “Shooting Whales the Eco-Friendly Way”.
Enjoying a following of 2 900 people, WhaleTime provides information about species of whales along the KZN coast, and hopes to develop an identification catalogue featuring individual whales being monitored by scientists.
Given that several species of whales had almost been hunted to local extinction by the 1980s, Polkinghorne reckons the challenge for Durban city should be to create as much employment as whaling once did through conservation of whales and associated eco-tourism.
Nikki Chapman of Sea Quests, which manages the WhaleTime project, says this would be possible if the old whaling station on the Bluff was converted into a museum.
In a derelict state, the station is used by the military for target-shooting training. But with plans for the site to be revamped for shooting events in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, leading tourism representatives believe this could open doors to including it in a bigger tourism scene beyond 2022.
“It will be absolutely wonderful to create a museum there,” says South Durban Tourism chairperson Helga du Preez. “At this stage the military cannot allow public access as it’s a live shooting range, but we are in discussion with them and they are aware of our plans.”
Inspired by the first series of WhaleTime tours, Du Preez says Durban Tourism plans to extend the activities to comprehensive tourism packages covering the history of whaling, whale watching and associated whale conservation and education. Partners include B&Bs on the Bluff with whale watching sites, the Durban Maritime Museum, and the Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa.
“Ultimately, it would be great to also take people to where it all started with the hunting of whales,” says Du Preez, who also wants to involve Durban families deeply connected to the city’s whaling past.
At a recent event at the Durban Maritime Museum, Emil Unger, the grandson of the Abraham Larsen, a Norwegian who helped pioneer Durban’s whaling operations, talked of a life-changing experience on board a whaling boat as a teenager in 1975.
Even though Unger had grown up at the whaling station eating whale meat, he had no real sense of what he was about to witness until he was placed behind a 120mm explosive-laden harpoon gun, a whale lined up in its sights.
“The thump and explosion as the harpoon hit the whale was hectic,” said Unger. “Then I was placed behind the gun. It was a moment I will never forget – the explosion of whale, all that blood and noise. I very quickly changed from being laissez-fair about whaling to becoming the active environmentalist I am today.”
Unger works in the renewable energy sector.
“I’m trying to make up for that whale,” he said. “But we must also embrace what whaling did for Durban. It provided thousands of jobs. It was the anchor industry and mainstay of the port of Durban.”
Whaling operations ceased in late 1975. Amid concerns about extinction threats, a worldwide ban on commercial whaling was introduced in 1986 by the International Whaling Commission. Whaling continues in Norway, Japan and Iceland under the auspices of research.
This story forms part of the Human Elephant Foundation’s Ocean Watch series.