I took this post’s photo late on the afternoon of 14 July 2010, just below a small waterfall on Oahu Stream, near Kaikoura on New Zealand’s South Island.
Rather less than a kilometre from where the stream meets the sea, that waterfall’s pool is far enough inland to be a safe place – a “nursery” – for young New Zealand fur seals.
I don’t know when the pups “discovered” it, nor exactly when tourists “discovered” them.
Happily, however, promotion has been discreet, and Homo sapiens has not, I think, had a greatly negative impact on Arctocephalus forsteri at this very special place.
(Click here for more on this seal species, which has a number of different common names)
The 2016 earthquake had a terrible impact on Kaikoura, and the Oahu Stream Walk was closed.
It re-opened in 2018, but has since been closed again. It is I, think, still deemed “unsafe”.
The Oahu Point seal colony’s pups, however, continue to enjoy their nearby freshwater haven.
Not surprisingly, many humans “see” seals through a very sentimental, anthropomorphic “lens”. (unless they are fishers, who are more likely to “see” seals as “vermin”)
There are not a few cloying, twee, infuriatingly inane and saccharine songs/performances concerning selkies/silkies – mythical beings who morph from seal to human form, and sometimes to-and-from seal and human.
There are, however, a select few utterly haunting selkie songs/performances, blessedly free of the schlock that infests most others.
If you have not previously heard Julie Fowlis, welcome to a great artist who speaks excellent English, but mostly sings in Scottish Gaelic. I urge you to visit her website.
This selkie medley is from her 2014 album, Gach sgeul / Every story: