At the Two Oceans Aquarium our kids ran wild. They had the opportunity to see fascinating marine animals, real close, and we could not keep them still for a second. From the minute they walked in, their eyes were agog!
They went into the middle of the “Nemo” tank, and had the gorgeous little fish swimming all around them. First photo opportunity, and wow, they loved the experience.
The aquarium has a range of wonderful exhibits that cover amphibians, birds, freshwater fish, marine fish, marine invertebrates, microscopic life and reptiles. We got to see alien-like giant spider crabs, a whale tooth, little jellyfish and plankton under the microscope. That was all in the first ten minutes! At the Two Oceans Aquarium, they also have amazing volunteer staff assisting to entertain and enlighten your kids.
After walking around the first smaller tanks (the Indian and Atlantic Ocean galleries) and watching in amusement and joy at how much fun our kids were having, we decided to venture down to the first open water area – the touch pool and microscope exhibits. A wonderful volunteer showed us, and the girls, a rock fish and some sea anemones. The wonderful thing is, they allow you to touch them, which is always a winner with little kids.
From this area you can go down a ramp to the tuck-shop and the AfriSam Children’s Play Centre, where little ones can enjoy entertaining and educational puppet shows and marine-themed arts and crafts, or just find a place to sit and watch the rockhopper penguins swimming by.
Going up the ramp you come to an incredible open penguin area, where you can stand a meter away from real penguins and watch them swim and make the noises that penguins make. This exhibit begins with a river meander, tracing the journey of a pristine river, from its mouth, to its origin high up in the mountains. There are African penguins; rockhopper penguins; African black oystercatchers and a wide selection of freshwater fish.
Once leaving the penguin area, which was not an easy thing to do I might add, we walked into an area with massive ocean fish like Cob for example, and the kids eyes lit up as if they had seen something from out of space! This experience is in what they call the Ocean Basket Kelp Forest Exhibit, where kelp plants grow like tall trees and the size is just wonderful and amazing to see.
From here you move onto The I&J Predator Tank, Wow! Not only did we see a massive turtle and huge yellowtail amongst others, but we got to see the ragged-tooth sharks! The kids were blown away!
After walking around the whole tank top to bottom, we came out at the amphitheatre, and had the opportunity to sit down with the children and just admire the ocean life and talk about what we were seeing.
To top off the whole experience, and excitement of seeing this all in front of us, we had arrived at feeding time – shark feeds are on Sundays at 3pm. During these feeds, some scuba divers (and you can actually dive into this amazing environment yourself if you are qualified), got into the tank with boxes of food and proceeded to feed the sharks and the turtle, who is very cute and totally in love with the camera.
There was so much to see and discuss on this outing that we decided to stop off in the restaurant after passing the gift shop, and sit out on the deck overlooking the marina and talk about our last few hours. As a family we came to one conclusion! The visit to the Two Oceans Aquarium had been a wonderful, educational and indeed fantastic family experience! Well worth the visit, and we highly recommend it.
Contact:
Address: Dock Rd, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town, 8002
Phone: +27 (0)21 418 3823
Web: www.aquarium.co.za
Open: Daily from 9:30am – 6pm