Zandile Ndhlovu, also known as Zandi the Mermaid, is the freediving instructor and conservationist behind the Black Mermaid Foundation. We speak to her about her love for the water, being the first Black African freedive instructor, and what the future holds for her.
When did you first discover your love for the water?
In 2016, on a trip to Bali, riding the rental bicycle down to breakfast, I heard this man screaming, ‘Snorkel trip, snorkel trip!’ Curiously, I signed up for the trip, despite the few moments of fear and uncertainty. There was a calm that followed all the freak-outs. As I followed the group, a new world opened up for me. Seeing beneath the surface of the water for the first time was the most incredible enlightenment in my world. The ocean floor looked like nothing I’d ever seen before; it lit up from beneath while housing the most beautiful life. I couldn’t believe my eyes; I was hooked!
As the first African female freedive instructor, what are some of the obstacles you have faced?
The world of firsts is brutal. It was the reminder that you are the outsider – intentionally or not. From comments like ‘Are you going to dive with all of that hair?’, a question never asked to anyone else, to suits that never fit the more curvy body. We can’t ignore the language barrier as the ocean space is primarily white; I often needed to say, ‘I don’t speak Afrikaans’. As a Black woman, my hair, body and existence have constantly been policed in how they showed up in society, and this was not going to be the case here. This is why I continued to
use my voice. These challenges are tricky because you just want to do what you love and forget the rest.
You’re changing the narrative for young Black girls and boys who follow you. What do you teach all your freediving learners?
This is my life’s work! The expanding of narratives and putting to bed narratives that are incomplete, particularly the one about Black people and water. It’s vague and rooted in history, and so we cannot continue to carry this narrative unless it is to be held in its complete narrative. And then realising that the ocean is not a ‘white people thing’, it’s an ‘all of us thing’, that it belongs to us too. Our foundation takes kids on snorkel trips where they learn about the ocean challenges (plastic pollution, overfishing, climate change) and the marine life we will encounter. We want the kids to feel less afraid of what they experience. The ultimate goal is for the ocean to feel like home to these little bodies, for them to move past fear into curiosity and connection with the sea, enough to explore this world that seems so foreign when it is a part of us.
What is coming up for the Black Mermaid Foundation in 2023?
Growth! More excursions, but also a more set programme that will see one group of students learn together for a few weeks instead of being a new group each week, and introducing swimming lessons in Langa while opening up an ocean-inspired hub that will be located in Kwa-Langa.
Big dreams to expand this ocean world, a vision that started in the ocean that is slowly moving back to land, and for me, finding ways to create safe spaces for the kids in Langa to just be kids, even if it is for a little while.
Tell us about your earliest and fondest memory in your career.
Freediving for the first time was the most incredible yet probably the first time I felt tangible fear on a dive. The most astonishing moment was seeing a humpback whale mom and calf underwater. I froze and just started crying while shaking. It was majestic in so many ways. I still have no words to describe the experience; it was blissfully overwhelming. I felt fear in my body when we were filming for Discovery Channel, seeing my first ever great white shark underwater, and seeing how massive they were while having a camera in my hand. I could feel my heart in my throat. They are more than huge. These two events live rent-free in my head.
We can always expect to see you with something blue wherever you are. What does this colour mean to you?
It is my connection to the ocean. My hair started in the middle of lockdown. I missed the sea dearly and decided having blue hair would be a daily reminder of her magic. Almost two years later, I still haven’t changed my hair. Most recently, we added another water-inspired find, a ring with a semi-cracked blue stone; the blue dances in the light … magical discoveries and holdings.
