Another first for SA’s ‘Black Mermaid’
|Published
woman in bathing costume Zandile Ndhlovu, South Africa’s ‘Black Mermaid’ is shining her light globally. Pic: Supplied
Cape Town - From walking the streets of Soweto to gliding beneath the planet’s water wonderland, South Africa's “Black Mermaid” has clinched another first.
Zandile Ndhlovu is the only South African athlete who is featured in a new film and documentary, Shaped By Water, which premiered and had a public screening in Newport Rhode Island, in the US on May 14, 2023.
Film producers, 11th Hour Racing described it as exploring the relationship between athletes who continually pushed themselves to the edge and the environment they were immersed in.
They said: “The film has received rave reviews on its website page from those who watched it.”
The story is brought to life through sailing, free diving, and skiing.
The experiences of internationally-renowned free diver and 11th Hour Racing’s ambassador Ndhlovu; world-champion free skier, Jess Hotter from New Zealand; and a team of professional offshore sailors from America are shared through the lens.
“The film is a beautiful story, a love letter to the ocean,” said Ndhlovu.
“To be featured in it still feels like a dream.”
Ndhlovu’s life was reshaped after she took her first snorkel dive in the waters of Bali in 2016.
"My life was falling apart at that time,“ she explained.
“I decided to go to Bali and went on my first snorkel trip.
“That was huge for me, having grown up in Soweto, not anywhere near a huge body of water besides the local swimming pool which we occasionally visited.
"I looked beneath the surface of the waters.
“I had never ever seen something so beautiful before, I held my breath and I felt this feeling I had never felt before".
Ndhlovu's love for the ocean grew so much that the underwater world became a natural space.
Today, she is one of the country's most impressive free divers and is recognized among the Global Top 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) under 40.
As a qualified free diving instructor, she now takes 35-metre deep plunges in the oceans, not only in South Africa, but also across the world.
She spent the last few months in Costa Rica where she explored its beautiful oceans.
"I have been diving for seven years now.
“But I regard each single dive as unique.
“The ocean keeps gifting me with rare sights.
“In Costa Rica I saw a school of porcupine fish in one place, all facing the same direction and having a nap.
“It was something I had never seen before. And it felt like that spot was charged with life".
Ndhlovu's mission is to change the narrative about black people's fear for the ocean through the Black Mermaid Foundation which takes children for snorkel dives around Cape Town.
“I want to create a narrative about water and make it accessible to all people,” she said.
“Children are open to change and learning.
"When my grandmother spoke of stories about water and the rivers, they relayed a relationship.
“Now I know that feeling, this massive body of water that helps us connect and embraces us".
Now the underwater, teeming with marine life, has also become Ndhlovu's "grocery store".
"I eat from the sea, from kelp to fish. I had to learn how to forage, what humans can eat and not. I am in the water almost every day, either for a swim or diving".
Ndhlovu returns to South Africa in June and the ocean is already calling her name.
Ndhlovu's future plans include expanding not only across the coastal towns in South Africa but also in landlocked cities such as Johannesburg where are rivers.
"All rivers run to the ocean. We have always been connected to water before fear crept in."