Stories of the Great African Seaforest

The Sea Change Project reflects on its first time attending the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, where kelp forests gained long-overdue political recognition. From inspiring side events to landmark pledges for marine protection, the week sparked renewed hope, connection, and commitment to our blue planet.

Jannes Landschoff and Craig Foster share their encounters with two fascinating marine creatures – an upside-down amphipod and a juvenile Cape sole – that challenged their understanding of the underwater world and highlighted the ocean’s enduring mysteries.

Our planet has a fever. It’s sweating and sick. Last year was the hottest year on record, with average temperatures rising past the 1.5ºC threshold agreed upon by the 195 signatories to the Paris Agreement.

The OceanXplorer is a remarkable vessel. Part dive centre, part science laboratory, part media hub, part every-child’s-dream, it travels the world researching our oceans and has explored uncharted deep-sea ecosystems. It’s high-tech and high-impact, and that evening’s gathering was high-level.

Sea Change Project marine biologist Jannes Landschoff explains how the 1001 Seaforest Species project aims to create a sense of awe for biodiversity.

When Craig travels to London and New York, he feels out of place – until he discovers that a wild mind can still thrive in a tame world.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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,

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!

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.

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 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.

The debate around the proposed octopus farm goes beyond the arguments of sentience. Read our full statement.

‘It is always worth it to leave the house and explore in nature.’ Or,
as Dr Jannes Landschoff says – ‘you never regret a dive!’

Rituals are part of our blueprint and although most of them may be subconscious, our days are full of small habitual actions that helps us to make sense of the world and move within it.

A few weeks ago I was diving with my husband in the seaforest close to our home. The conditions were not ideal for free-diving –

When I was a young girl, there was a Boney M song that I loved. The song was called “Oceans of Fantasy”. It spoke of

The entire underwater sea-scape is a magical world of sound, and it is this sound on which many species depend for their survival.

Swimming with southern right whales and an exploration into the fine line between life, death and history.

Befriending a wild otter, nature and wilderness connection during lockdown, and hope for the future of our environment.