Cruise trip to the Seal island. Cape Town. Elsie Gabriel

Cruise trip to the Seal island.

Elsie Gabriel.

Cape Town is blessed with abundant marine life. Sharks, dolphins, Whales and seals swim off the Cape Town coastline very often and it is truly nature’s spectacular offering.

Cruise trip to the Seal island.All pics copyright Elsie Gabriel

I enjoyed the rough sea’s and had the experience of a lifetime on this cruise trip to Seal Island located only 8 nautical miles from Simon's Town harbour in False Bay which takes about half an hour to reach actually. Seal Island is home to 75,000 Cape Fur Seals and the hunting ground for the Great White Shark. Only 40 minutes from Cape Town Centre. One can not actually get off and visit the island as it is protected.

Seal Island, also known as Duiker Island, is an island off the coast of Hout Bay in Cape Town. Providing a sanctuary for Cape Fur seals, the island is also inhabited by many water birds, including Kelp Gulls, Pelicans,Cape and Bank Cormorants and Hartlaub Gulls.

Watching these seals bask on the rocks in the warm waters of the Atlantic is a sight I will always keep close to my heart.

Although next time I will pluck up the courage to go deep sea cage diving to see the Great White sharks.

 I visited in summer but if you plan well, choose the winter months where you will see the birthing of thousands of baby seals. And during these cold winter days you may also get to see the Great White sharks how off their aquatic tactics and it’s the best sight in the world for a nature lover.

 I unfortunately did not get to see any whales or sharks but was in awe of the huge granite island filled with thousands of seals. They have a good safe habitat now and are said to be multiplying well.

The only evidence of humans ever reaching the island, is a fallen World War II radio mast, and the remains of huts that were built in the era of guano collecting and sealing.

But on the contrary due to the increased number in the seal population, the island has become an attraction for Great White Sharks. So now the great White sharks hound the island and hover around it.

Seal Island is a nature reserve and falls under the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board.

You will always find some sort of marine activity around the islands so which ever month you choose, the guide will explain how the season is valuable.

I strongly advise you get a strong sun hat which gets well fastened to your neck, the ocean is so rough that it may just fly off. You must carry sun block, a warm jacket, and don’t forget your camera. The cruise boats aren’t that huge so hold on tight and look after your kids and companions if any. Book in advance and be there on time because the boats are very punctual.

Departure times are subject to change due to weather and number of passengers. You can always get a good look around the fishing harbour at Simons Town waiting for your boat trip.

I found myself this most loveable robust Seal and we enjoyed a hug. Although his whiskers ticked me to endless giggles!!They have this glistening fur, smooth and slippery but look expensive. I guess that’s why they were hunted and hounded for years until the government came down strongly on the protection of these creatures.

When in South Africa head for the Simons Town harbour and don’t miss the boat!

His whiskers tickled me silly!!

Ecological roots are found in clay idols. Elsie Gabriel Here’s a step by step means of making your own Ganesha idol this year. Young Environmentalists NGO.

Ecological roots are found in clay idols . Eco Friendly festivals.

Here’s a step by step means of making your own Ganesha idol this year. 

Making idols of Clay is an ancient craft and is basically a tradition which can be revived in cities
 too,to help find our ecological roots.Clay art has transformed but believe me till this day artists 
make idols for Goddess Saraswati, Goddess Durga and Lord Ganesha,for the annual festivals out  
of river mud or clay as a major source of employment. Making clay idols is nothing new. 
We simply have to revive it.Potters made a livelihood out of this creative arts. In the ancient times
 of course our first farmers were connected to earth through agriculture and then the potters were
 also closely connected to earth by clay crafts. Local clay and earthen crafts are till today 
an integral part in the Indian rural scenario, despite  the rapid social and technological changes that are taking place.

The most common example around you is the terracotta idols you see in art shops or in villages. 

Terracotta objects are mostly built by molding the clay with hand or with the wheel. Terracotta is extensively 

used for making deity images in temples and other monuments.Clay artists made utensils for cooking, made bricks

 and even curios.

There fore year after year we the Young Environmentalists NGO here in Mumbai keep teaching the youth 

and community how to make their own Ganesha idols.One can’t merely tell people to be Eco-friendly, but when you show them how, you bring out the artist in them.Not only do they understand the concept of an 

eco friendly idol, they pledge never to buy a POP idol.They in turn spread the ecological message during the 

festival,simply by doing and watching.  

 Step one- take any good garden clay right from your own back yard which is free, potters clay for 

a minimal amount or silt from the river bed. For the last ten years we have been using clay from the

 River Mithi and Powai lake silt to create awareness about the water bodies.Clean it and sieve it and 

cure it till it becomes earth which feels like clean soft putty in your hands. 
Use the right amount of water,not too much and not too little.

You will know when it’s right enough when it feels like kindergarten clay.

1. 
   

The fact that;you are playing with clay is healing and connecting you to Mother Earth ,even without 

you realizing it.  

 Make two parts.One portion gola or round earth bigger in size you can keep for the body or torso

 of the Lord Ganesha.Remember to give the idol a sweet little 
'paunch' or stomach by which Lord Ganesha 

is so fondly known for. Mold it in your hands and let it sit on the ground flat.You can create a clay platform

 for the idol way in advance or have a wooden tiny stage to place your idol on.

Now make another gola or ball using the smaller portion.This is what you will make the head with.

Give good finishing touches to them.

Now place the smaller portion on top of the bigger portion and smoothen out the attachment by 

pinching and pressing both parts to make the body look even.Use little water to smoothen.

Keep a picture of Lord Ganesha near you while sculpting so you can get an idea of 

what you would like your idol to look like.Be free,let your energy flow and simply give

 in to creating your own very design.There is no hard and fast rule.

Now get a third portion and roll out a long trunk, twisting it to the right.Attach the trunk to

 the body smoothly again.

Use two cylindrical long portions of clay to make the hands and keep another two elongated portions 

to create the legs.Attach them to the torso like in the picture in front of you.

Be as unique and creative as you want.The more you work on the idol the more you will 

see a beautiful Ganesha murti emerging right before your very eyes.

Make two large button size clay ears.Make them large and fanciful or elongated to look artistic

 like in the picture.   

Once you finish the hands, legs and trunk, shape and texture the sculpture into its final shape 

by using toothpicks or a carving blunt knife. Use your remaining clay to add details like ‘modaks’ in 

one hand of the idol, a ‘mukut’ crown for the Lord and even create the ‘mouse’ or vehicle of Lord 

Ganesha.Ganesha's divine vehicle as it is said, the mouse or mooshikam represents wisdom.

 You may leave it artistically raw in colour or shape or colour it with eco friendly colours and flowers.

Clay and mud helps you connect with Mother Earth.

Teaching the blind and disabled to experience clay therapy. 

Eco Ganesha clay idol making workshop campaigns over the last ten years..by Young Environmentalists NGO.

Powai Lake walk in the rain! Elsie Gabriel

Powai Lake walk in the rain! 

Powai lake in Mumbai.

My daily evening walks drew me to the Powai lake once again today. My weekly haunt. I took a quick call to visit the periphery of the lake borders and extended my footsteps towards where the waterfall beckoned. With each step closer to the Ambedkar Garden, I could hear gushing sounds of water, the sound of rain going on an overdrive flow. The sound of nature. The healing sound of blessings from heaven. Rain does do something to you. Rain not only drenches you, it controls you, takes over you and when you give in to a beautiful walk in the rain, specially without an umbrella or a care in the world, you know that it is Nature, nature becoming one with you. Rain involves you, it revives you, it wakes you up and most of all quenches your thirst for nature in all its being.  

 

Is this Powai ,is this Powai!!Natures offering to Powai.Pic Elsie Gabriel

I would like to share with you that it is said that the Powai lake was built by the British, in the year 1799 A.D.  Powai is situated in the North East of Mumbai and is gifted with the Powai lake. The Powai dam and reservoir made in 1889,is located at the Dr.Ambedkar Garden, popularly known as the BMC Powai Garden. Having conducted over 200 nature walks in the garden I know it like the back of my hand, but every time I step into its labyrinths I am offered new findings.

 

Come take a nature walk with me in Powai.

Old nature trail paths give way to new....

The garden is maintained by BMC and is under 'S' ward, although the Powai Lake comes under the Hydraulic department of the North East zone and under the care of the Additional Municipal Commissioner of Projects. I have spent hours fishing here and exploring the jungles much before it got its present manicured lawns and benches.

The Powai lake ecosystem is teeming with life and it cannot be neglected! Investigating the physical, chemical and biological relationships that take place in and around the Powai Lake is important because they are tied to the environment surrounding them; investigation of the floodplains, drainage basins and the atmosphere is vital. Every week I study the eutrophication of this water body. Eutrophication is a natural process that has caused this lake to age. However, human-caused, accelerated eutrophication has occurred more rapidly, and caused problems in the affected water body. Urban and industrial runoff also contribute to eutrophication but here in Powai we have garbage, silt, mountain mud, storm water drains over flowing, specially during the heavy rains. You have to walk in the rain and literally watch this for your self, right before your eyes.

Rich nutrient input stimulates growth of duck weed, water hyacinths, algae which change the lake as their populations increase. This is particularly the case when they undergo population explosions, basically as the chemicals like phosphates and nitrates..example-fertilizers make the lake more productive. That is why you see more green in the lake than you see water.

All pics copyright elsiegabriel

When the carpet of thick green stops sun light penetrating into the water, this decreases the productivity of plants living in the deeper waters. The water becomes depleted in oxygen. When the abundant algae die and decompose, much oxygen is consumed by those decomposers.  Lowered oxygen results in the death of fish that need high levels of dissolved oxygen .All this happens below deep beneath the lake that you pass by everyday in your bus or car.
The powia lake tries to fight it off as much as it can but starts to stagnate each year when the contractor is laid off. There is an organic relationship between the lakes and river systems. For the fifteens years that I have lived in Powai I believe there is a bond between the hills and the lake, and watching the space between them tighten pains me.

Old Powai Garden nature trails pic Elsie Gabriel

There are many bird species inside the Powai Lake ,some of them are Common & White  throated Kingfishers, Herons, small blue Kingfishers, both Phesant tailed and Bronze winged Jacanas . Around 30 odd bird species visit the lake during  December to May. The frequently seen birds in this period are Black winged stilts, Jacanas, coots, spot billed ducks, little cormorant,  little grebe, glossy ibis, white ibis, whiskered terns,  yellow wagtail, pied mayna, osprey and many more. Oriental Magpie Robins, Coppersmith Barbets and Parakeets, Bulbuls, Common Tailorbirds are among others. There species of fish like the Rahu,Katla,Catfish and Mrigal as well various species of snails, crocodiles and turtles too all part of the habitat! Duck weed, water lilies and water hyacinths are some plants of the lake. Conservation has to be stressed upon where ultimately there will exist a balance between development and Nature! Powai lake and it’s habitat should be treasured ,where in a city filled with concrete jungles can one find a lake and rich bio-diversity?

Come visit the Powai lake in all its glory during the monsoons. Take back a connection with nature which will stay with you till eternity…..

 

Give credit where it is due..good job BMC-Wet and Dry bins..use them wisely...found these outside the garden....

You don’t have to be famous to save the world.The Sea Turtle Project in Bentota is worth your help to save marine turtles. Sri Lanka Tourism involves marine conservation. Elsie Gabriel.

You don’t have to be famous to save the world.

The Sea Turtle Project in Bentota is worth your help to save marine turtles. Sri Lanka Tourism involves marine conservation. Elsie Gabriel.

The Sea Turtle Project in Bentota is only one of the initiatives on the Island of Sri Lanka to help save the marine turtles from extinction. The island has many benefactors, specially after the Tsunami disaster, several crusaders have taken it upon themselves to save the sea creatures.

So, as the saying goes, you don’t have to be famous to save the world , surely applies here!!

Visitors and research students alike come in to study or observe the baby turtles and depending on the season and time of day can watch them being released in to the ocean. There are five different species of Sea Turtle to be found along the coast of Sri Lanka – Loggerhead, Olive Ridley, Leatherback, Green Turtle and Hawksbill.

 These turtle hatcheries were constructed to rescue and protect turtle eggs because of the rapidly declining numbers of marine turtle in Sri Lankan shores. Marine turtle eggs are purchased from the  local fisherman and re-buried along the beach and left there for two days allowing the eggs time to hatch. Thereafter the baby turtles are collected from the beach and kept in tanks for another week, and released into the ocean to fend off for themselves. And believe it or not,the few female turtles that survive may return to their natal shores after a decade to lay their own eggs.

My favourite was the three legged albino turtle, with not a care in the world. But the image of this turtle tells a million stories, nylon fishing lines destroying limbs, plastic bags in the ocean suffocating the ocean creatures, and harsh climatic conditions throwing them ashore. The harsh stories are endless. When will all this stop.

We can not change the old mind set who refuse to believe that our children and their children may never get to see marine turtles in the near future, they are among the endangered lot. But what we can do is educate the young adults and children, adopt, sponsor or campaign for creatures who can not fight for themselves.

Marine turtles were roaming the oceans for about 190 million years, much before we were born, so the ocean is their habitat not ours. Do not forget to visit and promote the conservation of marine turtles, wherever or whenever you take a vacation to a seaside destination.