South African marine scientist Dr Lara Atkinson grew up admiring sea creatures on TV. Last month she got to do the same thing on an unexplored seamount half-a-kilometre below the surface, in a glass-dome submersible once used by famous biologist David Attenborough.
Atkinson is African team leader of the first leg of a historic “Around Africa Expedition” to map and explore the unknown depths of Africa's oceans. She and her team are in Cape Town with their famous OceanXplorer ship — and its two on-board submersibles and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) — owned by global marine research nonprofit OceanX. The company was established by US billionaire Ray Dalio and his son Mark.
The expedition started on January 30 in the Comoros, heading south to a well-known seamount on the Madagascan Ridge in the high seas, Walters Shoal. This was followed by stopovers at lesser-known seamounts, including Africana seamount on the edge of a broad offshore shelf called the Agulhas Plateau.
It was almost like being in the Kruger Park where all the animals have suddenly come out of the bush
— Lara Atkinson, team leader
The expedition is a scientific collaboration between OceanX and Saudi Arabian ocean research foundation OceanQuest. The main objectives are mapping underwater ecosystems and collecting imagery of the seabed, samples and ocean data.
The Sunday Times toured the hi-tech vessel on its maiden visit to Cape Town Port on Wednesday. It is billed as the most advanced research ship ever built, with four on-board laboratories, a media centre and enough computing power to do its own genetic sequencing — a huge advantage for scientists working in the field.
Previous OceanX research expeditions have netted multiple scientific milestones, including the first deep sea exploration of Antarctica and the first film footage of a giant squid in the deep. The company, founded by the Dalio family 12 years ago, also has a media production arm and worked with BBC Earth on the nature documentary series Blue Planet II narrated by David Attenborough.
Like Attenborough, Atkinson and a colleague from SANParks also spent time inside one of the submersibles, which can descend 1km for up to eight hours at a time. She was initially nervous when offered the dive at Walters Shoal seamount, but decided not to pass up the bucket-list opportunity: “From the minute you descend, the colour of the blue in the water is just something I have never seen before.”
In the deep, powerful lights illuminated the seabed. Atkinson likened the seascape to the Cape's rich fynbos kingdom, adding: “It was almost like being in the Kruger Park where all the animals have suddenly come out of the bush. But underwater everything moves slower — it was incredibly calm and peaceful.”
At one stage she watched a large octopus “play catch” with the submersible’s lasers.
The expedition will head up the west coast of Africa, ending up in France to coincide with the June start of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference.
Ray Dalio is an American investor and economic commentator, ranked the world's 124th richest person last year by Forbes, with a personal net worth of $15.4bn (R288bn). In a recent interview he said human society needed to prioritise social harmony to cope with societal changes caused by AI technology.
The latest expedition was prompted partly by the Red Sea security crisis , which forced OceanXplorer to reroute around the Cape, avoiding the shorter Suez Canal route to the UN Conference. Atkinson had little time to prepare, but jumped at the chance to open up a new frontier exploring Africa's deep seas — relatively unknown in the world of marine science.
“There is a massive gap around Africa and South America,” said Atkinson. “But this has been flagged as African Ocean decade and Africa is definitely now getting lots of attention.
“I've never led a cruise of this nature. I have done smaller local cruises, but never had this kind of opportunity,” she said. Logistics involved flying in scientists from 10 countries.
A personal highlight was a stopover at the little-known Africana seamount on the Agulhas Plateau, where the team captured the first ever multibeam map of it — which turned out to resemble a scaled-up version of Table Mountain. Though known to South African marine scientists, the seamount was too deep to be explored — until now.
It was discovered by accident by South African fisheries research vessel the Africana — hence its name — but has lain unexplored.
“When I looked at the map and saw our route, I was overjoyed to see that the seamount was sitting right there in our path ... It took a bit of convincing to get two days of work time there.”
Though the current was too strong to deploy the submersibles or ROV, the ship mapped the seamount using sensors embedded in the keel.
“[The team] said, 'we can’t believe it, don’t you think it looks just like your Table Mountain? It has got a flat top and a ridge running out to the right which looks like the equivalent of Lion's Head and Signal Hill,” she said.
It is considerably larger than Cape Town's 1,084m natural wonder — rising from the seabed at 4,000m to 1,500m below the surface, giving a total height of about 2,500m. The flat top measured about 75km².
OceanQuest CEO Martin Visbeck said another key expedition objective was to empower African scientists “with the tools and knowledge needed to lead the next generation of marine discovery and conservation.
“Africa’s oceans hold untapped scientific potential, with vast ecologically significant marine ecosystems still waiting to be explored. Our collaborations and partnerships aim to enhance scientific understanding and develop a lasting framework for ocean research across the continent.”
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