Sharks Board.

Today the elementary school took our first South African field trip to the tide pools in Ballito and the Umhlanga Sharks Board (h's are pronounced 'sh', so Umhlanga is pronounced 'Umshlanga' and the Hluhluwe game reserve is pronounced 'Shlushluwe'. Ha!). We said we were going rain or shine, so when we woke up to cloudy skies, away we went! The trip got off to a rocky start but ended up being a nice day out. The kids enjoyed playing in the tide pools (despite the drizzling skies and the fact that all the teachers were bundled up and freezing!) and running around. After lunch and some ice cream, we headed off to Umhlanga to the Sharks Board, the organization that makes the regulations about shark nets and maintains them in the Kwazulu-Natal province. We learned all about the types of sharks in the area, why there are shark nets and saw their effectivness (though I admit I still don't quite understand how they work when the sharks can swim above, underneath, and around them....). Then we saw a dissection of a ragged tooth shark! That was quite the experience. The shark skin is smooth one direction and coarse the other direction. Now I can say I have touched a shark! Hopefully it will be the last :) The kids all handled it really well and I was quite proud of their behavior the whole day.