Home is Everywhere, Everywhere is Home
I watched the mountainside writhe in orange. Stark against the deepening sky, the dance of fire looked deadly and unavoidable. Heroic efforts by helicopters and firefighters wrestled the great beast down, only for it to start ravening on the next range a few miles over. This deadly waltz of fire and firefighters continued for ten days in the fag-end of 2023. Thankfully, there was no loss of human life or property.
‘Nature is my mentor’ – a journey from despair to deep connection
Life wasn’t always easy for Dalfrenzo Laing. His family struggled to make ends meet, he dabbled in drugs, took on menial work, and often felt hopeless. But a chance meeting and a deep love of nature transformed his life, and he now spends his days armed with binoculars and an encyclopaedic knowledge of marine and terrestrial life, living with passion and purpose.
Earth’s Tongues: Rekindling the Language of Tracking to Spark Connection
We were all forged in the great crucible of the African continent. We are all African by nature, having spent 80 percent of our time as a species here, living in deep reciprocity with nature, each footfall an echo of all animals and insects, plants and oceans.
Celebrate South Africa’s Marine Protected Areas With Us
The Great African Seaforest is home to thousands of species, some that have not yet even been scientifically named and every time you set foot in the kelp forest you are opening yourself up for an experience that you cannot predict.
Unboxing the Treasures of Collaboration
In 2015, amidst the whirlwind of my PhD thesis, I entered the biology building, ready for another day of research. As part of our routine, I greeted my professor, Charles Griffiths, with a cheerful “Good Morning.” Like clockwork, he responded, “Gooood Morning, Jannes!” But that morning held an unexpected surprise—Charles handed me a parcel. With […]
How Kelp Provides Life
You can see it when you stand on the shore around Cape Town: the Great African Seaforest. What you see is a narrow stretch of floating Bamboo kelp (Ecklonia maxima). It is one of the few kelp species in the world that grows to the surface at low tide. But what you see at the top is just the tip of the iceberg!
The Sunken Stories and Ancient Wisdom of the Great African Seaforest
When we originally formed SCP it was a way for us to produce the occasional creative project while immersing ourselves in the kelp forests which we named the Great African Seaforest. As a group we realised that by giving our kelp forests a name we were giving it an unique identity and a presence that connected it to the kelp forests of the world, but also distinguished it as a particular ecosystem found on the shores of Southern Africa.
Original Wild Swimmers: Unearthing the Origins of All Human Creation
Some years ago, I was kayaking and swimming along a rugged part of Cape Town’s coast. The sun blazed overhead, the sea frothed against rocks, and behind a stand of kelp, I discovered a cave. Battling against a strong surge, I timed my entry, and crawled into a dark, cool world ripe with the smell of salt and primordial plant life. I ventured further into the cave, and there it was: a full human skeleton lying sprawled on the rock-littered floor.
I am a Seaforest Species
I wrote down “#0101 I am a Seaforest Species”. In retrospect, I think what I did was make a list of the first 100 species, and realised that humans were very absent but need to be a part of the project.
No Animal Should be Mass-farmed
The debate around the proposed octopus farm goes beyond the arguments of sentience. Read our full statement.