Durban's ocean and rivers
For those of us who live on the coast, gazing at the sea, we
may just see a lot of water, but there is so much more beneath it.
The ocean is probably the greatest wilderness area on the planet. It's right in front of us, but we just can't see it.
In episode two of The Green Scene, the team dives into the ocean—focusing on the Durban coastline—and explores the challenges we face in keeping it clean and healthy.
They discuss this vast expanse of water, the shoreline, and its importance to the planet as well as to tourism in Durban. The episode also explores how events upstream on our rivers impact the coast.
Andiswa Susan Dlamini, Sharlene Versfeld, and Duncan Pritchard also share insights into the cultural connections people have with the ocean, the issues of E. coli contamination and plastic pollution in Durban, and the collective actions needed to protect these vital ecosystems.
When people walk down to the sea, you watch them, they put their arms up in the air. It's like, and it doesn't matter where you come from, your background, your culture around the world. We've got this connection to the ocean that, that everybody feels.
Listen to episode two below:
Meanwhile: Did you know that Durban is located within one of South Africa’s three globally recognised biodiversity hotspots, the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot?
With its rich variety of ecosystems, the city is home to an incredible range of plant and animal species—many of which are found nowhere else on Earth.
Yet, despite this natural wealth, Durban’s biodiversity faces increasing threats from climate change, invasive species, and urban expansion.
In The Green Scene - produced by East Coast Radio in partnership with Durban-based NPO Green Corridors - Andiswa Susan Dlamini, Duncan Pritchard, and Sharlene Versfeld explore practical ways to connect with nature and embrace sustainable living.
Versfeld, a communications consultant and nature enthusiast, hopes the podcast encourages people to take meaningful steps toward understanding the natural world. “For me, it's about down-to-earth conversations that can help people cut through the clutter of climate change and conservation.”
In the first episode, Pritchard, who leads tourism product development at Green Corridors, shares a simple yet powerful way to reconnect with nature: “When you go take a walk through that forest and just pay attention to the different bird sounds, you'll be astounded at what you can count.”
Listen to episode one directly below.
Follow the series or listen via the ECR website under Podcasts, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
Meet the Hosts of The Green Scene Podcast
Andiswa Susan Dlamini is the Tourism Operations Manager at Green Corridors having worked there since its inception. She cut her teeth at the various Green Corridors sites where she helped manage and co-ordinate activities and has an intimate knowledge of its various operations. She is passionate about her role and helping connect people to the various Green Corridors sites. Andiswa is mum to a fast-growing teenager.
Duncan Pritchard heads up tourism product development, project management, planning and marketing at Green Corridors and is an independent sustainability practitioner with a special interest in niche ecotourism markets, avitourism, rural community development and related projects. His work aims at social, environment and economic development using tourism as a tool. He founded ETC-Africa a consultancy specialising in sustainability, ecotourism, conservation and greenhouse gas reporting. He is a registered carbon auditor and founder of the Unearthed academy for social entrepreneurship. He works on sustainability-related projects locally and internationally with groups ranging from small non-profits to local government to multi-national companies around Africa.
Sharlene Versfeld is a well-known Durban communications consultant who is also a qualified nature guide, nature enthusiast, and keen conservationist who works with Green Corridors. She loves trail running, hiking and walking, adventures, and travel, having done some iconic overland Africa trips with her family. She is married to an “IT Geek” and has two young adult children.