The Two Oceans Aquarium is home to over 8 000 animals
Meet huge sea turtles, cute clownfish, smooth and structured predators, waddling penguins and crabs as huge as young children– it’s simple to lose yourself in the fish tank’s sensational display screens. The Two Oceans Aquarium is bound to be extraordinary. The acclaimed fish tank, now 26 years young, is likewise devoted to informing visitors about the marine environments on our doorstep, in addition to how to safeguard them. Here are 15 factors to dive in and see what’s in the sea.
Note: Two Oceans Aquarium is open 365 days a year, and if you end up being a member, you secure free entryway into the place for 12 months.
SECURE FREE ENTRY TO THE AQUARIUM ON YOUR BIRTHDAY
Do not lose out on the Two Oceans Aquarium’s magnificent birthday offer, which provides South African residents and citizens open door to the place on their birthday or 6 days afterwards. Get all the details on the Two Oceans Aquarium birthday experience.
Always looking for cool activities and restaurants that have specials? Check out the FOMO App, it’s free to download and use:
SEE OVER 8 000 WEIRD AND WONDERFUL CREATURES
Home to more than 8 000 animals and over 200 types, the fish tank offers both grown-ups and children the possibility to get close and personal with predators of the deep, fish as multi-coloured as the most dynamic rainbow, crabs the size of young children and our preferred monochromatic feathered buddies, the charming African penguins.
FIND OUT WHY IT IS CALLED “TWO OCEANS” Cape Town is distinctively placed at the confluence of the Indian and Atlantic oceans, which becomes part of the reason our shoreline is brimming with life. The warmer and cooler currents socialize here at the southern point of Africa, triggering inconceivable biodiversity. The Two Oceans Aquarium showcases this extraordinary selection of life.
SEE RARE AND ENDEMIC SPECIES: 2 Oceans is home to lots of types that can’t be discovered in any other fish tank. For instance, the unusual and rather monstrous hagfish is an ancient fish without jaws, eyes, fins or scales. It likewise produces approximately 5 litres of slime when it gets terrified– and it can just be seen at the Two Oceans Aquarium. You’ll discover it in the Skretting Diversity Gallery. Together with the hagfish, the fish tank includes a lot more endemic types consisting of the African penguin, endangered Knysna seahorse, endangered Western leopard toad, puffadder shy shark and spotted gully shark.
YOU CAN EVEN TOUCH SOME MARINE CREATURES Touch and feel a selection of marine animals at the Two Oceans Aquarium’s interactive Touch Pool. Here you have the opportunity to deal with kelp and other ocean quirks. The Microscope Exhibit turns the lens on a brand-new world of fragile arms, tube feet, suckers and nippers.
TURTLES AND RAYS IN THE I&J OCEAN EXHIBIT Do not miss out on the sensational I&J Ocean Exhibit, the very first screen of its kind in South Africa. It includes a 10-metre tunnel, and is filled with 1.6 million litres of seawater. Here you can see sluggish turtles and mild stingrays from the seeing window, or stand in the tunnel and watch shoals of temperate water fish move with dignity overhead.
GET OUTTA THIS WORLD WITH THE JELLIES Experience the other-worldly Jelly Gallery, where you can view these additional terrestrial-like animals shapeshift like the blobs in a lava light. Shown with a glow-in-the-dark result, it offers visitors an other-worldly, deep-sea experience. Did you know jellies have no hearts, brains or spinal columns? However, that simply makes them a lot more remarkable thinking about how they move, hunt and endure.
SEE SPECIES COMPLETELY UNIQUE TO OUR LOCAL COASTLINE The happily South African galjoen (likewise referred to as the black fish) might not be the most beautiful fish in the sea, however it just makes its home near our coasts, so we like it for that. You can see it, and lots of other endemic types at the Two Oceans Aquarium.
ZONE OUT IN A KELP FOREST The mild sway of the canopy suffices to mesmerise even the busiest mind. Without a doubt among the most captivating exhibitions at the Two Oceans Aquarium, the serene undersea forest holds numerous curious fish swimming around kelp 2 floors high.
FALL INLOVE WITH SHARKS AND OTHER HUNTERS
Sharks are among the most misinterpreted types on earth. The fish tank’s Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Exhibit provides visitors the possibility to satisfy a wide variety of excellent predators, from the ragged-tooth shark to schools of huge yellowtail and the territorial rockcod, you can see how these animals engage and hunt.
DIVE WITH CREATURES OF THE DEEP If you have an Open Water 1 certification (or greater) you can scuba dive in with stingrays and turtles in the temperate I&J Ocean Exhibit or the ragged-tooth sharks in the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Exhibit (no cage needed). Scuba divers with an Advanced Open Water certification can dive in the swaying Kelp Forest Exhibit. This comes at an additional expense and reservation is needed. If you do not have a certification, the fish tank likewise provides diving lessons for same-day diving in the I&J Ocean Exhibit.
If you are interested in diving and other activities on promotion check out the vouchers on the FOMO APP:
SUPPORT AN IMPORTANT CAUSE
The Two Oceans Aquarium, together with its recently developed non-profit public advantage partner the Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation, are devoted to marine preservation, education and research study. From releasing seals knotted in litter to restoring and launching sea turtles, along with offering curriculum-aligned lessons and enrichment courses to the youth of South Africa, these partner organisations resolve social and ecological issues as part of their efforts to motivate change for the future health and wellbeing of the ocean. You can contribute to the Aquarium Foundation here.
EAT BREAKFAST OR LUNCH AT THE RESTAURANT All that walking can be starving work. Dine on something scrumptious at the on-site Bootlegger Coffee Company. The trendy and advanced restaurant has a stunning balcony that watches out onto the V&A Marina. You might get coffee and a pastry prior, or settle in for lunch. There’s a big choice of sandwiches, soups, salads and hamburgers.
For more restaurant specials inside the V&A Waterfront you can use the FOMO App, just click on the banner at the top of the app called “Waterfront Summer deals”
BE EDUCATED ABOUT OUR PLANET While the fish tank is about enjoyabl entertainment, it’s likewise committed to informing visitors. Show boards can be discovered beside the majority of exhibits and setups with thorough info on the animals and efforts to protect them. Take some time to discover the story behind many of the animals’ presences and establish higher gratitude for their delicate being.
Where: Dock Road|V&A Waterfront|Cape Town
Opening Times: 9:30 am– 6pm weekdays; 9am-7pm joyful season (26 December, 2020-10 January, 2021); 9am-6pm weekends, public vacations and school vacations.
Cost: depends upon age and season. Take a look at the fish tank’s rates on its site.