Paheja Siririka
WINDHOEK – The Dolphin Park Aqua Festival, a unique experience combining entrepreneurship, tourism and entertainment during the slowest season of the year, is scheduled for the end of this month.
Rakela Nandago, the public relations manager of the Dolphin Park Aqua Festival, says the event is set to help facilitate local awareness, demonstrate direct economic benefit to the Walvis Bay and Swakopmund communities and act as a vehicle for youth involvement and change through local job creation.
“We call on residents of Walvis Bay and surrounding areas, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), youth, community organisations, corporates, media and visitors from all over Namibia to come and celebrate the community’s trade richness, dynamism and cultural heritage,” said Nandago.
The Dolphin Park Aqua Festival is the first outdoor family fun-day festival inspiring an ultimate water experience combining entrepreneurship, tourism, and entertainment amongst the communities of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund during this time of the year.
She further said the Dolphin Park offers a monster-sized swimming pool, water slides, play park, picnic and braai facilities, which are all family-friendly.
“So what we add to that is entrepreneurship, entertainment and tourism to make the experience stand out. This will be our inaugural aqua festival and we are planning to make it an annual event, if the right partners and sponsors come on board. We will only consider hosting it somewhere else on condition that the venue will be a water park or has similar characteristics as Dolphin Park,” revealed Nandago.
In terms of entertainment, the line-up is enticing enough for those who wish to attend the event.
“Da Capo from South Africa will be headlining the Dolphin Park Aqua Festival alongside Alexander Popov from Russia and a local line-up consisting of most Walvis Bay and Swakopmund-based disc jockeys (DJs). To demonstrate the direct economic benefit to the community through the event, the organising committee also gave an opportunity to local artists,” said Nandago.
The local DJs lined up to perform include DJ Castro, DJ Maggz, DJ Kiki, DJ Waxa, Pierre Pienaar, Banger Drum, DJ LX, DJ MicadE, DJ Dreas, DJ Mapiiano and Dokamusic.