Conservation Work
          

I grew up in a family of scientists and conservationists. My Grandfather was head of the Zoology Dept at Rhodes University and both my parents are scientists. From a young age an interest in nature was encouraged and we spent much time in the game reserves.

I planned to study marine biology at Rhodes University but Studied Fine-art instead. I left university after a year to go to sea as a navigator with Unicorn lines and then worked for Safmarine lines as an engineer. I learned as much as I could about wildlife while at sea.

Next I did my national service where I qualified and worked as a diver. This was an opportunity to learn about life under the sea.

Following national service I worked as a river guide on the Orange river in the Richtersveld. I then returned to Durban where I worked as a lifeguard on the beachfront   I worked at Seaworld as a volunteer diver which involved feeding the fish and sharks in the main tanks as well as maintaining these and the foyer tanks. We also did dives for collecting specimens and helped out with various issues.

During this time I became involved with conservation issues involving surfers. We began petitions to try to help the fishing on the piers problem and while working in Jeffreys Bay together with locals we began petitions asking for a sanctuary to be made of the area from Boneyards to Albatross.

I worked with SEA (Surfers Environmental Association) who would meet at my home on Durban Beachfront. As I worked in a official capacity as lifeguard and needed to be careful about taking sides I worked to bring people together to discuss environmental issues and try to sort out problems.

I developed sea kayak tours in the Durban area and working with friends from the Wilderness Leadership School applied wilderness ideas to these outings in local areas. What interested me in this exercise was how much life there was close to home with animals one associates with the wilds like fish eagles and rare birds all around.

I designed these trips for people to enjoy and appreciate nature close to home. It seemed a sensible idea to make people aware of the wildlife on their doorstep and take responsibility for this rather than dealing with remote wilderness areas as sacred and dismissing cities as wasteland. One very real and practical advantage of this is cost. Not everyone can afford a wilderness outing into the wilds but people can benefit by linking to the elements of wilderness close by. The sea is the most accessible natural area where this can be achieved.

At a meeting of the Wilderness Action Group at WLS I discussed these ideas and the possibility of using these venues for outings. Sheila Berry was very helpful and we discussed using venues close by for bridging courses where people who have experienced a wilderness trail can get together at a later stage to keep their enthusiasm alive.

I worked in the surf industry spraying boards and doing t-shirt designs.  At this time the Quiksilver Crossing was underway and visited Durban for some time. This was a trip around the world made by the Indies Trader taking surfers on a exploratory surf trip which drew attention to environmental issues and interacted with locals in a spirit of goodwill. I did a number of Crossing shirt prints for Quiksilver and a painting of the Indies Trader which was commissioned by Quiksilver and hung in Bruce Jacksons coffee shop at New Pier. This was a highpoint in linking to conservation work and surfing.

I hoped to build on this to do further conservation work through the surf industry and suggested a few ideas to Quiksilver. Zig- zag used some of my paintings for their 2006 Zig-zag Foundation calendar which was another step forward.

I wanted to link to respectable conservationists so that I had something to offer in terms of credability in the surf industry. I was friendly with people linked to SWC (Save the Wild Coast) who were connected to WLS. When I heard Dr Ian Player speaking at the launch of his book I felt he was talking the same language as those who loved the sea in the surf and seagoing world. I felt the approach of the wilderness group was appropriate for the surf world.

I was also corresponding with the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation whose approach I admired. They were dealing with important issues in Africa with a hands on pragmatic approach which was very impressive. David Shepherd has done an enormous amount as an artist and I greatly admire his work.

It was suggested I do a painting of Dr Ian Player to commemorate his 80th birthday. I was able to do a wilderness trail in Umfolozi and to meet Dr Player. He was happy with the painting and very encouraging. This was a high point in my life.

In April 2008 I moved to Cape Town to join my brother and help him with his commercial art work. At this stage he had more work than he could cope with.

Shortly after arriving in CT the painting of Dr Player was bought by the Maqubu Ntombela Foundation for R22 000. I travelled to Durban for the opening of the Ian Player Magqubu Ntombela Foundation Library where the painting is displayed. I donated half (R11 000) to WLS to train a wilderness guide.

Soon after this a painting I had entered in the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year 2008 competition, Bottlenose Dolphins was selected for the shortlisted entries exhibition in London. At the exhibition it was sold for R20 000 of which half went to DSWF for conservation work.

It is my plan to do further paintings to raise money and awareness for wildlife.

Since moving to CT I have been very busy developing an education programme at the Shark centre where I have also been very busy helping with events and developing relationships with the surfing world through which to do conservation work.

I have been developing KELP which has involved setting up and running a factory making vuvuzelas out of kelp and developing an education programme that ties in with the SC work.

I have also been building on what I had been doing in KZN to develop marine wilderness work. I have been developing many of the ideas we discussed in KZN of connecting people to nature through wildlife close to home and the sea. I have been applying these ideas to the rock pool outings at SC and developing wilderness style outings further. Results have been good and I am at present working with the Wildernesss group to build on this.

If you are interested you can see more info about what I am doing at the moment on the SOS Shark Centre , KELP  and  Marine Wilderness  pages.