A whale of a time: Plastic sculpture to entice visitors to Durban whale festival

They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure – but in the case of Eden College school in Durban‚ one man’s trash is another man’s whale.

Gathered in the courtyard of the Durban school‚ beaming with excitement‚ pupils waited for their chance to finally mount the “skin” on the whale they have been tirelessly working on.

The pupils have been collecting bottle tops of all shapes and sizes‚ and tying them together to create the cladding for a whale sculpture that will be used as the official mascot for the Welcoming of the Whales Festival‚ taking place in Durban later this month.

The 80kg armature was finally delivered to the school on Thursday this week for the kids to start mounting the whale's plastic “skin”.

“We stopped our curriculum for a solid two weeks and we did that [creating the cladding] every lesson. As far as I'm concerned‚ it's still teaching skills - fine motor skills - and working together on a project‚" said Deidre Maree‚ the primary school art teacher who helped facilitate the project.

The school was approached by Umcebo Design Creative director Robin Opperman‚ who was commissioned by south Durban-based Sodurba Tourism Association to create the centerpiece for the festival.

“We had wanted to work with Eden for a long time. They are an eco-school‚ making them a natural choice for the job‚” said Opperman.

He said that it was his love for fresh new stories about Durban drew him to this project.

“I am very passionate about Durban and I want people to know that you can see humpback whales in Durban and you don’t have to travel very far to see them‚” he said.

When it came to conceptualising the design for the piece‚ Opperman said that he wanted to introduce people to humpback whales in a much friendlier way.

“When it comes to saving whales‚ people are quite fatigued with seeing whales being captured by Japanese whaling fleets‚ and I think this (sculpture) is a nice way of introducing people to the subject matter. They can‚ at their own pace‚ according to their own comfort zone‚ find out more about the whales‚” he said.

Chairperson of Sodurba‚ Helga du Preez‚ said they were hoping to use the whale and the upcoming festival to raise awareness about humpback whales in Durban.

“A lot of people don’t know that the whales come to Durban. We want to promote that and we have specific viewing points at the Bluff where people can go and sit and watch the whales‚” she said.

Du Preez said that they were planning on permanently exhibiting the whale sculpture in the Bluff.

The Welcoming of the Whales festival will begin on June 30 and the whales will be visible in Durban until November.

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