AfricanDiver.com

Its our pleasure to bring you issue number 8 of African Diver just as we get ready to head off on our summer holidays. Enjoy the features of diving the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba or exploring the cold waters of the Cape Atlantic. We’re off to dive the Southern oceans for our holidays and look forward to bringing you loads of interesting articles to read in next year’s issues.

So here it is, our first anniversary issue. We can’t believe it’s been a year already. Where has the time gone? 7 issues have gone by in a blur. We hope you enjoy the magazine as much as we have enjoyed putting it together. We have a fascinating article by Gordon Hiles on filming great white sharks in the early days. Andrew Woodburn takes us to his favourite dive spot at Pomeme, Mozambique. The Moving Sushi team educate us on fishing regulations in the EU and Dr Lynne Hepplestone de-bunks the medicinal myths of shark cartilage. DAN medical and DAN research offer fascinating insights into diver safety. And as usual we feature stunning photographs. Enjoy the read.

Click here to download

South Africa’s so-called Big Five will soon become the Big Seven, when the whale and the shark are officially added to this tourist attraction, SABC news reported on Tuesday.

Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said the department had decided to add the two ocean predators to the current Big Five, which are the lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo, reported the public broadcaster.

The government’s news agency, Bua News, quoted Sonjica as describing this as “a very significant move for tourism as we will become the only country in the world to boast a Big Seven”.

“We can offer tourists, among other things, a shark dive in Gansbaai. We will be marketing these animals - sharks and whales - to the whole world. It will have a significant impact on tourism,” she said.

Sonjica said South Africa had significant numbers of species in the top ocean predators such as the shark and the whale.

“On that basis we will add these two species to the Big Five and then have a resultant Big Seven.”

It is June and here is the 5th issue of African Diver. This issue finds us experiencing the magic of Mozambique once again. From the paradise of Pomene to the serenity of Ponta Mamoli and the party venue of Ponta d’Oura we lose ourselves in the uniqueness that is Mozambique. We hope you will too. We bring you the 10th anniversary of the annual Sodwana Shootout with images that will have you packing your gear and warming up the 4×4. Mike and his Moving Sushi team take us to Mauritania and the Western Sahara where we learn of the poor state of the fisheries there. DAN, Rocky Bay, Save Our Seas Foundation and a new book on the marine life off the Cape Peninsula round off this issue. Enjoy the read.

Senegal, the Maldives, Dahab and Sodwana Bay; all parts of Africa and its surrounding islands that feature in this issue of African Diver. The Moving Sushi expedition alerts us to the serious state of Senegal’s fisheries and Christopher Bartlett reminds us of the perilous state of the ocean’s shark stocks. Rowan Duvel lightens the mood with his article on freediving with Mantas in the Maldives while Morten Villadsen enthrals us with his experiences of freediving the Blue Hole in Dahab. Paul Hunter takes us on a personal visit to Sodwana Bay and DAN advises on altitude diving. Enjoy this fourth issue and don’t forget to visit our blog.

Diving in Benin – Benin? Where’s Benin you may ask. But worry not Mike Markovina explains all. Want to help tag whale sharks? Nimu Njonja is looking for help in Kenya to tag whale sharks this February. Interested in freediving? Trevor Hutton takes us on his journey to re-conquer Badgat’s deep hole and the AfricanDiver team takes lessons in freediving to find out for ourselves. We take a look at the Natal Sharks Board and travel back in time to discover Natal’s whaling history. We’ve covered Malaria and now we look at Dengue fever – another mosquito borne disease to watch out for. We hope you enjoy our 3rd issue as much as we do.

Download Now