Tokai Forest Community holiday fun at the aquarium
School holidays are always a perfect opportunity to combine learning and adventure, and this holiday was exactly that for the children of the Tokai Forest Community. On the 10th of July 2026, the Cape Research Centre marine team organised and accompanied a group of 23 children on an educational field trip to the Two Oceans Aquarium.
Upon our arrival, Two Ocean Aquarium had arranged a complimentary environmental awareness talk, presented by two members of their team at the Kelp Forest Exhibit. This interactive session sparked curiosity about marine life as the children were given the opportunity see and touch preserved starfish, baleen (a flexible, comb-like filtering system found in the mouths of baleen whales), and the jaw of a ragged tooth shark. The talk played a very important role during our self-guided tour of the aquarium as the children were eager to see some of the animals that had been mentioned, and every exhibit, of course, sparked even more questions, keeping our communication skills on their toes!
The group also enjoyed the puppet show, along with the African penguin and the I&J Ocean Exhibit feeding demonstrations. Here again, the group stayed fully engaged, answering questions about marine pollution, stingray anatomy and even guessing how many liters of water the exhibits contain. The actual answers never failed to surprise them.
Although every exhibit was exciting, the sharks were definitely the stars of the day, and in the words of one six-year-old, ‘wooowww they are so cool!’. Moments like these really remind us why outreach is so important. Seeing the children’s excitement and curiosity was great motivation for actively creating opportunities that make science and the marine world accessible so that they can see themselves in that world as the next generation of scientists and environmental stewards.
By the end of the day, everyone’s energy reserves were running low, and a well-deserved lunch at Spur was the perfect way to end our fun-filled day.
This would not have been possible without the generous support of the Two Oceans Aquarium and Tow Oceans Aquarium Foundation for providing complementary entry, our Socio-economic Transformation department for providing us with transportation, and the Coastal Management, Environmental Management Spatial Planning and Environment Branch of the City of Cape Town for working with us and sponsoring a much-needed lunch at the end of the day. We are sincerely grateful for helping make this educational outing such a meaningful and enjoyable experience for the children.
