The annual Northern migration of the Humpback Whale is fast approaching with the first Welcome the Whales Festival planned for Knysna on the 5th of June.
Lloyd Edwards, the renowned whale watcher and owner of Raggy Charters in Nelson Mandela Bay, now runs 25 of these festivals at various points along the coastline.
Edwards is set to host the PE-leg of the Festival at Pine Lodge near the Cape Recife Lighthouse on youth day on the 16th of June.
“By the time the Humpback Whales get here they will have already swum 4000 km from their feeding grounds in the Antarctic,” says Edwards.
“It’s the halfway mark for these amazing animals and from here they swim all the way up to Kenya to calve and those females that are receptive are mated before they return around November.”
Edwards says it’s fitting to welcome the Whales at the festival at Pine Lodge which will include food trucks, five live bands and Bay World, SANCCOB and the Sustainable Seas Trust all setting up their wares for a special day of celebration.
There will also be crafters and beer tents, fun activities for the kids, and a photographic competition with the festivities getting underway at 9 am on youth day, Wednesday 16 June.
