By Roxanne Reid
Going walking at Langebaan Lagoon on the West Coast with Eddie Papier is like having your own talking encyclopaedia. He’s lived here his whole life, first as a child, later as a ranger with the West Coast National Park. Now that he’s retired from the park, he keeps in touch by acting as a guide, and there’s not much he doesn’t remember or know about the area.
Going walking at Langebaan Lagoon on the West Coast with Eddie Papier is like having your own talking encyclopaedia. He’s lived here his whole life, first as a child, later as a ranger with the West Coast National Park. Now that he’s retired from the park, he keeps in touch by acting as a guide, and there’s not much he doesn’t remember or know about the area.
Now in his mid-sixties, Eddie was born in a little house on the shores of the lagoon and went to sea at the age of 15. I loved his stories of the old days when horses used to pull carts here, when boats came to the abattoir behind what’s now the Geelbek restaurant for meat to take to the workers at the whaling station not far away. The whalers also used fresh water from the dams on Geelbek farm.
‘When I was a child we thought of everything here as our own,’ he confessed. ‘Farmers used to come to hunt and they’d set their sights by shooting at flamingo in the lagoon. When they left, my granny used to send us kids to pick up the birds and she’d cook them. They taste like fish.’
‘When I was a child we thought of everything here as our own,’ he confessed. ‘Farmers used to come to hunt and they’d set their sights by shooting at flamingo in the lagoon. When they left, my granny used to send us kids to pick up the birds and she’d cook them. They taste like fish.’
The waters of Langebaan Lagoon are bright turquise on a sunny day, less so when it's cloudy and grey
He also remembers ornithologists coming and setting nets for the birds. He and the other kids would break the nets, thinking the researchers had no right to interfere with what they thought of as ‘our birds’. The frustrated researchers had to go to the locals and explain what they were doing and beg the kids not to damage their nets.
‘We used to make boats from paraffin tins and sail them in the gullies. We got water from Oostewal farm, which was a long way away. Every day, three of us brothers would have to fill three 25-gallon drums and bring them home before we walked to school.’ One drum was for the donkeys, one for the household and one for laundry. ‘Once a week we also had to get fresh cow dung for our granny to smear on the floors. The cows grazed at Mooimark farm, so we’d set off with buckets on our heads.’ No prizes for guessing it wasn’t one of their favourite jobs.
‘We used to make boats from paraffin tins and sail them in the gullies. We got water from Oostewal farm, which was a long way away. Every day, three of us brothers would have to fill three 25-gallon drums and bring them home before we walked to school.’ One drum was for the donkeys, one for the household and one for laundry. ‘Once a week we also had to get fresh cow dung for our granny to smear on the floors. The cows grazed at Mooimark farm, so we’d set off with buckets on our heads.’ No prizes for guessing it wasn’t one of their favourite jobs.
Walking from Geelbek to the bird hide on the edge of the lagoon
We took a walk together to the Harding bird hide near Geelbek at low tide, watching avocets, flamingos, sanderlings, whimbrels and kelp gulls strut around in search of food. ‘As the tide comes in you’ll see that the flamingos get closer and closer,’ Eddie told us. And that’s exactly what happened; they were closer by the time we explored the second Geelbek hide after lunch and just about in our laps by the time we got to the Seeberg hide at around four in the afternoon.
Eddie Papier is at his happiest when surrounded by nature, as at this bird hide overlooking the lagoon
On our way to the Seeberg information centre, Eddie told us that some 600 million oyster shells are lying on the floor of the lagoon. Dead. ‘It’s the biggest oyster graveyard in the world,’ he said. ‘The lagoon is getting shallower because sand is being washed in by strong tides and it can’t wash out because of the jetty at Saldanha. But I suppose industry [iron ore] beats conservation.’ This sand has caused the oysters to die. ‘Most of the channels I remember from my childhood are closed now. There’s hardly any seaweed anymore either, also killed by the sand,’ he said.
Flamingo at Langebaan Lagoon, as seen from the Seeberg bird hide
Seeberg information centre
The Seeberg info centre is a tiny old stone shepherd’s hut that Eddie remembers from his childhood. Now restored, it perches on a huge rock overlooking the lagoon. Inside, information panels tell the history of the area, from farms like Geelbek and Seeberg to settlements like Churchhaven and Oudepost. Eddie helped compile some of the oral history, and there’s a panel devoted to his own family history. Eddie’s father worked on fishing boats and was away for eight to nine months of the year.
The Seeberg info centre is a tiny old stone shepherd’s hut that Eddie remembers from his childhood. Now restored, it perches on a huge rock overlooking the lagoon. Inside, information panels tell the history of the area, from farms like Geelbek and Seeberg to settlements like Churchhaven and Oudepost. Eddie helped compile some of the oral history, and there’s a panel devoted to his own family history. Eddie’s father worked on fishing boats and was away for eight to nine months of the year.
Even before you get inside the Seeberg info centre, you can start your journey into the past
There are also stories of sea fights, shipwrecks and pirates, and lots old photos about whales and whaling. Eddie worked on a whaler from the age of 15 although by then the hunting of southern right whales had already been outlawed. ‘We mostly went for sperm whales which had a lot of oil in the head,’ he said. (The oil was used in the making of soap, cosmetics and – believe it or not – margarine.) Although whaling is frowned on today, the industry played an important role in the lives of people who lived in Langebaan and Churchhaven from the 1940s until the late 1960s.
A tiny stone shepherd's hut was restored and turned into the Seeberg information centre, stuffed with history
The islands
After the Langebaan National Park came into being in 1985 (the name later changed to the West Coast National Park) Eddie worked as a field ranger for 20 years. Who better? He knows the area like the back of his hand. The islands of Schaapen, Marcus, Malgas and Jutten are part of the park and he worked on the islands for seven years. ‘It was a really lonely life,’ he recalled. ‘But the worst was that when the weather was bad, you might have to go without food if the supply boats couldn’t get to the island. Sometimes they’d just try to throw a few tins of food.’
After the Langebaan National Park came into being in 1985 (the name later changed to the West Coast National Park) Eddie worked as a field ranger for 20 years. Who better? He knows the area like the back of his hand. The islands of Schaapen, Marcus, Malgas and Jutten are part of the park and he worked on the islands for seven years. ‘It was a really lonely life,’ he recalled. ‘But the worst was that when the weather was bad, you might have to go without food if the supply boats couldn’t get to the island. Sometimes they’d just try to throw a few tins of food.’
Eddie has acted as a guide to the islands for a number of researchers and is particularly proud to have met and guided Sir Edmund Hillary, and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who helped establish the World Wildlife Fund, later renamed World Wide Fund for Nature.
He told us how pelicans have caused problems on the islands. Their population grew from about 185 pairs in 1985 to 2000 pelicans in 2007. Since there was no longer enough fish and agricultural offal for them to eat, they took to raiding thousands of nests and eating the chicks of seabirds like Cape gannets, kelp gulls and cormorants. By 2006, the storyboard explained, 'The pelicans had seriously impacted the delicately balanced breeding populations, but they couldn't be shot as the species is listed as near-threatened in the Red Data Book.'
He told us how pelicans have caused problems on the islands. Their population grew from about 185 pairs in 1985 to 2000 pelicans in 2007. Since there was no longer enough fish and agricultural offal for them to eat, they took to raiding thousands of nests and eating the chicks of seabirds like Cape gannets, kelp gulls and cormorants. By 2006, the storyboard explained, 'The pelicans had seriously impacted the delicately balanced breeding populations, but they couldn't be shot as the species is listed as near-threatened in the Red Data Book.'
Great white pelicans are fun to watch but they can spell doom for thousands of seabird chicks
Scientists came up with a cunning plan; they created a rotating human presence to scare pelicans off whenever they landed. After its success in the 2007/8 breeding season, the programme was continued. Today honorary rangers and park staff still do five-day shifts during breeding season. Some photos at Seeberg show what conditions on the islands are like for them. Although not cushy by any stretch of imagination, they’re perfectly acceptable for the purpose – and certainly wa-a-y better than when Eddie worked there.
Visit the Seeberg information centre in the West Coast National Park and see for yourself.
Visit the Seeberg information centre in the West Coast National Park and see for yourself.
Thanks to Carmen Lerm of West Coast Way SA for arranging for me to meet and spend time with Eddie Papier.
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