Kaylan Button is an American student who is currently studying toward a biomedical engineering degree at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts (USA). She visited the Aquarium as part of a redevelopment project in Cape Town; this blog was originally published on her e-portfolio, which she updates regularly to keep family and friends back home informed.
On Saturday we went to the Two Oceans Aquarium down by the V&A Waterfront. It was a beautiful day and the Aquarium was huge! My day was made as soon as we entered the main lobby, because there was a whale sculpture (one of the things that kids ride on in the mall, the things that you put 50 cents into and they move up and down) with a Yankees hat on!
I was so excited to see that the people of Cape Town are rooting for the right team so, of course, I got a picture with it.
The first part of the Aquarium was split into two sections: animals found in the Atlantic Ocean and animals found in the Indian Ocean.
There were all sorts of creatures, which I took pictures of, including lobsters, seahorses, eels and cute little clownfish!
The next section of the Aquarium was devoted to their frog exhibit, Frogs: Beyond the Pond. There was a puppet show, and the overall environment was like being in a tropical forest.
As we moved on, we entered a section that was like an outback river, called the Sappi River Meander. There were penguins on rocks and little streams of water running along the footpath, with fish and frogs and other animals in them.
I got to see the arum lily frog, which was really cool. This frog actually lives inside the flower, and disguises itself so that other animals [its predators] can’t find it.
After this tropical, outback area, we went into the Kelp Forest Exhibit area, where we saw a large tank with huge fish and plants. We got there right in time for the feeding session: We saw a diver go down into the tank and feed all the animals pieces of fish and squid (which got my appetite roaring for the day).
The last part of the Aquarium was called the I&J Predator Exhibit. We saw a big shark, which was really funny because this little girl started singing the Jaws theme. We also saw other fish that I would not want to encounter in the wild.
There was a small section about how humans are the most dangerous creatures on Earth, and there was a mirror that said “World’s Most Dangerous Creature” above it. Of course, I posed and took a picture of me in the mirror!
