Cape Town - When a foghorn-like sound travels across the picturesque tourist town of Hermanus, everyone knows the whales are around. And the man responsible for sounding the call is Eric Davalah.
Known as the world’s only modern-day whale crier, Davalah, 25, spends most of his time at the town’s harbour, his eyes trained on the ocean. He goes to work dressed in a shirt and tie, trademark black hat, with his dried kelp horn at the ready.
But with whale season still a few weeks away, Davalah’s been on the move. He was part of the Hermanus On Tour team who visited the Indaba in Durban this weekend – an annual two-day travel and tourism showcase.
Davalah stopped at several towns on his way to Durban to promote tourism on the whale coast, do radio interviews and to dish out prizes.
Residents, tourists, and fans of whales have been able to follow the road trip via Facebook and Twitter. The team vehicle’s GPS data was being posted to www.hermanusontour.com so the journey could be tracked live.
When Davalah first arrived in Hermanus, he had no idea his path would lead to this.
He grew up in Willowvale in the Eastern Cape, but moved to Hermanus in 2006 to complete his schooling. From June 2009 he worked as a parking attendant, and was promoted to parking supervisor after a year. Reading the local newspaper in June 2011 he saw the job opportunity for a whale crier. He wasn’t too sure what it would entail, but applied anyway because it seemed like “a good opportunity”. Within a week, Davalah became Hermanus’s fifth whale crier.
“The whales usually come from the end of May. That year they didn’t come until the end of July. They were late because they were waiting for me,” he says.
The whale crying tradition in the town started as a publicity stunt in 1991, when Jim Wepener asked people to call the local radio stations once they had spotted whales. He later went on to create the whale crier position.
The post was first filled in 1992 by Pieter Claasen who worked at the old harbour. Claasen soon started attracting national and eventually international attention.
He was succeeded by Wilson Salukazana who was crier for eight years, before retiring to focus on his tour company. Godleck Baleni had a brief stint, before handing over to Pasika Noboba in 2008.
It was Noboba who passed the baton to Davalah.
In the past, the criers would use Morse code to signal where whale watchers needed to go, but Davalah is doing things differently. He has developed his own signalling system. He has three custom-made horns in various lengths, and his signature style of horn-blowing sounds like a foghorn.
Davalah’s had to get used to all of the attention the job has brought, but appears to be taking it in his stride.
His first time in an aeroplane was when he went to the Getaway Show in Joburg and he recalls how nervous he was. Now, he laps up the marketing side of his job.
When whale season ends in November, Davalah helps out at the information kiosk at the Village Square or in summer, at the Hermanus Tourism Bureau.
While people are curious to see what he looks like, and want to take the occasional selfie with him, this isn’t always possible. So the Hermanus tourism office came up with the solution of putting the whale crier in two places at the same time.
A cardboard cut-out of Davalah was launched at the Indaba. So while Davalah is focused on his job, his “double” is always keen for a photo opportunity.
Davalah says he plans on sticking around in Hermanus for a while. After living in the town for eight years, he feels there is a lot more he can do.
Now well-versed in all things whale, he spends time educating tourists and guides alike. There’s one myth he’s happy to bust: “People think I call the whales. I wish I could, but nobody knows how to do that. My job is to alert the people when they (the whales) are here.” - Cape Argus