Our Mission
Storytelling for Nature Protection
We are a community of scientists, storytellers, journalists and filmmakers who are dedicated to the wild, and specifically the Great African Seaforest.
We advocate for the healing of our planet by connecting people to nature through our science-based immersive storytelling.
“I need no convincing that an ecosystem such as this is of inestimable value & must be protected.”
Our Projects
Inspired by Nature
Supported by Science
Guided by Indigenous Wisdom
All our work is based on our connection to the Great African Seaforest. This underwater forest is a deep source of inspiration for our minds, souls and hearts. By sharing these experiences with the world, we hope to inspire a global movement of nature connection and more stories about the intrinsic relationship between humans and the living planet.
Films
World-class films are an integral part of our content. We tell immersive, personal stories about people and nature, to a global audience. Our films include the Netflix Original My Octopus Teacher; Older than Trees – a film about the future of sharks and rays, and we are developing a feature documentary on a very special pangolin.
Books
Our Sea Change book has been republished as Underwater Wild, and we released a children’s book, A Journey Under the Sea. Craig Foster’s new book Amphibious Soul about “Finding the wild in a tame world,” based on his own ‘rewilding,’ is available to purchase.
Exhibitions
Sea Change Project collaborates on multimedia exhibitions that convey the story of our interconnectedness with the natural world. Showcasing the latest research on the origins of Homo sapiens while raising awareness for the Great African Seaforest and kelp forests worldwide. Visit the Origins exhibit in Cape Town and De Hoop Nature Reserve.
Education
Having a connection to nature is everyone’s birthright. It is often said we must leave a better planet to our future children but we need to also leave better children to become custodians of this living world and for that we need nature education. We are committed to sharing our love and knowledge of the Great African Seaforest, and nature as a whole, with as many people as we can reach to inspire a sea-change.
Science
Science guides all our work at Sea Change. We conduct biodiversity research and collaborate with academic institutions to uncover the secrets of the Great African Seaforest. Through our 1001 Seaforest Species project, you’ll encounter the extraordinary creatures of this underwater ecosystem and discover their remarkable stories. This project blends science, underwater tracking, and storytelling to illuminate the hidden world of the Seaforest.
Podcasts
Our podcast series Back to the Water, hosted by Zolani Mahola and Pippa Ehrlich, asks what it means to be disconnected from nature and one’s culture – and what happens when you reconnect. The first episode of Back to the Water, “More Than One Octopus” premiered at Tribeca Festival, winning in its category, and available on all podcast platforms.
PATRON & AMBASSADOR
Zolani Mahola
Ambassador
Vocalist, Actress & Nature Activist
Yo-Yo Ma
Patron
Cellist
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Protect the Great African Seaforest
Kelp forests are highly productive near-shore marine ecosystems. They are biodiversity hotspots, sequester carbon, release oxygen and slow coastal erosion. They are found on 28% of our world’s coastlines and are one of the most vulnerable marine ecosystems to the climate emergency.
Our first goal was to make the Great African Seaforest a global icon and bring attention to the world’s kelp forests. With your help and support following the success of My Octopus Teacher, we achieved this.
In this time of environmental upheaval and biodiversity loss, we need to keep ensuring the long-term protection of the Great African Seaforest. You can help by continuing to support our work in reminding people of their intrinsic connection with nature.
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We believe that the best thing we can do to protect the Great African Seaforest, and kelp forests globally, is to share their stories.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Protect & Take Action
Lack of knowledge and awareness, and our human impact on this planet, are at the root of all threats to the Great African Seaforest and our global kelp forests. We are in the ocean every day, learning the secrets of the seaforest and finding stories that inspire people to reconnect with nature.
We hope our stories, knowledge and love of this environment can remind us that we are part of the natural world and motivate action that allows the living planet to thrive and regenerate itself.
To help us ensure the long-term protection of the Great African Seaforest and to raise awareness for kelp forests globally, please watch, donate and share.
Social
It’s see-through, has a trunk-like proboscis and googly eyes. And it’s rarely spotted in the Great African Seaforest, yet here it is! This diaphanous delight is just one of the creatures in our 1001 Seaforest Species project, which combines science, storytelling and underwater tracking to unveil the secret lives of forest species and inspire awe, appreciation and action. To find out what this mystery creature is, and read about the 1001 project, sign up to our newsletter, which is coming out tomorrow, link in bio.
#1001species #1001seaforestspecies #seachangeproject #greatafricanseaforest #capetown #capetownsouthafrica #freedive #ocean
A stagnating pool might not be our idea of a perfect dipping spot, but frogs have different needs. Last spring, Pippa and Craig observed strange prints around a chain of pools that had popped up after a particularly rainy period. Scratching their heads and looking closer, they realised they were the footprints of frogs that had made their way across the sand. And when they looked even closer, they saw clouds of tadpoles wriggling around in the water. Over the next few weeks, the tadpoles grew and grew, and when Pippa and Craig visited a couple of months later, there were tiny frogs everywhere. Scroll for full story.
Pictures: @the_rewilding
#thegreatafricanseaforest #seachangeproject #rememberyouarewild #capetown #adventuretravel #freediver #oceanlife #southafrica #capetown #exploretheworld
#frogs #tadpoles #lifecycle
‘It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.’
– Sir David Attenborough
Photo @helen_walne
#thegreatafricanseaforest #seachangeproject #rememberyouarewild #capetown #adventuretravel #freediver #oceanlife #southafrica #capetown #exploretheworld
The ability of water to heal, change and empower was keenly felt last weekend when the Lawhill Maritime Centre in Simon’s Town, Cape Town, hosted celebrated American rower, award-winning author and inclusivity advocate Arshay Cooper. Arshay grew up in a gritty Chicago neighbourhood beleaguered by poverty and crime. However, the sport of rowing became his salvation, and he went on to become captain of the first all-black high school rowing team and wrote an award-winning book called A Most Beautiful Thing. He later founded A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund, which supports up-and-coming black rowers from communities across the world. At a Water Wellness Community Day attended by rowers, young sportspeople and coaches, Craig and Arshay chatted about courage, hope, inclusivity and inspiration, and the transformative power of water. @lawhillmaritime @arshaycooper @ambt_fund
#seachangeproject #rememeryouarewild #ocean #rowinglife
With an average water temperature of 31°C (87.8°F), strong currents, and neon coral reefs teeming with tropical fish, Indonesia’s Raja Ampat might seem a far cry from our frigid kelp forest. But, as is becoming increasingly apparent, all ecosystems form part of a connected biosphere whose health affects every corner of our planet.
Picture: @helen_walne
Fumbling with her new camera while trying to figure out its settings, Helen Walne came across this small, seemingly relaxed, juvenile chokka squid scudding along the surface of the sea. The iridescence of its skin was so entrancing. Somehow, Helen managed to press the shutter button at just the right moment before the little mollusc zoomed off into the seaforest.
Picture: @helen_walne
#rememberyouarewild #natureconnection #seachangeproject #wildlanguage #motherofmothers #mothernature #motherearth #motherafrica #thegreatafricanseaforest #oceanstory #storytelling #rewilding #OceanConservation #ProtectWildlife #WildlifeProtection #EndangeredSpecies #MarineLife #CleanSeas #PlasticFree #SustainableLiving #ClimateAction #EcoFriendly #NaturePhotography #ConservationEfforts #ProtectBiodiversity #WildlifePhotography #StopExtinction
Hope as a verb is such a powerful concept – looking forward not with a sense of defeat or resignation but a belief in the possibility of a positive future.
Picture: @helen_walne
#sealife #seachangeproject #thegreatafricanseaforest #jelly #freediving #capetownsouthafrica #capetown #jellyfish
Beneath the vast, unending sky, the ocean dreams. Here there are whispered legends, woven in blue and green. The ancient depths cradle secrets, a boundless realm where silence speaks volumes. The tender lapping tide is a gentle hymn that grows with the storm to roaring waves, crashing down to meet the world with fierce embrace. Yet in the depths remains a tranquil, infinite space.
Picture: Craig Foster
#seachangeproject #rememberyouarewild #thegreatafricanseaforest #capetown #southafrica #biodiversity #oceanlovers♥️
This has to be the tiniest sea hare we’ve ever seen! We’re used to seeing larger individuals in the seaforest, but this one was insanely small. However, we could still see its features with our naked eye. See that tiny black dot on its ‘face’? That’s an eye spot, one of two light-sensitive ‘eyes’ that help the sea hare move around. The ‘ears’ you see are actually rhinophores, which are used for tasting molecules in the water current.
Photo @the_rewilding
#rememberyouarewild #seachangeproject #seahare #tinybutpowerful #explore #diversity #cuteanimals #thegreatafricanseaforest
Earlier this week Sea Change Project was honoured to participate in the Earthshot+ in Cape Town, South Africa. The event brought together high-level global leaders and inspiring youth for a day of courageous conversations and brave commitments in support of repairing and restoring the planet. World changing innovations from across the world were platformed, and the role that youth play in the climate movement was celebrated. Discussions around how to speed solutions to scale by transforming finance, policy and leadership practices filled the day.
Sea Change participated by screening our latest short film Mother Nature in the Boardroom, afterwhich Craig Foster, in conversation with Earthshot CEO Hannah Jones, discussed the critical role of Mother Nature being invited into all our important decision making processes as our most critical shareholder. A chair bedecked in plant-life, symbolic of Mother Nature, was thoughtfully placed by Earthshot+ between Craig and Hannah as moderator.
Huge congratulations to all the Earthshot Prize winners and the equally as deserving runner ups!
#EarthshotCapeTown #seachangeproject #Rememberyouarewild #mothernature
Awe has the ability to dissolve our ego and see ourselves as part of a larger world. It instils a sense of reverence and wonder that reminds us of our place in nature and inspires us to become Mother Earth’s stewards and messengers.
#thegreatafricanseaforest #seachangeproject #rememberyouarewild #capetown #adventuretravel #freediver #oceanlife #southafrica #EarthshotPrize
Whale shenanigans in False Bay. These past few weeks has been a whale bonanza in the bay with both humpbacks and southern right whales gathering in the bay. On particularly windy days , when their songs can’t be heard well or get dispersed too quickly, they breach a lot to signal their presence to other whales in the bay. It’s always a huge joy to see them. The humpbacks symbolise a massive conservation success with the growth of their numbers post a ban on whaling. To be close to 25-30 tons and to twirl like elegant ballerinas is one of natures huge wonders
