Algoa Bay Journal: Day 3

On Wednesday, we woke up at 6 o’clock in the morning. At 6:30, we had breakfast. Then, we went to Addo Elephant Park. The drive took about one hour.

This park is the third biggest park in South Africa. Guide from the park showed us some animals such as elephants, kudus, warthogs and others. We came back to see the museum at the reception and we spent some time at the bird’s hide. We had a great time watching the animals and taking pictures of them. We had lunch at quarter to one.

Later, we headed to Swartkop’s estuary to meet a lady, Jenny Rump from an NGO, Zwartkops Conservancy.

Jenny Rump, Zwartkops Conservancy

She explained us how important the estuary is for many species, what kind of species live there and how pollution is affecting the estuary and the oceans. It was very shocking to see all those plastic bottles and other waste polluting this beautiful and essential area for the oceans’ diversity but, it was interesting at the same time. 

We came back to the resort at 5:35 pm. We had one hour to rest.

We ate dinner at 6:30 then, we went to our rooms and spent some time chatting with our classmates. We finally went to sleep at 9:30.

By Paul and Danaïs

Acidification des océans

Aujourd’hui, mardi 10 novembre, nous avons fait une expérience à propos des conséquences de l’acidification des océans.

On a appris qu’il existe plusieurs types de liquides : acides, basiques ou neutres.

On a ensuite pris une petite quantité d’eau de mer dans un bécher dans lequel on a incorporé quelques gouttes de BBT (bleu de bromothymol), et on a mélangé : l’eau est bleue. En ajoutant à ce mélange quelques gouttes d’acide chlorhydrique, l’eau change de couleur et devient jaune. On ajoute plus d’acide chlorhydrique et l’eau devient rouge : elle devient donc très acide.

Le BBT devient rouge

Dans la deuxième expérience, on a pris un peu d’eau de mer, on y a incorporé à nouveau quelques gouttes de BBT, puis un camarade a soufflé dans la paille : l’eau bleue devient jaune-vert. On a donc conclut que l’eau de mer devient acide en rejetant du dioxyde de carbone par une paille. Donc le dioxyde de carbone rejeté en surplus par les activités humaines (pollutions) acidifie l’eau de mer.

Enfin, on a pris une roche de calcaire et nous y avons déposé quelques gouttes d’acide chlorhydrique : le calcaire a été dissous par l’acide.

En conclusion : Si nous rejetons trop de dioxyde de carbone dans les océans, celui-ci s’acidifie et cela détruit le squelette calcaire des animaux marins.

Danielle et Janina

Algoa Bay Journal: Day 2

On Tuesday, we woke up at 6am and had breakfast at 7. Then, we took the bus to go to the harbor where we met Lorien Pichegru who is a specialist of Penguins. We set off for St Croix Island with Raggy Charters.

Raggy Charters boat cruise

 On the way, we saw a mother and a baby humpback whale, it was so cute. They were jumping around the boat and they came very close to us. It was awesome!

Humpback Whale

 Then, we saw the African Penguins on the island f St Croix. They were so many! 22 000 penguins on a rocky island it’s quite impressive. She explained that the numbers have been decreasing for the last decade due to overfishing.

St Croix

On the way back, we saw a pod of dolphins. They came very close and they kept on jumping around us. It was amazing! There were even some very little ones!

When we came back to the harbor, we had a picnic and then we went to Samrec, a rehabilitation facility for marine birds. There, we met a volunteer who explained us how they helped penguins, cormorants and Cape gannets. He also taught us how important penguins are for the wild life and the biodiversity of Algoa Bay. It was very interesting, particularly the feeding of the birds.

Feeding of the penguins

Then Lorien explained why Algoa Bay was chosen as a Hope Spot: Algoa Bay hosts a unique ecosystem where a large number of marine species can be found. The concept of Hope Spot is to get people to involve in activities around the ocean in order to restore or maintain the ocean’s health. She asked us to: talk about the protection of the ocean as often as possible, to not throw plastics, and to ask our parents to buy fishes according to the SASSI list (http://wwfsassi.co.za/sassi-list/).

Dr Lorien Pichegru

Finally, we went back to the resort to do an experiment on the acidification of the oceans (see next post). We learnt a lot of things. We ended the day by having dinner and having some fun outside by the beach. We went to bed quite early, some of us were exhausted!

By Hugo and Vincent

Algoa Bay Journal: Day 1

On Monday, we started our Algoa Bay school trip. We arrived at school at about quarter to eight with our bags. There came the bus, we were all very excited! We all put our Algoa Bay sweaters, we said goodbye to our parents and off we went to the airport.

When we got at the airport, 25 of us, we checked-in and had our hand-luggage scanned. Everyone kept on looking at us because we were so many and they wondered where we were going to. While we were waiting for the boarding, we got the chance to buy some goodies. On the plane, we enjoyed the fact of being with our friends. We tried to stay discreet but it didn’t work for long! When we got closer to Port Elizabeth, we got to see the city and the bay from the sky. Some of us even got to spot some whales, they were thrilled!

After landing and taking our luggage, four of us started interviewing some people on their opinion on Algoa Bay and its Hope Spot. Later on, we took the bus to our resort. We settled in our rooms, quickly put on our swimming suits and got together at the beach to do a scientific experiment with seaweeds (see previous post). We also had a lot of fun bathing in the tidal pool and running on the grass while others took photos with the cameras.

Then, Mrs Michelle Cocks came from Grahamstown to present us the association Inkcubeko Nendalo which the Algoa Bay project will sponsor. She explained us that nature is very important in the Xhosa culture, so we have to protect this nature, through education, in order to preserve the culture they tend to lose because of the Townships.

Finally, we had a good shower in our bungalows and we had a delicious dinner at the cafeteria. Before going to bed, we all went for a walk by the sea and we enjoyed a little free time before we all went to sleep.

By Stephanie and Anouk

Extraction de la chlorophylle des algues

A notre arrivée à Willows resort, Port Elizabeth,  nous nous sommes changés et nous sommes partis à la recherche d’algues rouges et vertes dans les rochers pour notre expérience. Nous avons trouvé les algues rouges dans une première petite crique et ensuite nous avons trouvé les algues vertes sur une autre petite plage.

L’objectif de cette expérience était de voir si les algues rouges et vertes contiennent de la chlorophylle. Nous avons tout d’abord trempé nos algues dans de l’eau bouillante (car certains pigments comme le rouge sont sensibles à la chaleur) : les algues vertes ont légèrement pâlit tandis que les algues rouges ont verdit. Dans la nature le pigment rouge masque le pigment vert ce qui peut laisser croire que l’algue rouge ne contient pas de a chlorophylle. Au contact de l’eau bouillante le pigment rouge disparaît laissant apparaître une couleur verte.

Nous avons ensuite trempé les algues dans de l’alcool à 90° afin d’extraire la chlorophylle. Au bout de quelques minutes et dans les deux cas la chlorophylle se diffuse dans l’alcool qui devient donc verte.

Conclusion : les algues, rouges ou vertes contiennent de la chlorophylle. La chlorophylle sert à capter la lumière pour permettre la photosynthèse.

Camille et Shura